East/West  East/West (; ) is a 1999 internationally co-produced drama film directed by Régis Wargnier, starring Sandrine Bonnaire (as Marie), Oleg Menshikov (as Alexei), Sergei Bodrov Jr. (as Sasha) and Catherine Deneuve (as Gabrielle). Authors of scenario and dialogue: Rustam Ibragimbekov, Sergei Bodrov, Louis Gardel and Régis Wargnier. In 1946, Russians living abroad are invited back to the motherland and offered citizenship in the USSR. Among this group is Doctor Alexei Golovin (Menshikov), his wife, the natively French Marie (Bonnaire) and their young son. Atmosphere on the ship taking them to Russia is jovial, with drinking and singing, yet once they come ashore the Russian authorities separate them into two groups 'fit' and 'unfit'. A man is shot trying to run back to his father from who he is separated, and the Golovins begin to understand the situation they have landed in.  Marie is branded a spy, and her French passport is torn up. Alexei accepts a job in Kiev overseeing the health conditions in a factory and the family moves into a communal house. Marie briefly befriends the elderly housekeeper—who speaks some French—but this lady is quickly 'denounced' by the state. Her grandson Sasha (Bodrov), is left without a place when boarders come in and claim his missing grandmother's room, and Marie, guilty, invites him to live in the Golovin room. Marie feels stifled and repressed and wishes to go back to France dearly. She attempts to go to the Soviet authorities and demand to be sent back, but she is stopped by Alexei. Public, noncompliance, he knows, could get them all killed. She also approaches a French actress, Gabrielle (Deneuve), and attempts to gain her help in escaping the USSR. Marie and Alexei grow distant as he acclimates to his role as the public health advisor and toes the party line, while she yearns for the West. Her budding friendship with Sasha, who is a champion swimmer recently thrown out of the local team, becomes a vehicle of possible escape. As she helps him train in order to regain his position on the team, they see an opportunity to go West for the European championships, and help them both towards liberation. Marie gains a job working to iron clothes for the military choir in Kiev.