A Frenchman

This is easily one of the best films of 2020. The story follows a french student of russian origins who in 1957 travels to Moscow apparently for a study exchange, but actually to find a very close relative he never got to know. In the process, all the main forms of oppression exercised by stalinism and by the following regimes is uncovered to the viewer. I have read several headlines comparing this film to Truffaut and the Nouvelle Vague, but I believe this could not be further from the truth. On the opposite, it seems to address that form of leftism that can be perceived in Godard and Truffaut, which seems to ignore how things in Soviet Union really were. This is very emblematic in the first scene, featuring the main character and his leftist militant friends discussing in very naive terms about "degrading bourgeoise attitudes". Later in the film, we witness how this ideology destroyed the lives of millions of people during the harshest stalinist period, and its lasting consequences on the post-war USSR. While it is not the visually most striking modern black and white, its message is still very powerful. The best comparison is maybe with Ida. Much like Pawlikowski's nun, the titular frenchman has a formative experience that uncovers the horrors of totalitarisms.