it hard to criticize a movie which be base on true fact and in which people suffer great injustice . but i wonder if it do justice to the real event and the actual person . it be overly melodramatic and somehow i felt it insult my intelligence . when i be suppose to be outrage about something i would like to have a solid reason . perhaps the big flaw be the complete absence of motive . why do a russian french couple with a small son move from france to the soviet union in 1946. idealism and patriotism and homesickness and love of communism . and what exactly do they expect . they must have know that at that time almost every town in the western soviet union be practically raze to the ground by the german . entire city along the river dnepr be rebuild practically from zero . so and see the family move into a share flat in a comfortable apartment bloc in an intact neighborhood in the center of kiev make them come through a comparatively privilege and well embed into the system . what else and what good could have happen to them . it do not help either that the main character and the french woman and come through a a self center and bitchy and constantly nagging chauvinist and play by sandrine bonnaire and france answer to jessica lange . there be not much there to like in her and and her air of superiority be pretty hard to bear . at home we speak french and she on one occasion admonish her son in an angry tone of voice and strain to make him understand their special situation and their be different and transfer her very private concern to her son . it be not entirely surprising that her husband turn to another woman after a while . probably the story closest to this one be not without my daughter and which i have not read or see on the screen . so maybe this be more a movie about a clash of culture and less about historical reality .