Cannes critic and correspondent Shannon Cotter looks at Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa’s Cannes entry, a harrowing, engrossing look at the state of Russia during Stalin’s Great Purge.
The world of Two Prosecutors is a cold and unfeeling one, the camera unmoving for the duration of the film, only livened by the movement of hushed characters scrambling across the screen. Based on the novella of the same name by political prisoner and physicist Georgy Demidov, Loznitsa’s film centres on an unusually young prosecutor (one half of the film’s title), Kornyev (played by the excellent Aleksandr Kuznetsov), who approaches prison officials in Bryansk, Russia, with a strange letter. Written in blood by one of their most high-profile prisoners, it claims that the NKVD is abusing their powers to discard any old party veterans who have become a menace to Stalin’s ongoing regime.
What follows is a tense, two-hour journey where Kornyev tries to do everything in his power to undo the maladies of injustice. Everywhere he is met with resistance. Seeking an appointment with the prison’s governor (Vytautas Kaniusonis), he is made to wait hours. Upon trying to establish contact with the prisoner, they try to quell his visit with the threat of infectious illnesses. Yet through all this, Kornyev remains dutifully persistent. It makes your heart ache for him. If he follows the rules enough, maybe he will escape unscathed. However, the more Kornyev uncovers – especially after meeting with prisoner Stepniak (Aleksandr Filippenko), who reveals clear abuse – the more his safety begins to walk a very tight line.
Relying on a dialogue-heavy script, Loznitsa tells the story with stark, unfaltering language. Very little is left to the imagination. Still, this simplicity adds to the tension. With everything explained so explicitly, surely there is no room left for miscommunication or questioning. That is what Kornyev seems to think, as is communicated by Kuznetsov’s flawless performance. Having made a crossover into English-language cinema with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, his staggering command of the screen begs for more prominent roles. Bringing an aching youthfulness to the role, hesitancy rings in every one of Kornyev’s actions. Despite being a high achiever, his social awkwardness and quietness place him front and centre of the jeers of those around him, constant digs at his virginity and his lack of experience with women. Yet one begins to question: are these onlookers just being overly unfriendly, or are they part of a wider, deeper conspiracy meant to set Kornyev off course? Either way, Kuznetsov’s performance is one of the biggest surprises at Cannes, sure to net him more as he furthers his career on a worldwide stage.
Despite the rigidity, a certain polished beauty emanates from the film under the guidance of cinematographer Oleg Mutu and production designers Yuriy Grigorovich and Aldis Meinerts. Glossy wooden staircases and lavish furniture in Moscow serve as an ironic parallel to the dirty prison of Bryansk. This area of society may appear more dignified, but it is still permeated by an invisible rot that allows ordinary civilians to ignore the wrongdoings quietly occurring beneath their noses. Even in government buildings, Kornyev is threatened with a sense of unease by a visitor struggling to find his way out and an overly jovial stranger who proclaims they are long-lost university friends. It feels as though nowhere is safe.
Two Prosecutors offers the perplexing question: if all laws are abided and each rule followed to a tee, will resistance eventually be rewarded? Each scene presents Kornyev with a new challenge, and in each case, he goes beyond every hurdle until he cannot be denied access. The film’s climactic scene, when he meets the Chief Prosecutor (Anatoliy Beliy), is preceded by the same obfuscation, waiting hour upon hour while every individual is attended before him.
Rarely has there been as morally clean a character as Kornyev. A fatigue seems to layer his existence, often near slumber as he faces monotonous setback after setback. With everything spelled out steadily in dialogue and through Kornyev’s relentlessness, there rises a hope that he cannot possibly be denied justice – that there can be no missteps conjured by invisible enemies to catch him out when he has abided so strongly by the book. “Washing your hands won’t protect you from certain illnesses,” Kornyev is warned early in the film. And it seems a clear message for the struggle that is about to unfold.
Two Prosecutors may not catch the eye of casual cinemagoers with its heavy content and stark atmosphere, but it is undoubtedly one of Cannes’ best. With a career-changing performance from Kuznetsov and its probing subject matter, this portrayal of real-world fears is too eerie to ignore.
Two Prosecutors premiered at Cannes on Wednesday, 14th May 2025.
