Fidelity

Lena is an obstetrician and gynaecologist; her husband Sergey acts in a provincial theatre. Their relationship is close and tender and has no sex in it. Lena suspects he is with someone else, never says so, and instead begins sleeping with men she does not know, and what she starts quickly gets away from her. Nigina Sayfullaeva is not making a film about desire but about where an unasked question takes a person. Yevgeniya Gromova plays it without ever defending herself and the camera stays close to her throughout. The scenes are explicit, and sexuality of this directness is unusual in Russian cinema, which is why the film was argued over. Who it is for: viewers who follow contemporary Russian cinema and like hard drama about marriage. Who it is not for: anyone uncomfortable with explicit sex, or who needs the protagonist to be vindicated.