Russian Ark

Russian Ark
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Alexander Sokurov
Written by	Anatoli Nikiforov Alexander Sokurov
Produced by	Andrey Deryabin Jens Meurer Karsten Stöter
Starring	Alexander Sokurov Sergey Dreyden Mariya Kuznetsova Marksim Sergeyev Anna Aleksakhina Vladimir Baranov
Narrated by	Alexander Sokurov
Cinematography	Tilman Büttner
Edited by	Stefan Ciupek Sergei Ivanov Betina Kuntzsch Patrick Wilfert
Music by	Sergei Yevtushenko
Production company	Seville Pictures
Distributed by	Wellspring Media
Release dates	22 May 2002(2002-05-22)(Cannes) 19 April 2003(2003-04-19)(Russia) 1 May 2003(2003-05-01)(Germany)
Running time	96 minutes
Countries	Russia Germany Canada Finland
Languages	Russian Persian
Budget	~$2.5 million
Box office	$8.7 million

Russian Ark(Russian:Русский ковчег,romanized:Russkij kovcheg) is a 2002experimentalhistorical dramafilm directed byAlexander Sokurov.The plot follows an unnamed narrator, who wanders through theWinter PalaceinSaint Petersburg,and implies that he died in some horrible accident and is a ghost drifting through. In each room, he encounters various real and fictional people from various periods in the city's 300-year history. He is accompanied by "the European", who represents theMarquis de Custine,a 19th-century French traveler.

Aninternational co-productionbetween Russia and Germany,Russian Arkwas shot entirely in theWinter Palaceof the Russian StateHermitage Museumon 23 December 2001, using a one-take single 87-minuteSteadicamsequence shot.It extensively uses thefourth walldevice, but repeatedly broken and re-erected. At times, the narrator and the companion interact with the other performers, while at other times they pass unnoticed.

The film was entered into the2002 Cannes Film Festival.Russian Arkis widely regarded as one of the greatest Russian films of all time.

Plot

On a winter's day, a small party of men and women arrive by horse-drawn carriage to a minor side entrance of the Winter Palace, dressed in the style of the early 19th century to attend a ball hosted by theEmperor Alexander I.The narrator (whosepoint of viewis always in first-person) meets another spectral but visible outsider, "the European", and follows him through numerous rooms of the palace. "The European", a 19th-century French diplomat who appears to be theMarquis de Custine,has nothing but contempt for Russians; he tells the narrator that they are unable to create or appreciate beauty as "Europeans" do, as demonstrated by the European treasures around him. Each room manifests a different period of Russian history, although the periods are not in chronological order.

Featured arePeter the Greatharassing and striking one of his generals; a spectacular presentation of operas and plays in the era ofCatherine the Great;an imperial audience in whichTsar Nicholas Iis offered a formal apology bythe Shah of Persia,represented by his grandsonKhosrow Mirza,for the death of ambassadorAlexander Griboyedovin 1829; the idyllic family life ofTsar Nicholas II'schildren;the ceremonial changing of the various regiments ofthe Imperial Guard;contemporary tourists visiting the palace; the museum's director whispering the need to make repairs during the rule ofJoseph Stalin;and a desperateLeningradermaking his own coffin during the900-day siegeof the city duringWorld War II.

A grand ball follows, held in theNicholas Hall,with many of the participants in spectacular period costume and a full orchestra conducted byValery Gergievfeaturing music byMikhail Glinka,then a long final exit with a crowd downthe grand staircase.The European tells the narrator that he belongs here, in the world of1913where everything is still beautiful and elegant, and does not want to go any further. The narrator then walks backwards out the hallway and sees many people from different time periods exiting the building together. As he watches them, the narrator quietly departs the procession, leaves the building through a side door and looks out upon theRiver Neva.

Cast

• Alexander Sokurovas Narrator
• Sergei Dontsov (Sergey Dreyden) as the European (Marquis de Custine)
• Mariya Kuznetsova asCatherine the Great
• Marksim Sergeyev asPeter the Great
• Anna Aleksakhina asAlexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse)
• Vladimir Baranov asNicholas II
• Svetlana SvirkoasAlexandra Feodorovna (Charlotte of Prussia)

Production

The film displays 33 rooms of the museum, which are filled with a cast of over 2,000 actors and three orchestras.Russian Arkwas recorded in uncompressedhigh-definition videousing aSony HDW-F900camera. The information was not recorded compressed to tape as usual, but uncompressed onto a hard disk which could hold 100 minutes which was carried behind the cameraman as he traveled from room to room, scene to scene. According toIn One Breath: Alexander Sokurov's Russian Ark,the documentary on the making of the film, four attempts were made. The first failed at the five-minute mark. After two more failed attempts, they were left with only enough battery power for one final take. The four hours of daylight available were also nearly gone. Fortunately, the final take was a success and the film was completed at 90 minutes. Tilman Büttner, the director of photography andSteadicamoperator, executed the shot on 23 December 2001.

In a 2002 interview, Büttner said that film sound was recorded separately. "Every time I did the take, or someone else made a mistake, I would curse, and that would have gotten in, so we did the sound later."Lighting directors of photography on the film wereBernd Fischerand Anatoli Radionov.The director later rejected Büttner's nomination for a European Film Academy award, believing that only the whole film should gain an award.

Post-production

In post-production the uncompressed HD 87-minuteone-shotcould be reworked in detail: besides many object removals (mainly cables and other film equipment), compositings (e.g. additional snow or fog), stabilisations, selective colour-corrections and digitally added focus changes, the whole film was continuously and dynamically reframed (resized) and for certain moments even time-warped (slowed down and sped up). This work took several weeks and was mainly executed by editor Patrick Wilfert under supervision of lead editor Sergei Ivanov onDiscreet Logic's Inferno system. Avoiding any playouts and using framestore to framestore transfers only, the picture was left uncompressed, before being reprinted onto filmstock for theatrical distribution.

Background

The narrator's guide, "the European", is based on the book by the French aristocratMarquis de Custine,who visited Russia in 1839 and wroteLa Russie en 1839,in which he depicted Russia in extremely unflattering terms. A few biographical elements from Custine's life are shown in the film. Like the European, the Marquis' mother was friends with the Italian sculptorCanovaand he himself was very religious. Custine's book mocks Russian civilization as a thin veneer of Europe on an Asiatic soul. For Custine, Europe was "civilization" while Asia was "barbarism", and his placing of Russia as a part of Asia rather than Europe was meant to deny that Russians had any sort of civilization worthy of the name. Echoing this sentiment, the film's European comments that Russia is a theater and that the people he meets are actors. The Marquis's family fortune came from a porcelain works, hence the European's interest in theSèvresporcelain waiting for the diplomatic reception. At the end of the film, which depicts the last imperial ball in 1913, the European appears to accept Russia as a European nation.

In One Breath,a documentary about the making ofRussian Ark,written and directed by Knut Elstermann, gives more insight into the single long shot tracking techniques and formidable organization behind the making of the film.

Reception

Box office

The film was not a huge commercial success, though as anarthouse filmit performed strongly in many territories. These include the UK, Japan, Korea, Argentina, and especially the US, where the film remains one of the most successful of both German and Russian movies of recent decades.

Russian Arkis a German-Russian co-production. The film grossed $3,048,997 in the United States and Canada, with $5,641,171 internationally, for a worldwide total of $8,690,168.

Critical response

Russian Arkreceived high critical acclaim.Rotten Tomatoesreported that 89% of critics gave the film a positive review based on 109 reviews, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The consensus review summary reads, "As successful as it is ambitious,Russian Arkcondenses three centuries of Russian history into a single, uninterrupted, 87-minute take. "OnMetacritic,which uses an average of critics' reviews, the film has an 86/100 rating based on 32 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".

Roger Ebertwrote, "Apart from anything else, this is one of the best-sustained ideas I have ever seen on the screen.... [T]he effect of the unbroken flow of images (experimented with in the past by directors like Hitchcock andMax Ophüls) is uncanny. If cinema is sometimes dreamlike, then every edit is an awakening.Russian Arkspins a daydream made of centuries. "

Slant Magazineranked the film 84th in its list of the best films of the 2000s.In a critics' and readers' poll byEmpiremagazine, it was voted the 358th greatest film of all time.

Awards and nominations

Russian Arkreceived the Visions Award at the2002 Toronto International Film Festival,a Special Citation at the2003 San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awardsand the 2004Silver Condor Award for Best Foreign Filmfrom theArgentine Film Critics Association;it was also nominated for thePalme d'Orat the2002 Cannes Film Festival,the Golden Hugo at the 2002Chicago International Film Festivaland the 2004Nika Awardfor Best Film. In addition, Alexander Sokurov was named Best Director atFancinein 2003 and was nominated for the 2002European Film Award for Best Director.Cinematographer Tilman Büttner was also nominated for various awards for his work on the film, including aEuropean Film Award for Best Cinematographerand a German Camera Award.

External links

• Russian ArkatIMDb
• Russian ArkatAllMovie
• Russian ArkatBox Office Mojo
• Russian ArkatRotten Tomatoes
• Russian ArkatMetacritic