Twilight Portrait Trailer (2011)

This searing debut feature from Angelina Nikonova is an unsettling and deeply disturbing look at contemporary Russia. Marina (Olga Dihovichnaya) is a privileged social worker who is dissatisfied with both her work and home life. When she is robbed while trying to hail a taxi, she is picked up and then gang raped by three policemen. What follows next, as Marina decides to forgo the façades of her life, is either forgiveness or revenge depending on one's point of view, with the screenplay audaciously exploring themes of power, control and violence. The film shows a society twisted by corrupt bureaucracy and infected with brutality. Dihovichnaya, who co-wrote the screenplay with Nikonoya, is exceptional as the stoic Marina, a character whose behaviour is consistently challenging. Deliberately confronting and morally ambiguous, Twilight Portrait is certain to provoke debate among audiences.