| Eastern Promises | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | David Cronenberg |
| Produced by | Paul Webster Robert Lantos Tracy Seaward (co-producer) |
| Written by | Steven Knight |
| Starring | Viggo Mortensen Naomi Watts Vincent Cassel Armin Mueller-Stahl Sinéad Cusack |
| Music by | Howard Shore Nicola Benedetti (violin solo) |
| Cinematography | Peter Suschitzky |
| Editing by | Ronald Sanders |
| Studio | Focus Features |
| Distributed by | Focus Features (USA) Alliance Films (Canada) Pathé (UK/France) |
| Release date(s) | September 8, 2007 |
| Running time | 100 minutes |
| Country | Canada United Kingdom United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £25 million[1] |
| Box office | $56,106,607 |
Eastern Promises is a 2007 thriller film directed by David Cronenberg, from a screenplay written by Steven Knight. The film tells of a British midwife's interactions with the Russian Mafia in London and stars Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassel. Principal photography began November 2006, in locations in and around London. The film has been noted for its plot twist, the subject of sex trafficking, and for its violence and realistic depiction of Russian career criminals, which includes detailed portrayal of the tattoos commonly worn by them.
Eastern Promises received positive critical reception, appearing on several US critics' "top ten films" lists for 2007. The film has won several awards, including the Audience Prize for best film at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Best Actor award for Mortensen at the British Independent Film Awards. The film received twelve Genie Award nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations. Mortensen was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
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Anna Khitrova (Naomi Watts), a British-Russian midwife at a London hospital, finds a Russian-language diary on the body of Tatiana, a 14-year-old girl who dies in childbirth. She also finds a card for the Trans-Siberian restaurant, which is owned by Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl), a boss in the Russian Mafia or vory v zakone ("thieves in law"). Anna thus sets out to track down the girl's family so that she can find a home for the dead mother's baby girl. Anna's mother Helen (Sinéad Cusack) does not discourage her, but Anna's Ukrainian uncle and self-described former KGB worker, Stepan (Jerzy Skolimowski), whom Anna asks for help with the translation of the diary, urges caution. Through Semyon and her uncle, Anna comes to learn that Semyon and his unstable son, Kirill (Vincent Cassel), had abused the girl, addicted her to heroin, forced her into prostitution, and raped her.
Semyon's driver is Russian Nikolai Luzhin (Viggo Mortensen), who also serves as the family "cleaner", dumping bodies in the River Thames. Through Nikolai, Semyon promises to give the location of the girl's family to Anna if she hands back the diary, fearing prosecution. Nikolai takes the diary from Anna and her family but does not give a location, instead urging Anna to keep the baby in the UK as the girl's home is a bad village to grow up in. Semyon distrusts Anna's uncle Stepan due to his former position and ethnicity, ordering a hit on him. Nikolai accepts and soon Stepan goes missing. As Nikolai's star rises within the vory, an impressed Semyon sponsors him as a full member, due in part to Nikolai's protection of Semyon's bumbling son who authorized a hit on a rival Chechen vory leader. The hit was not approved by Semyon and was ill-advised; the Chechen gang are now coming to London to seek vengeance. Semyon hatches a plan to trick Nikolai into temporarily taking Kirill's place during a meeting with a kurd named Azim, who carried out Kirill's hit, at the baths. As the Chechens attack Nikolai thinking he is Kirill, Nikolai kills them both, ending up in the hospital with severe wounds as a result.
It is then revealed that Nikolai is actually an FSB agent who has infiltrated the gang, working under license by the British Government. As part of his undercover duties, Nikolai was able to read Tatiana's diary before Semyon had it destroyed and hatched a plan to have Semyon arrested for statutory rape. Stepan is also safe, hiding in a 5-star hotel in Edinburgh for protection. Semyon orders Kirill to kidnap the baby girl and kill her but as Kirill sits by the Thames, almost unable to throw the little girl into the river, Nikolai and Anna find him and persuade him to give the baby back. Nikolai and Kirill embrace as Nikolai tells him that his father is finished and they are now the bosses. Nikolai and Anna then kiss as they part for the last time. Nikolai then takes Semyon's place as boss of the organization and Anna gains custody of Tatiana's baby, whom she names Christine.
Shooting began in November 2006, and various scenes were filmed in St John Street, Farringdon, London. Filming also took place in Broadway Market, Hackney and in Brompton Cemetery in the London Borough of Kensington & Chelsea.
The "Trans-Siberian Restaurant" is located in The Farmiloe Building,[2] 34 St John Street, next to Smithfield Market. This is the 6th most popular film and TV location in London,[3] having also been used for Spooks, Penelope, and Batman Begins.[4]
The entrance to the "Ankara Social Club" of the film is actually the front door of a residential flat. The Broadway Market hair dresser known as "Broadway Gents Hairstylist" was changed to "Azim's Hair Salon", where in the film one of the Russians is murdered. The owner Mr. Ismail Yesiloglu decided to keep most of the shop front after filming. In the original script, the name was "Ozim's Hair Salon", but it was later changed to "Azim's" as there is no such name as Ozim in Turkish.
The "Trafalgar Hospital" is actually the Middlesex Hospital, a hospital in the Fitzrovia area of London, which closed to patients in December 2005. The building in central London, which was knocked down in 2008, had the inscription 'Trafalgar Hospital', matching the style and apparent age of the old Middlesex Hospital, inserted into the legend above the main door.
The fight scene in the Turkish Baths is filmed at the Ironmonger Row Baths in Islington.
Viggo Mortensen studied Russian gangsters and their tattoos, and also consulted a documentary on the subject called The Mark of Cain (2000).[5] The tattoos that he wore, according to the New York Daily News, were so realistic that diners in a Russian restaurant in London fell silent out of fear, until Mortensen revealed his identity and admitted the tattoos were for a film.[6] From that day on he washed off his tattoos whenever he went off the set. Mortensen said of the significance of the tattoos:
"I talked to...(authentic gangsters)...about what they meant and where they were on the body, what that said about where they'd been, what their specialties were, what their ethnic and geographical affiliations were," Mortensen says. "Basically their history, their calling card, is their body."
Consistent with the trademark violence in much of Cronenberg's work, Eastern Promises features a graphically violent fight scene in a steam bath where the combatants wield linoleum knives. When asked in an interview about the difference between "gun violence" and "knife violence," Cronenberg replied, "We have no guns in this movie. There were no guns in the script. The choice of those curved knives we use in the steam bath was mine. They’re not some kind of exotic Turkish knives, they’re linoleum knives. I felt that these guys could walk around in the streets with these knives, and if they were ever caught, they could say 'we’re linoleum cutters'."[7]
Adam Nayman of Eye Weekly reported that director David Cronenberg said "Just don't give the plot away" and Nayman wrote "His request is understandable." Nayman said, "There is one scene – the in-depth discussion of which prompted the director's anti-spoiler request referenced at the top of this story – that should rank not only in his personal pantheon of spectacularly deployed gore but among the most exhilaratingly visceral patches of cinema, period, full stop."[8] Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert noted Cronenberg's quote and agreed, saying "He is correct that it would be fatal, because this is not a movie of what or how, but of why. And for a long time you don't see the why coming."[9]
The film premiered September 8, 2007 at the Toronto International Film Festival[10] where it won the Audience Prize for best film on September 15, 2007.[11] Eastern Promises opened in limited release in Russia on September 13, 2007.[10]
In the United States and Canada, the film opened in limited release in 15 theaters on September 14, 2007 and grossed $547,092 — averaging $36,472 per theater.[12] The film opened in wide release in the United States and Canada on September 21, 2007 (expanding to 1,404 theaters) and ranked #5 at the box office, grossing $5,659,133 — an average of $4,030 per theater.[12] The film has grossed $51,202,291 worldwide as of January 31, 2008 — $17,266,000 in the United States and Canada and $33,936,291 in other territories.[13]
The film took part in competition at the San Sebastian Film Festival September 20, 2007.
The film was shown at the London Film Festival on October 17, 2007 and was released in the United Kingdom on October 26, 2007.[10]
The film received widespread positive reviews from critics. As of June 5, 2010, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 89% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 186 reviews.[14] On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 82/100, based on 35 reviews.[15] Todd McCarthy of Variety,[16] David Elliott of The San Diego Union-Tribune,[17] and film critic Tony Medley noted the twists in the film.[18]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four out of four stars and wrote "Eastern Promises is no ordinary crime thriller, just as Cronenberg is no ordinary director", and said "Cronenberg has moved film by film into the top rank of directors, and here he wisely reunites with Mortensen" who "digs so deeply into the role you may not recognize him at first." Ebert said the film has a fight scene that "sets the same kind of standard that The French Connection set for chases. Years from now, it will be referred to as a benchmark."[19]
J. Hoberman of The Village Voice said "I've said it before and hope to again: David Cronenberg is the most provocative, original, and consistently excellent North American director of his generation." Hoberman said the film is "directed with considerable formal intelligence and brooding power" and continues the trend of "murderous family dramas" seen in Spider and A History of Violence. Hoberman called the film "graphic but never gratuitous in its violence", "garish yet restrained", "a masterful mood piece", "deceptively generic" and said the film "suggests a naturalized version of the recent Russian horror flick Night Watch." When describing the cast, Hoberman said "Mueller-Stahl may be perfunctory...but Vincent Cassel literally flings himself into [his role]" and "Mortensen is even more electrifying as Nikolai than in A History of Violence".[20]
Chris Vognar of The Dallas Morning News gave the film a "B+" and said "The film's genius performance belongs to the venerable Armin Mueller-Stahl, who plays the family head with a twinkling eye and an air of avuncular, Old World charm." Vognar wrote "Where some may see melodrama, Mr. Cronenberg locates timeless, elemental struggles between good and evil, right and wrong. But he makes sure to place a mysterious gray area front and center, personified here by Mr. Mortensen's Nikolai", writing "Nikolai Luzhin is...like Ray Bradbury's Illustrated Man...only more dangerous" and "scarily enigmatic." Vognar wrote that Eastern Promises shares themes of "ambiguous identity and rage-soaked duality" with A History of Violence and said both films "have a lock-step precision and both take a sly kind of joy in subverting genre expectations." Vognar said Eastern Promises "is a little too mechanical for its own good...but the mechanics also produce an admirable crispness and sense of purpose, a sense that the man behind the camera knows exactly what he's doing at all times."[21]
Film Journal International critic Doris Toumarkine said the film is a "highly entertaining but sometimes revolting look at a particularly venal branch of the Russian mob." Toumarkine wrote that Mortensen and Watts "are intriguing moral counterpoints. They are also the key ingredients that make Eastern Promises a highly delectable and cinematically rich borsht that upscale film fans will devour." She described Mortensen's performance as "startling," called Watts "touching," Cassel "particularly delicious," but said "Mueller-Stahl, Cusack, and Skolimowski don’t have as much to chew on." She said the film "is also blessed by Howard Shore's restrained score, which lets the film’s other estimable elements breathe through." Toumarkine also said the film is "essentially a character-driven crime thriller but is also a bloody tour de force laced with considerable nudity and sexually bold content that will rattle the squeamish."[22]
Bruce Westbrook of the Houston Chronicle gave the film one star out of four and said it had a "contrived plot" and wrote "what it's really about, more than sensitivity for displaced people or social analyses, is violence — hideous, gruesome, over-the-top violence." Westbrook said "For Cronenberg, such cheap sensationalism is business as usual, and this far into his career, that business has slipped into artistic bankruptcy." Westbrook wrote the film "isn't about Russian gangs so much as Cronenberg's own dark passions not just for violence but excruciating carnage, which he brandishes mercilessly" and that the film was "a stifling descent into grim shock and disturbing awe."[23]
Eastern Promises won the Audience Prize for best film on September 15, 2007 at the Toronto International Film Festival.[11]
The film received three Golden Globe nominations for the 65th Golden Globe Awards, winning none.[24] Eastern Promises was nominated for Best Motion Picture - Drama. Viggo Mortensen was nominated for Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture - Drama. And Howard Shore was nominated for Best Original Score for a Motion Picture.[25]
The film was nominated in five different categories in the British Independent Film Awards for 2007, and won in one category, gaining a Best Performance by an Actor in a British Independent Film award for Mortensen.[26]
Mortensen was also nominated for Best Actor at the 80th Academy Awards,[27] but told the Associated Press, "If there's a strike I will not go." — a reference to the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike.[28] On February 12, 2008 the strike ended, and he attended the ceremony, although he lost the Academy Award to Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood.
Eastern Promises received 12 nominations for the 28th Genie Awards, tying with the film Shake Hands with the Devil for most nominations, and won 7.[29][30]
The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007.[33]
Speaking in August 2010, Vincent Cassel who played Kirill said that a sequel was discussed with Cronenberg whilst they were filming A Dangerous Method. Cassel suggested that the sequel will be filmed in Russia with Cassel and Mortensen reprising their roles.[35]
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