The Alienated

Varvara, a professor of philosophy, is discussing the concept of God’s death with her students. She is visited by her sister Angelina, an eminent gynaecologist who has been recalled from Moscow and sent to another city, where she is to reduce the number of abortions. Not long afterwards a girl comes to see her at the hospital, asking her to perform an abortion, claiming that she is carrying the Antichrist in her womb. After a heated dispute with a student, Varvara ponders the presence of evil in human nature, while Angelina carries out an illegal abortion on the girl and takes the embryo home with her... This mystical film by Anja Kreis is beguiling for its ominous atmosphere and raises uncomfortable questions about human conscience, morality and faith, although it declines to provide definitive answers. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)