The mysterious and charismatic Russian-born Nikolai Luzhin is a driver for one of London’s most notorious organized crime families of Eastern European origin. The family itself is part of the Vory V Zakone criminal brotherhood. Headed by Semyon, whose courtly charm as the welcoming proprietor of the plush Trans-Siberian restaurant impeccably masks a cold and brutal core, the family’s fortunes are tested by Semyon’s volatile son and enforcer, Kirill, who is more tightly bound to Nikolai than to his own father. But Nikolai’s carefully maintained existence is jarred once he crosses paths at Christmastime with Anna Khitrova, a midwife at a North London hospital. Anna is deeply affected by the desperate situation of a young teenager who dies while giving birth to a baby. Anna resolves to try to trace the baby’s lineage and relatives. The girl’s personal diary also survives her; it is written in Russian, and Anna seeks answers in it. Anna’s mother Helen does not discourage her, but Anna’s irascible Russian-born uncle Stepan urges caution. He is right to do so; by delving into the diary, Anna has accidentally unleashed the full fury of the Vory. With Semyon and Kirill closing ranks and Anna pressing her inquiries, Nikolai unexpectedly finds his loyalties divided. The family tightens its grip on him; who can, or should, he trust? Several lives – including his own – hang in the balance as a harrowing chain of murder, deceit, and retribution reverberates through the darkest corners of both the family and London itself.

Eastern Promises (2007)
  • Rating: (105,585 votes)
  • Tagline:Every sin leaves a mark. »
  • Runtime:100 minutes
  • Director: David Cronenberg
  • Countries:UK, Canada, USA
  • Actors:
    Ekrem
    Josef Altin
    Azim
    Mina E. Mina
    Soyka
    Aleksandar Mikic
    Tatiana (as Sarah Jeanne Labrosse)
    Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse
    Customer
    Lalita Ahmed
    Chemist
    Badi Uzzaman
    Anna
    Naomi Watts
    Nurse (as Dona Croll)
    Doña Croll
    Doctor Aziz
    Raza Jaffrey
    Helen (as Sinead Cusack)
    Sinéad Cusack
  • Genres:Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
  • Producers:
    Jeff Abberley
    executive producer  
    Julia Blackman
    executive producer  
    Stephen Garrett
    executive producer  
    Robert Lantos
    producer  
    Tracey Seaward
    co-producer  
    David M. Thompson
    executive producer  
    Paul Webster
    producer  
  • Plots: In London, the Russian pregnant teenager Tatiana arrives bleeding in a hospital, and the doctors save her baby only. The Russian descendant midwife Anna Khitrova finds Tatiana's diary written in Russian language in her belongings and decided to find her family to deliver the baby, she brings the diary home and ask her uncle Stepan to translate the document. Stepan refuses, but Anna finds a card of a restaurant owned by the Russian Semyon inside the diary and she visits the old man trying to find a lead to contact Tatiana's family. When she mentions the existence of the diary, Semyon immediately offers to translate the document. However, Stepan translates part of the diary and Anna discovers that Semyon and his sick son Kirill had raped Tatiana when she was fourteen years old and forced her to work as prostitute in a brothel of their own. Further, Semyon is the dangerous boss of the Russian mafia "Vory v Zakone", jeopardizing the safety of Anna and her family. Meanwhile, Semyon's driver Nikolai Luzhin gets close to Kirill and Semyon, climbing positions in the criminal organization, but he helps Anna, her family and the baby. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Eastern Promises
  • User's comment:works so well on many levels... by Margie24

    It is not often that audiences today are treated to a film that has as many things going for it as Eastern Promises does. Whether it's because of interference from studios determined to make their products as marketable as possible, filmmakers who favor style over substance, or just a plain old shortage of originality, nowadays it is a treat when a film fan can leave the theater and feel affected by the artistry that he/she has just experienced.

    On the surface, Eastern Promises is a straightforward crime story about people who don't appear to be terribly complex. But somehow, the combination of the narrative, the mood, and the humanness of the characters create an alchemy that transcends this film from something that could have been common into something quite unique and memorable. Noirish settings, dedicated medical professionals, and mobsters and their loyal henchmen are all commonplace enough in movies as to risk being clichés. Yet everything in this film about a London midwife who stumbles into contact with the Russian mob as she seeks clues to the identity of a teen who died in childbirth mesh together wonderfully and fully engage the viewer.

    While it all starts with the script, credit must be given to the director, David Cronenberg for bringing it to life, and for the cast, who created living, breathing characters who the viewer cares about- whether they are likable or not, good or evil, or not quite so easy to read. They seem real.

    At the core of the film is "Nikolai," the loyal chauffeur to the kingpin's volatile son. "Nikolai" is both enigmatic and mesmerizing. We know he is a man with a past and with secrets, but we really don't know what his goals and motives are. We don't know who he is, yet somehow, just as the half-Russian midwife, "Anna", we are drawn to him and trust that there is goodness in him, even as were are not quite sure we should. It is a skillful, yet understated performance that quietly blows you away.

    Although Eastern Promises has some of the director's signature moments of eye-popping violence, they do not dominate this film and it is the quiet moments- where the characters are silently contemplating aspects of their own existence that give the film its power. We can see the introspection and pain on their faces, but the script leaves so much unsaid, and so much about the two main characters (played by Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts) we come to care about so much remain a beautiful, haunting mystery.


  • Quotes: Nikolai Luzhin: Forget any of this happened. Stay away from people like me. Nikolai Luzhin: Sometimes, if things are closed, you just, open them up. Semyon: Soyka had brothers.
  • Also known as: Les promesses de l'ombre (Belgium - French title), Les promesses de l'ombre (France), Promesas del este (Argentina - imdb display title), Promesas del este (Spain), Promesas peligrosas (Mexico), Promesas peligrosas (Peru - imdb display title), Порок на экспорт (Russia), Îsutan puromisu (Japan - imdb display title), Eastern promises - Gyilkos ígéretek (Hungary - imdb display title), Epikindynes yposheseis (Greece - transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title), La promessa dell'assassino (Italy), Lubadused idast (Estonia), Promessas Perigosas (Portugal), Promesses de l'ombre (Canada - French title), Ruska obecanja (Croatia), Sark vaatleri (Turkey - Turkish title), Senhores do Crime (Brazil), Simanim shel Kavod (Israel - Hebrew title), Tödliche Versprechen (Germany), Tödliche Versprechen - Eastern Promises (Germany - TV title), Východní prísliby (Czech Republic), Wschodnie obietnice (Poland - imdb display title),

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