[7][8] It was selected as the Russian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards, making the December shortlist.
[10] At the end of the Second World War, Iya Sergeyevna, a tall woman nicknamed "Beanpole" (Дылда), works as a nurse in a Leningrad hospital under Dr. Nikolai Ivanovich.
Days later, Masha arrives at Iya's room, returning in uniform from the front, and asks where her son Pashka is.
Shortly afterwards, the wife of Stepan, a paralyzed soldier, arrives at the hospital to find her husband alive, despite having already told her children that he was killed at war.
Nikolai is at first extremely opposed to the idea, but eventually relents, asking Iya to do the task and indicating it will be the "last time".
At a party, Masha asks Dr. Ivanovich to impregnate Iya, he refuses, but she blackmails him, threatening to make public the euthanasia.
Masha intentionally misled Sasha's mother by saying that she lived temporarily with different soldiers, who were capable of providing for and protecting her.
Masha is unable to recognize the woman dead underneath the tram, and runs home to find Iya having an episode.
Through things such as Iya's episodes and Masha's inability to have children, the film explores how people react and recover from devastating events.
Each person's experience and actions serves to show how differently the human mind deals with negative situations and the various outcomes that can occur from this.
Masha wears a green dress and is seen painting the walls a similar color; this signifies her dreams of a better future and the prospect of a new beginning with a new child.
The palette switches to more blues highlighting the fact that Russia's upper class does not share the same traumatic experiences as those more directly affected by the war.
These two strategies enable the viewers to gain a better appreciation for the impact of war through facial expressions and emotion rather than the physical destruction of buildings and cities.
However she continues to dance and ultimately reaches the point where she starts to cry, realizing she will never gain back the happiness of her previous youth ever again.
A fourth theme briefly explored by the film is the class disparity of the post World War II Soviet Union people.
The sequence at the mansion serves to highlight that the struggles of those around the hospital are seen by wealthier members of society such as Sasha but not understood or necessarily moved by.
This is resonated by the mother's belief Sasha will quickly leave Masha once the experience is no longer new, serving to further her trauma and emotional dissonance.
The website's critical consensus reads, "Filmed with impressive skill and brought to life by unforgettable performances, Beanpole takes a heartbreakingly empathetic look at lives shattered by war.