Russian Ark (Russkij kovcheg)

Dir. Aleksandr Sokurov

Ah, these Russians and their long, occasionally ponderous, often visually stunning films! (See: Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris.) A visual and technical tour de force, with all 96 minutes shot in one take (the third take of the day’s shoot, I’ve read), Russian Ark was oddly spellbinding. It’s not like there’s much of a plot, but the visuals are sumptuous - especially the Great Royal Ball of 1913, which has great music too - and it certainly held me in my seat. Was there a meaning to it all? I guess if you must find one it’s that the Hermitage in itself contains not only great art, but the whole of Russian history, from the time of the Tsars to the present day. But since feeling is first we forget the lack of narrative and focus on the pure aesthetic beauty of some of the shots. On the way back, I had the happy coincidence of reading a Richard Schickel interview where he said while critics tend to think verbally, some of the greatest films are imagistic and don’t lend themselves nicely to verbalisation. He was talking about Kubrick movies, but I think it applies to Russian Ark too.

And such deft handling of the anachronistic time jumps! It seemed to me that the narrator could only speak to people in the present time, while the Marquis could only interact with people from his time. I admit to only knowing a rough outline of Russian historym and still, it made me sad to see Nicholas III’s family so happy. I think that’s where the film’s feeling of melancholy comes in, from our ironic knowledge of the history. The mazurka dancers at the ball in that virtuoso finale are ecstatic, and only the audience knows they are dancing the dances of an era soon to be bygone. A bittersweet symphony, this life.

Random Notes: The film spooler jumped twice during the movie, spoiling the continuous take marvel somewhat… Apologies to anyone near me who had to endure my sneezing. It may reassure you somewhat to learn that it’s not Sars, just allergic rhinitis caused probably by a reaction to someone’s perfume… I was surprised to see Tilman Büttner’s name on the D.P. credits, given the frenetic pace and constant cuts of Run Lola Run… I wish I could’ve seen the elation of the cast and crew when shooting was finished, they must have been ecstatic… Ratio of films with male-peeing scenes to total films seen: 5/13.