MUBI

What an exquisite movie. It won me over gradually. After the first twenty minutes I was thinking: «This may be a technical stunt, but hardly more than that». As the film progressed, I realized how the director and the cinematographer were actually creating a work of astonishing beauty, and yet nothing could prepare me for the final scene («Oh, it was gorgeousness and gorgeousity made flesh»). The movie is a very peculiar and personal meditation on Russian history (despite all their differences, it reminded me of Oliveira’s ‘No, or the Vain Glory of Command’, which is better, I think) and I can only hope that one day I’ll be able to identify all events depicted or alluded to. And it’s an hommage to Russian cinema too: notice, for instance, Eisenstein’s Vakulinchuk looking at the Romanovs’ last dinner. Oh, and there’s the Hermitage, a bit like Versailles in ‘Marie Antoinette’. To film in the actual place gives the movie a unique feeling and its final brush of splendour. [13/03/2011]

Absolutely amazing. Absolutely awe-inspiring. Absolutely brilliant.

Where to begin? Perhaps I’ll get this out of the way: the 96 minute film was shot in one continuous take. One continuous take! However, Sokurov himself said in the interviews included in the DVD that that sort of technical experimentation is useless unless the project is an artistic triumph. He has no reason to worry in that regard.

Russian Ark represents the absolute epitome of nearly everything a historical film should be. I grow so tired of the same old, rehashed biopics and historical epics. Most directors never really engage the historical subject matter that they’re filming. But Sokurov gives us a truly demanding film, one that grabs our attention from the start and then challenges us to keep up with it, to converse with it. We are treated to a surreal, dream-like survey of the last 300 years of Russian history and aristocratic culture, filtered through the gaze of an unseen, modern narrator and a 19th-century French duke. This approach allows for an introspective accounting of history, more philosophical than concerned with dates and Great Events.

Furthermore, the film acts as an active conversation in many regards. For one, there is the on-going conversation between the unseen narrator and the duke. There’s the larger conversation going on between Russia and Europe. There’s the conversation between past and present. And then there’s the conversation between director and audience. All of these conversations are linked together into a coherent whole which manages to comment upon how we perceive history and culture, the debt owed by Russia to western Europe, the contradicting individuality of Russia, and the role of the spectator in art and film. Quite the feat.

I’ve had the extreme pleasure of visiting the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, where this film was made. Such a magnificent building oozing with history, and Sokurov managed to create an even more mysterious and incredible world out of it than the reality, which was quite impressive on its own.

(Sunday / March 21, 2010 / 1:30am)

What beauty! A tour de force! Lavishing! I was in a whole other level filled with delightful people and ravishing paintings. I traveled on my chair while watching “Russian Ark.” The presentation could not be more realistic than this film itself. What a magnificent direction by Alexander Sokurov. This one single take of the entire movie made me feel like I was a part of the masterfully orchestrated play. The paintings looked so beautiful that I thought I was actually looking at them face to face in a museum. I can still smell the vivid images portrayed here on this film. There are no other film so perfectly choreographed like the “Russian Ark.” Watching this picture was my first trip to heaven-like, easygoing environment, and beautiful architecture as it allowed me to freely accept the gracefulness of its objects and surroundings. What more admiration can i say about this film? Did it give me joy watching it? Was I overwhelmed with emotions and excitement? Maybe yes and maybe yes! I’ve never been so close to an empire, a power, a royalty and beauty. I imagined myself reading a history book about Russia in the 18th century and dreamt about this adventure! The slight humor didn’t bother me at all, yet it made me adore the film even more because of its luxury and regal splendour. A labyrinth of beauty and enchantment, I was free just like the narrator and i just had to dream away, and live forever!