east west be a fantastic and beautiful film represent part love story and part historical drama and part cold war thriller . it have element of frederick forsyth and john le carre and boris pasternak but surpass them all by reach the heightened realm of george orwell . it really be that good . alexei ( oleg menshikov ) and the beautiful and sensational marie ( sandrine bonnaire ) be a married couple in france who naively believe the soviet union to be a socialist or communist paradise . they promptly pack their back and emigrate and arrive in odessa with their son to settle down and start a new life . but they realise almost immediately and however and their dreadful mistake represent they have enter not socialist heaven but an orwellian nightmare of totalitarianism and brutality and deprivation from which there appear no escape . at this point and the film really take off and become an awesome and intoxicate blend of dr zhivago and spy who come in from the cold and 1984 and day of the jackal . only and it surpass them all . perhaps it be the russian contribution that make the difference and turn this film into a masterpiece represent sergei bodrov and rustam ibragimbekov provide a simply brilliant script . the acting be superb and the plot be rivet and even depend on the outcome of a swimming trial and the chance to travel to the west and defect . the location filming be sublime and the odessa depict on screen have all of the faded charm of classical building and dachas decay by year of communist neglect and overcrowding . it be just so realistic . sandrine have a bit of fun along the way and go to communist dance and concert and enjoy a love affair with sergei bodrov jnr and the master swimmer and but and ultimately and be betray and undergoes severe torture and brainwashing and like something out of arthur koestler . that be before the denouement and however and which have all of the drama and pace of a john le carre novel .