Loveless clip: Oscar-nominated Russian film offers a bleak, brutal look at society

It's the second of Andrey Zvyaginstev's films to be nominated at the Academy Awards

Will Loveless, the Russian film nominated in the Foreign Language category at this year's Oscars, walk away triumphant?

It's the second time director Andrey Zvyaginstev has seen himself earn a nomination in the category, after Leviathan in 2014. Loveless revolves around Zhenya (Maryana Spivak) and Boris (Alexey Rozin), whose bitter divorce has seen the pair attempt to relaunch themselves into new, separate lives.

Only to be forced back together once more when their 12-year-old son Alexey (Matvey Novikov) suddenly disappears, without any apparent trace.

Although the fractured, isolated lives of its players are universally applicable as the bleakest of portraits of humanity at its most cruel and self-interested, Zvyganistev layers in a simmering critique of his own home country, opening the film in 2012 and a backdrop of Russian political turmoil.

Alongside its Oscar nomination, Loveless also won the Jury Prize at Cannes, while earning nominations at both the BAFTAs and the Golden Globes.

Loveless is out in UK cinemas now.

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