Fairfield University's Quick Center screens Academy Award nominated "East-West"

Fairfield University's Quick Center screens Academy Award nominated "East-West"

"East-West," a Regis Wargnier film nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1999 Academy Awards, will be screened Monday, March 8, at 7 p.m. at Fairfield University's Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. The screening is part of a film series of the Quick Center's ongoing Russian Arts and Letters Festival, which will conclude on Sunday, March 21, with Aleksandr Sokúrov's "The Russian Ark."

Like his 1997 film "The Thief," Wargnier's "East-West" is a turbulent romance set in the post-World War II Soviet Union. The story revolves around Alexei, his wife, Marie, and their son, who travel to Alexei's Russian homeland from France to start a new life after World War II. But things don't work out and they realize they can't leave Russia.

While Alexei tries to make the best of the situation, Marie finds herself drawn to Sacha, a young athlete who also lives in their overcrowded apartment complex and shares her desire to escape. In the end, one of the characters reveals a secret and the romance evolves into a thriller, as it becomes clear any of the main characters could be imprisoned or killed. "East-West" has been called a more intimate version of David Lean's epic "Doctor Zhivago," ending in what some critics see as a superior bittersweet conclusion. The film stars Oleg Menshikov, Sandrine Bonnaire, Sergie Bodrov Jr. and Catherine Deneuve, as a woman who befriends Marie.

Tickets are $7. For tickets, call the Quick Center box office at (203) 254-4010 or toll free at 1-877-ARTS-396. For more information, visit the website, www.quickcenter.com.

Posted On: 02-05-2004 10:02 AM

Volume: 36 Number: 174