Eastern Promises ★★★★
FROM its opening shock murder to final fade-out, David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises is a disturbing and engrossing drama.
Set in London, this 2007 film begins with the death of a teenage mother during childbirth. The baby girl survives along with the mother’s diary.
On-duty midwife Anna, who has recently lost a child of her own, is emotionally impacted by the incident and determined to ensure the child is looked after by tracking down the family.
The mother was Russian, possibly an illegal immigrant and, apart from the diary writen in Russian, the only other clue is a restaurant business card.
Visitng the restaurant Anna, played by Naomi Watts, meets the owner Semyon, his son Kirilli and their chauffer Nikolai. While Semyon claims to not know the woman, he is very interested in the diary and offers to translate it.
While he appears friendly and helpful on the surface, there is something about the experience, in particular the attitude of the son Kirilli, that makes Anna nervous. She returns the next day with the diary but not before giving a copy to her Russian uncle to also translate it.
The diary reveals a shocking crime and the dark truth behind the family who are part of the city’s Russian criminal underworld. Unfortunately, it may already be too late for Anna and her family to avoid retribution.
Eastern Promises works on several levels – as a compelling drama, an exploration of a crime culture steeped in ancient tradition and a dangerous romance between seemingly opposed individuals who are drawn together through intense circumstances.
Canadian Cronenberg, best known for his exceptional horror filmography, including The Fly, Dead Ringers, Rabid, Shivers and The Dead Zone, brings the same sensibility to this more conventional story, creating a disturbing atmosphere filled with uncompromising characters and extreme approaches to life, honour and death.
Watts is good as the resourceful and determined Anna who holds her own against a triio of excellent actors playing the viper’s nest of alpha male characters confronting her.
Viggo Mortensen as Nikolai, Vincent as Kirilli and particularly Armin Mueller-Stahl as Semyon all give chilling and layered performances that match the tome and ferocity of the violent sequences, including one of the most intense and bloody knife fights in modern cinema.
Despite its dark and extreme nature, there are still moments of emotion and humour in the film that suggest an inkling of humanity still exists within some of the protagonists.
If you enjoy Eastern Promises also check out A History of Violence, another tough crime drama which Cronenberg made just before that features another strong performance from Mortensen.