Nadezhda Mikhalkova is solid, with a few rough edges

Nadezhda Mikhalkova gives this role a little extra shape without making a big show of it. I bought the character pretty quickly, which is not always easy in this kind of film. There is a nice lived-in quality to it, nothing too forced. The small reactions do a lot of the heavy lifting. It is less about one scene and more about the overall aftertaste.