After the successes of Show Me Love and Together, Swedish director Lukas Moodysson changes tact somewhat with this bleak but deeply affecting piece of work. Lilya (Akinshina) is a 16-year-old girl, living a poverty-stricken existence in an unidentified city in the former Soviet Union. After her mother abandons her for a new life in America, Lilya's predicament is intensified and she begins a descent into the world of teenage prostitution. With only her friendship with an abused youngster, Volodya (Bogucharskij) to rely on, Lilya seems doomed. An unexpected relationship with the suave Andrei (Ponomarev) threatens to being some much needed happiness into Lilya's life but her suitor is not quite as wholesome as he first appears.
Relentlessly harsh, Lilya 4-Ever essentially charts the degeneration of a young girl and makes for uncomfortable if gripping viewing. Moodysson bravely doesn't attempt to temper the material in any way, showing the full brutality of Lilya's wasted life without ever being excessively voyeuristic, especially when it comes to the troubling sex scenes. The sheer bleakness of the Lilya 4-Ever may not be particularly palatable but it's difficult not to be moved by the sheer enormity of the performance supplied by Akinshina.
