Russian Ark

(Russki kovcheg)
Alexander Sokurov | Russia/Germany | 2002 | PG

A sumptuous cavalcade of three centuries of Russian and European culture and history, "Russian Ark" displays breathtaking mastery of the most up-to-date cinema technology to capture a glorious, lost heritage. An 18th-century French diplomat with a love/hate relationship with Russia finds himself on a time trip through St Petersburg’s fabled Hermitage Museum, formerly the Winter Palace of the Tsars. With him we encounter life at the Imperial Palace as it was in different ages, from little backstage love affairs in Catherine the Great’s personal theatre to the last Grand Royal Ball of 1913, to the present day.

Meticulously and lavishly choreographed – with a cast of thousands – the film is staged in one astounding, continuous tracking shot through the galleries of the Hermitage, culminating in a vast ball scene with the Marrinsky Theatre Orchestra, conducted by the great Valeri Gergiev. “No one familiar with the severe, intellectual films of Alexander Sokurov can imagine the dazzling opulence that explodes in "Russian Ark"… The picture’s astounding production values make their own comment on the role that high culture – architecture, painting, sculpture, theater and music – has played in European history. As one character remarks, Peter the Great may have been a tyrant, but he taught Russians how to enjoy themselves. Finding pleasure in art is what "Russian Ark" is all about.”

- Deborah Young, Variety