Lilya 4-Ever (2002)

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Avg Rating: 4.5 / 5. Voted: 174

No one cared thus far. Do you?

AKA: Lilja 4-ever
Year: 2002
Directed by: Lukas Moodysson
Starring: Oksana Akinshina (Lilya), Artyom Bogucharskiy (Volodya), Pavel Ponomaryov (Andrei), Tonu Kark (Viktor)
Country: Sweden, Scandinavian Cinema, European Cinema
Language: Russian (English Subs)
Runtime: 01:44:36
Genres: Rape, Teensploitation, Old-Young, Human Trafficking-Prostitution, Family

Plot – Spoilers:
A teenager Lilya has grown up in the post-Soviet squalor and decay that her town has to offer. So she’s buzzing when she hears that her mother will be leaving for the United States to join her boyfriend whom she met online. The images of the US that Lilya has been exposed to, promise a far better and exciting life. But a few days before they’re due to leave, her mother tells Lilya she won’t be coming with her. The shattering of Lilya’s dreams from here is slow but sure, and she eventually starts selling herself when the bitter cold and lack of food offer prostitution as the quickest and easiest route to survival.

Lilya has a fuck-you attitude – like when she’s being called a whore by the local boys, she doesn’t scurry away in embarrassment. But it’s the slow burial of this spirit and her will to fight by the end of the movie, that makes this one of the deeper portrayals of angst and prostitution.

Favorite Scenes:
The two occasions Lilya is on the threshold of leaving her town:
Her spirits are high, she is more conscious of her surroundings, and she almost reminds herself that there is nothing worthy here that she’s leaving behind, other than her miserable friend Volodya. During a second watch of the movie, these scenes are heightened because you know what’s looming ahead for Lilya. It’s like a couple of lines from ‘Forever Young’ (a remix of which plays when Lilya and Andrei are out having fun):

Hoping for the best, but expecting the worst…

Random:
The Unloved is another movie that has a powerful scene involving the abandonment of a daughter by a mother.

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Hmm
Hmm
August 31, 2023 2:47 pm

I wonder if the documentary for the story behind this film is available.

stephanie..
stephanie..
July 23, 2023 7:39 am

I don’t know how to feel anymore, I’m going through a bad time and suicide is the most I think of and I didn’t think this movie was like that until I watched it and it’s just making me think in the worst ways.

MoeFo
MoeFo
Reply to  stephanie..
July 26, 2023 5:22 pm

Do NOT let those thoughts get you down. It is actually normal to feel despair repeatedly in this life, but if you want to have a much better experience, you will understand that everything worth having is worth fighting for, and ANYONE can achieve this. Everything is perceived in which-ever way due to your own attitude and decisions. Happiness and success is a choice. Have you ever heard that if you are bored, then you are boring? It is up to you to get off your ass and use your brain to come up with the methods to accomplish your own goals. First, think happy thoughts and work to succeed in small goals initially, then bigger ones, then reach higher and higher over time. People need to relax and don’t expect to win HUGE immediately. If you take your time, and enjoy the ride, you will appreciate your new-found strength more than you can possibly imagine right now. Trust me, I felt like you a very long time ago but became the best of the best in three MAJOR areas. You need to realize that doing the right thing is VERY crucial. You feel terrible deep down when you cheat because of a rotten outlook. Helping others is an excellent way to feel valuable – and proud. There are people who are in worse shape than your own situation. Help them. You’ll be fixing yourself at the same time. Btw, I’m impressed that you write very well, and that is… Read more »

MoeFo
MoeFo
Reply to  stephanie..
July 26, 2023 6:04 pm

One more thing; you should try to avoid ALL things that can bring you down – for now. As I mentioned, happy music – and happy MOVIES for now!! Good jokes, etc.. Find beautiful things to look at. And try to avoid downer people as well!! Decisions especially include those you surround yourself with!! Find people whom you can have meaningful, helpful communication with – people who are “up” most of the time! People who care about others a LOT! And laugh your ass off – a LOT!! Watch great comedians on you.tube or whatever.

KYS666
KYS666
Reply to  stephanie..
July 31, 2023 8:28 pm

nobody cares, you came from tiktok and here you are dumping your sob story after seeing that people could have it much worse. filthy western first world country audaciousness

Slampig
Slampig
Reply to  KYS666
August 23, 2023 5:48 am

Lmao it must suck horse cock not having any friends or family to talk to or depend on so you go on a website catering to fucked up movies. Yet here you are sitting behind your keyboard or phone with a shit anonymous name degrading someone after watching a movie like this. This is a comment I would expect to see after a Serbian film or the Guinea pig films or a shit snuff film but here you are trying to act tough when you are the most pathetic scum on the internet. I am curious on why you picked this emotional film to watch over others, is it because your mom left you? Or are you trying to feel something because you’ve been so out of touch of society and emotion so long?

Slampig
Slampig
Reply to  KYS666
August 23, 2023 5:52 am

Or are you Russian and you’re trying to distract yourself from the fact that your shit country is finally burning and crumbling to the ground?

notlurking
notlurking
April 3, 2023 4:00 am

This film left me speechless…

fred fat
fred fat
Reply to  notlurking
July 14, 2023 10:28 pm

but u speak

MoeFo
MoeFo
Reply to  fred fat
July 26, 2023 5:27 pm

Hey ya fat fuckin fool, writing is not speaking. Jebus

Vicent Vega
Vicent Vega
February 15, 2023 8:42 pm

Probably the saddest, most brutal movie I’ve ever seen. What makes it so impactful is that stories like this are happening all the time, everywhere. Highly recommended if you are not having suicidal thoughts as another comment here

jcd
jcd
February 12, 2023 5:41 am

sad but very good movie. the story is uglier than any gore you can find in this site.

reece
reece
January 29, 2023 10:08 pm

outstanding film making

Razoul
Razoul
November 29, 2022 10:34 pm

Damn fine movie. The younger actors did a great job of making me care about them. Fine pick!

Templeton Peck
Templeton Peck
November 9, 2022 5:40 pm

Grim. Haunting. Effedup? Not so much. A harsh reality for some people, I would think. Didn’t immediately dawn on me that she was following much the same path as her mother did. Very good film, just not particularly happy.

Alex Hogendorp
Alex Hogendorp
August 21, 2022 10:19 am

I picked quite a real gem here.

sav
sav
June 15, 2022 12:05 am

comfort movie

BadLilGoth
BadLilGoth
April 1, 2022 1:39 am

Great Film

Karen
Karen
February 15, 2022 8:51 pm

I thought it was a good movie. A little grim at times, but had a happy ending.

NorseKode
NorseKode
January 24, 2022 1:33 am

excellent films – many thanx for the link ! x

mars.all
mars.all
January 23, 2022 7:34 pm

the first movie that really impacted me

Nancy
Nancy
January 9, 2022 3:51 am

Awesome music, great acting, sublime ending.

vivi666
vivi666
December 29, 2021 10:26 pm

o filme é mto bom .
triste porem mostra a realidade

Joe126
Joe126
November 19, 2021 9:27 pm

One of those movies that has stayed with me for a long while, a few years anyway.

Old Mother Hubbard
Old Mother Hubbard
November 19, 2021 12:26 am

Suicide contemplators should avoid watching this. It is fucking grim. 5 out of 5 – great movie.

Kill yourself
Kill yourself
Reply to  Old Mother Hubbard
February 9, 2022 5:35 am

No no they should definitely watch it

MoeFo
MoeFo
Reply to  Kill yourself
July 26, 2023 5:32 pm

I hope YOU kill yourself, because obviously you have ZERO empathy for your fellow man. People like you should get run over by a fuckin train and not die for about 6 hours, but feel excruciating pain until your head finally explodes.

OJ
OJ
November 16, 2021 10:32 am

An accurate description of life in soviet union right after it’s collapse till late 2000 (believe me I was there when there was no colored TV in houses). However many of these young girls working all around the world are not victims but they do it voluntarily, partly because they hate their country and wanna get out and partly because they’ve got nothing else to offer.

MoeFo
MoeFo
Reply to  OJ
July 26, 2023 5:45 pm

You left the biggest asshole comment in the history of the freakin planet on another page… but this one made me think that you have a little bit of a brain after all. Although your elevator doesn’t go anywhere near the top floor. If it did you’d realize that they are feeling TOTAL despair and hopelessness due to their situation/ reality… and you could say that they are NOT doing such things “voluntarily” when there seems to be no alternative. Everyone is different. You should try to feel complete empathy for those who have a lesser ability to endure pain/ and therefore feel all is lost.

Porușniuc Adina
Porușniuc Adina
September 4, 2021 12:06 am

Very emotional and well acted! I recommend this movie.Thank you admin.

Andrew
Andrew
August 10, 2021 9:16 am

Oooffffff I’m not crying you are!! Superb acting from the 2 youngsters think I need some fcked up blood and gore film now to cheer me up!! BTW the actress Oksana Akinshina (Lilya) was the lead actress in last years film Sputnik

MoeFo
MoeFo
Reply to  Andrew
July 26, 2023 5:47 pm

“I’m not crying you are!!” That’s some way funny shit right there dude. lmao!!

Trystn Bailey
Trystn Bailey
June 3, 2021 2:45 pm

Delightful adventure. Loved it!!!

G!mmeD!sturb!ngSh!t
G!mmeD!sturb!ngSh!t
May 19, 2021 9:33 am

if you’re in the right mood it can get 6.8/10 but in this category Your name is Justine better imho

yokaidesu
yokaidesu
March 22, 2021 10:40 pm

I love this movie!
I saw it when I was 10yrs old or such, then I saw it a couple more times and (maybe because i am a sociopath kinda) I never considered it disturbed! Welp, thanks for this! 😀

george
george
March 9, 2021 9:04 pm

Thanks for ruining hookers for me.

Farfadet Kennedy
Farfadet Kennedy
Reply to  george
March 19, 2021 2:06 pm

Lol that comment xD

ginseng
ginseng
March 4, 2021 3:38 pm

Comfort Film.

Tivert
Tivert
February 12, 2021 12:17 am

Brilliant acting. A real surprise find. Thanks admin

pain
pain
February 4, 2021 7:57 pm

Absolutely beautiful! Very emotional I think I may have shed a tear, my favorite type of effed up film don’t need to have gore to make a fucked up movie. 10/10 reminds me somewhat of Christiane F another great one.

Yeux
Yeux
February 4, 2021 9:24 am

Really good movie. You already know it will be a good movie just with the whole beginning with the music and stuff.

Sadly, things like this are normal in a lot of places. And is a combination of things, bad family members, bad “friends” and etc.

Knowing how to make decisions is another good thing to know, is the difference between still being alive and somewhat having a “happy” life with what you have, and doing prostitution, doing drugs in some public bathroom and end up abused and dead. And this shows in the final scene where the girl acted different, told that guy that was her “bf” to fuck off and helped that old lady. Things could have been different if she chose that course of actions, instead of the one she ended up choosing.

Anyway, really good movie, i like it.

raven
raven
December 31, 2020 12:29 am

Favourite movie i’ve seen on this site so far

dion moss
dion moss
December 18, 2020 8:46 pm

caught me offguard, i came for the fucked up content and got lured into caring enough to almost forming a tear by the end which is testemrnt to the quality level of the young actors as well the story telling and gd job at keeping everything very concievable /realistic,well i realy enjoyed it ,no gore or graphic rape scenes but bit of heart stuff instead which llike everything is all good in moderation,,8/10

MoeFo
MoeFo
Reply to  dion moss
July 26, 2023 5:51 pm

Yeah; we don’t want too much of the silly feel good stuff, now do we! Fuck that shit. haha

M f
M f
September 19, 2020 2:44 pm

Beautiful ..very sad an one that does get you thinking of life the bad an some good .thanx eff as horrible the subject this is a movie that hit the heart …

Pamela
Pamela
August 2, 2020 4:24 pm

The young actors are very good, sad movie but believable probably happens all the time. Thanks admins of EUM for this one.

T.Schuster
T.Schuster
July 4, 2020 9:01 pm

Is the grass any greener on the other side….America. A good movie, a little slow but the impact of reality does hurt some.

MoeFo
MoeFo
Reply to  T.Schuster
July 26, 2023 5:55 pm

It is (greener) due to opportunity afforded by freedom and access to anything imaginable. BUT.. no matter where you are, attitude and decisions have to play a role.