Russian Ark [Blu-ray]

The first ten minutes of the film are so dark that you wonder if something has gone wrong with your DVD player. Many of the incidents and comments depend on information that most viewers cannot be expected to know, so if you watch this at home, you have to keep Wikipedia up on your PC, so you can check.If you know nothing about what is going on, parts of it can seem very silly. For instance, the rather strange tour guide walks into a room full of marble nudes by the noted sculptor Antonio Canova and starts crying out "Mama! Mama!" You may be tempted to start giggling, until you learn that the guide's mother was Canova's mistress. The guide is supposed to be the ghost of the Marquis de Custine, who lived from around 1790 to 1860 and traveled to Russia and wrote a book that expressed some appreciation of Russian life mixed with disdain, since he thought them inferior to Europeans.Similarly, in one of the final scenes, you may not understand why the crowd of ballgoers is applauding the orchestra so feverishly, almost as if this were their last chance to hear them, until you understand that this scene depicts what actually was the last ball given by the Czar, in 1913.Some people may find the whole thing simply boring, but it certainly grew on me, and I found it effective. Certain scenes have a quiet power, including an encounter with a blind woman who nevertheless is able to describe the paintings in detail, or a brief glimpse of Nicholas II and his family about to share a meal together, or a somber scene in which the present Director of the Hermitage converses, in a dark room, with the ghosts of his own father, his predecessor as Director, and the man before him, who was Director during the days of Stalin. The Stalinist-era Director wants to know if the Director's phone is still tapped by the government.Some of this reminded me of Bergman, some of Robert Altman, and the ballroom scene of the end of Lucchino Visconti's "The Leopard."The reviews here pretty well describe the spectrum of possible reactions to this film. If you are like some, you may hate it and feel like jumping out the window before it is over; if you are like others, you may want to appreciate it but still find it overblown and pretentious. For my money, the real-time, unbroken presentation, the winter afternoon with its fading light, the telltale signs of the Marquis being back from the dead (e.g., he confesses to having forgotten the taste of food), the somber lighting of most of the galleries and works of art, and the impending sense of time running out which hung over the whole film (and was a real, and urgent issue in its single-shot production mode) give the film a power and poignancy that make it worth watching.

How to watch this movie This is a unique production. Don't just pop it in the DVD player watch for three minutes, say "yuk" and eject it. This movie grows on you if you have any interest in architecture, art, Russian history or film production. Russian Ark is an artistic representation of the history of Russian culture as captured and preserved by the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. The art and culture of the Russian peoples has been preserved in the palace of the Czars known as the "Hermitage" through its history of war, fire, and revolution. In this movie the Hermitage represents an Ark in which Russian culture survives the turmoil that threatens the Russian people. The plot is very minimal. The camera represents a ghost who finds himself jumping in and out of various time periods following another semi-real character who is a French Marquis who has a haughty arrogant view of Russian culture as they wander through the museum/palace. Filmed entirely in the museum two days before Christmas on the only day of the year that the museum could be made available for the 2000 actors & extras and hundreds of technicians to literally re-stage 33 rooms of the historic palace for filming a 90 minute movie in one continuous uninterrupted shot. The camera glides through the palace encountering the accurately costumed actors in short scenes of Russian history and culture in the palace of the Czars, from Peter the Great in 1700, to Nicolas II in 1913. The movie ends with a recreation of the last grand ball held in the ballroom that had not hosted such an event since Czar Nicolas II and his family were murdered by the Bolsheviks during the Russian revolution. This production is in Russian with English subtitles. However, the story is a little hard to follow without some idea what the movie is trying to say, and the casual viewer will get more from the movie if the film is first viewed with the producer's commentary enabled. The commentary is in spoken English and does explain the important points of the meager plot as well as point out the production difficulties of this totally unique work of art. Also check out "the making of" section of this DVD for more insight into the extraordinary efforts required to make this production possible. Viewing the movie with subtitles enabled you can engage yourself in the dichotomy of the European vs Russian mindset of the two main characters. Finally with subtitles disabled or sound turned off, let yourself relax and just watch the wonders of the architecture and priceless art of one of the most famous museums in the world as you've never seen them before.You will never see another movie like this again.

Russian Ark isn't for everybody. Prepare yourself for a thoroughly out-of-mainstream experience. This is a film that was shot in one take. Yes. One take. The actors had to be strategically placed through the museum so that they would enter their part with the flow of the cameraman who is attached by an umbilical to a batter and to a sound and light man. The film location is the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg and the film follows the history of Russia from Peter the Great, through Catherine the Great, and on to Nicholas the II. Visually entrancing, especially the final ball scene where we see the participants of Russia's upperclass leave the ballroom not knowing the tragedies to follow. It's almost like watching lambs leading themselves to the destruction of life as they knew it. The intractability of the upper classes - - not heeding the overwhelming gap between their ostentatious life style to that of the peasant classes - - becomes their undoing, and there's nothing we can do as an audience but helplessly watch them descend the grand staircase into their destruction. Before launching into the movie, I recommend that the viewer watch the interview with the director and the story of how the film was made. It will make more sense that way. Having said that, for anyone not familar with the nuansces of Russian culture, language, and history, the viewer may question their decision to suffer through the 90 plus minutes. For those students of Russia and those who have experienced life in Russian it will impart the sense of loss and tragedy of a Russia lost to time and memory. Lastly, the Hermitage is a beautiful testament for Russia's love of art and the director does it justice to be sure. George Andreev

Aquí vamos de nuevo. Para empezar, cuando hice la compra decía que era una edición de aniversario, lo cual no es cierto (pueden checarlo en la página oficial de Amazon). Si es la misma compañía (kino lorber), pero esta muy austera, solo cuenta con un documental sobre la filmación, pero nada más. Otra cosa, en las especificaciones técnicas dice que la pantalla es anamorfica o widescreen y, tampoco es cierto, la imagen es muy pobre y realmente mala, mi dvd viejito de esta pelicula, tiene mejor imagen y también viene con formato widescreen.No estoy calificando la película que en si es una obra maestra, sino esta edición.

il contenuto del dvd è sorprendente. onirico, ironico, estetico, tecnicamente impeccabile, molto russo e carezzevolmente europeo. tripudio di costumi e allestimenti scenici

An astonishing film by any measure. How they managed to do it is just remarkable. Once you watch it for the first time, it pays to watch the added documentary then watch it a second time for further enrichment. Russian cinema at its best.

Ich muß sagen, daß ich leider einen Großteil der Hauptpersonen, die dreihundert Jahre russischer Geschichte darstellen, nicht erkennen konnte. Es gibt keine Handlung und der Film ist für mich eigentlich kein Spielfilm, sondern ein Dokumentarfilm, aber ich weiß, daß er in ganz wenigen Stunden gedreht werden mußte - weil das Schloß bzw. das Museum zu diesem Zweck nur eineinhalb Tage zur Verfügung gestellt wurde - und zwar in einer einzigen Kamerafahrt ohne einen einzigen Schnitt. Man kann sich also gut vorstellen, wie riesig die Vorbereitungsarbeit war, mit ganz neuen Kostümen und mit etwa zweitausend Schauspielern. Und überhaupt merkt man auf Anhieb, mit wieviel Liebe und Enthusiasmus der Film gedreht wurde.Ich habe jedes Bild genossen, und habe mit viel Freude die dreiunddreißig gezeigten Säle des Eremitage mit vielen Bildern und Skulpturen bewundert.Die letzte Szene, die des Balls, ist eine Wucht - die wunderschöne Musik hat mich auch sehr beeindruckt.Ich empfehle den Film jedem Kulturliebhaber.

On pourrait s'abandonner au seul plaisir esthétique que procurent les très belles images de ce film qui permet de visiter l'Ermitage, tour à tour et indissociablement palais et musée, ce serait déjà beaucoup. Il nous livre aussi, ainsi qu'à la jeunesse russe d'aujourd'hui, des sujets de réflexion, d'abord sur les liens à la fois ambigus et étroits (et voulus par les tsars) qui unissent l'occident et la Russie dans cette capitale surgie des marais en 1703 conformément au rêve de Pierre; située à l'extrème ouest du pays, délibérément occidentale, réalisée par ingénieurs hollandais et architectes italiens (et notamment Rastrelli), Saint-Pétersbourg n'est certes pas toute la Russie, elle n'est pas la Russie des boyards barbus ni celles des steppes de l'Asie centrale, mais elle est le creuset de la civilisation russe moderne et de la littérature des XVIIIème et XIXième siècles, et même au delà, le lieu du pouvoir de Pierre le Grand à Nicolas II, le lieu des révoltes et des révolutions des XIXème et XXème siècles. Ensuite, ce film réaffirme l'indéniable besoin de savoir lire le passé pour pouvoir comprendre le présent, et donc de ne pas couper les fils de la connaissance ou, comme le font très intensément les Russes actuellement, de renouer ces fils pour posséder les clefs de lecture qui permettent de comprendre les lieux, les oeuvres d'art, les écrits, l'enchaînement des faits, et sa propre identité. Certes nous sommes tous des citoyens du monde, mais il est parfois rassurant de se raccrocher à un village ou à une tribu.Et d'ailleurs, Karl Marx lui-même ne considérait-il pas l'Histoire comme la première des sciences?Ce très beau film est à faire figurer dans le viatique nécessaire à l'abord de Saint-Pétersbourg en compagnie de quelques auteurs classiques choisis (Pouchkine, Gogol, Biély notamment).