“He taught Russians to enjoy themselves.”
Release: 2002
Runtime: 1 hour, 36 min
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Historical
Language: Russian, English subtitles
MPAA Rating: N/A
Starring: Sergei Dontsov, Mariya Kuznetsova, Leonid Mozgovoy, Mikhail Piotrovsky, David Giorgobiani, Aleksandr Chaban, Lev Yeliseyev, Oleg Khmelnitsky, Alla Osipenko, Artyom Strelnikov, Tamara Kurenkova, Maksim Sergeyev, Natalya Nikulenko

Amazon Link: Russian Ark

SYNOPSIS:The single-shot story involves an 18th century French diplomat, the Marquis de Custine (Donstov), who embarks on a sort of time travelling tour of the Hermitage, opining on Russian art and history with a Russian acquaintance (voiced by Sokurov himself, off camera). Among those they encounter on the way are Peter the Great (Sergeyev), Catherine the Great (Kusnetsova), and Tsar Nicholas II (Baranov) and his family at dinner.

In the beginning, Russian Ark’s invisible narrator speaks softy, “I open my eyes and I see nothing,” to a blank screen. The narrator speaks also of some unspecified accident and suddenly a group of revelers in 18th-century costume disembarks from their carriages at a side entrance to St. Petersburg’s palatial Hermitage (virtual tour), and the fantastic voyage begins.

Russian Ark is a single 96-minute tracking shot in which the narrator and a 19th-century Frenchman, apparently the Marquis Astolphe de Custine, accompany a lively group of characters across several centuries through 33 rooms of the world’s largest museum. Indeed, Russian Ark might have been inspired by the description of a Hermitage ball in an 1839 letter by the marquis himself: A procession “proceeding from one immense hall to another, winding through galleries, crossing the drawing rooms, and traversing the whole building in such order or direction as the caprice of the individual who leads may dictate.”

Russian Ark took over four years to finance and organize. Some 2,000 costumed actors, extras, and the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, rehearsed for seven months. The camera peers through windows and strolls around the artworks. People slip and fall and sidle through our field of vision on cue.

This is, without a doubt, one of the most visually beautiful films I have ever seen. Often I realized I was looking at the paintings and costumes, rather that pay attention to the characters. The whole journey is a strange mix of stunning sets (the museum) and an ensemble of characters that are morose, manic, and cryptic all at once.

Some might argue that this picture is nothing more than a well-orchestrated guided tour. Maybe it is, but one has to feel while watching it, that there is more to the story even if they don’t necessarily “get it.” Nevertheless, after the initial intoxication of the non-stop camerawork has dissipated, the film feels progressive dry and confusing. The Heritage museum might be “the ark of the Russian soul”, but this film does not do Russia justice.

Trivia: Russian Ark was shot on high-definition digital video attached to a custom-built hard drive. There were evidently three short false starts and then the entire movie was shot straight through on a late December day with only four hours of sufficient existing light. The sound was subsequently layered and the images sharpened in digital post-production.

Goozlepipe Rating:Didn’t Like It

Popularity: 1%