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This excellent film - which is well written, directed, and acted - is the story of a woman who has to fight tenaciously to regain her freedom, and to redeem herself (in her own eyes). The central character, Galya, is charismatic and psychologically strong, but she made a terrible mistake four years previously and her subsequent life has become a nightmare - trapped by a criminal gang, forced first into prostitution, then into becoming a gangland assassin. Her fight for freedom is symbolized by her attempts to regain possession of her passport, and her quest for redemption is symbolised by her desire to return home (to the Ukraine) to a hoped-for happier life with her five-year-old daughter. While trying to save herself from the criminals, she attempts to save her friend from her friend's abusive husband.
From the opening scene, where her eyes magnetically draw the viewer into Galya's world, Olga Kurylenko plays her part intelligently and skilfully. She's very good at emotional depth and complexity, and she convincingly projects Galya's conflicting emotions. Also well done is the way she shows Galya's fight for her life and her struggle to maintain her fundamental purity of heart, while being engulfed in the gang's earthly version of hell. She's superb at conveying feelings even when she's not interacting with the other characters. For example, on one wall of her apartment Galya creates a large drawing of herself and her child (it's a symbolic doorway to her paradise) and while she draws, Olga beautifully expresses the fleeting serenity of Galya's creativity, and the way it brings her closer to her daughter (in her imagination).
Ninet Tayeb is excellent as Elinor, Galya's next-door neighbour. For example, there's a nice scene where Elinor tries to excuse her husband. Galya dismissively says "it's not your fault" but Ninet conveys in her eyes that Elinor thinks it really is her fault. Thus, by good acting she shows that Elinor is abused both externally (by her husband) and internally (by her inner critic).
Writer/director Danny Learner cleverly structures the relationships of the characters by placing Galya at the centre, with everyone else in concentric circles around her. Galya is the sun, with Elinor in close orbit. The two women have fully developed characters, with faults as well a virtues. In the cold outer reaches of the film's solar system orbit the men, none of whom have any redeeming features: they have no love, no compassion, no sense of justice. Their only interest is in power (especially power over women). The gang leaders (well portrayed by Liron Levo as the heartless Roni, and Vladimir Friedman as the lyingly manipulative Mishka) are a collection of lost souls who have adopted enslavement and murder, including deliberate murder of the innocent, as a way of life. Their system of "business" would not be complete without its routine betrayals, and of course they betray Galya - the smaller betrayals building up to a larger betrayal.
The film has lots of fine details. For example, the reality of Galya's life is nicely contrasted with idyllic dream sequences (which, nevertheless, are never quite free of anxiety) where she tries to reach her daughter. The interior physical space of her apartment is used as a metaphor for Galya's interior mental space - a place where she tries to find refuge and solace from external events which she can't control. The apartment is grim and mirrors the grimness of her life. But like her spirit, it also has the beautiful door to paradise - the picture on the wall, which symbolises Galya's hope of returning to a better life.
The scenes where the women turn animosity into friendship, and later on friendship into love, are especially good. For example, early on Elinor manages to upset Galya very much by brusquely refusing her help, and a little later Elinor changes her mind and tries to befriend Galya, but by then Galya has her emotional armour in place and her response is frosty. Elinor has to work hard to break through to Galya, and Elinor/Ninet is irresistibly charming in thawing out Galya, and Galya/Olga is delightful in the way she lets herself be thawed out. In another scene, when they're on the bed together, there's a beautiful intimacy where the two women create a little bubble of love round themselves. It's a tender moment in a pair of desperate lives. Lyrical scenes like these constitute a humane slow movement in the violent symphony which is the rest of the film.
The music is good and enhances the plot.
I can't understand why such a good film hasn't been put on general release; it deserves to be much better known.
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