The Gulls has some similarities, thematically, to The Lesson, in that it is about a woman trying to make something of life when life is trying to stop her, including a husband who makes things worse. But the difference with this film, and what made it stand out, is the atmosphere of the film and the striking sense of place.
This is achieved both with beautiful, contemplative cinematography and a superb use of sound and music to create something tangibly claustrophobic. There is an enveloping sense of isolation, both personal and geographical. It is stunning and brooding, the light, the mist and the winter weather working together to feel truly unsettling and chilling.
The actress playing lead character Elza gives a poised and restrained performance and is supported by mostly non-professional actors who are all convincing, and who add to the sense of a real community that the film portrays, despite also having a slightly dreamlike quality too.
The Gulls is set in the Russian republic of Kalmykia, which I admit I had never heard of before the film, and which sits on the shore of the Caspian sea. Although the plot is not the most interesting, there is enough interest from how director Ella Manzheeva portrays the world of the film. Manzheeva makes Kalmyk culture seem both familiar and distinct at the same time. There is a truly convincing sense of the town being its own world and a feeling of being at the very edge of the world. The sense of place comes across as being both oppressive and in some ways freeing to the characters.
Overall, although not completely compelled by the story, I was captured by the atmosphere of the film and particularly by the ability to conjure up this fully realised world, that was haunting and strange and real.
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