A 19th century French aristocrat, notorious for his scathing memoirs about life in Russia, travels through the Russian State Hermitage Museum and encounters historical figures from the last ... Read allA 19th century French aristocrat, notorious for his scathing memoirs about life in Russia, travels through the Russian State Hermitage Museum and encounters historical figures from the last 200+ years.A 19th century French aristocrat, notorious for his scathing memoirs about life in Russia, travels through the Russian State Hermitage Museum and encounters historical figures from the last 200+ years.
- Awards
- 10 wins & 15 nominations
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaShot in a single take. The first three attempts were cut short by technical difficulties, but the fourth was successful.
- GoofsMany extras look to the camera and they quickly return to a default mark.
- Quotes
The Time Traveller: Sir. Sir. A pity you're not here with me. You would understand everything. Look. The sea is all around. And we are destined to sail forever, to live forever.
- ConnectionsEdited into Catalogue of Ships (2008)
- SoundtracksMazurka
(from opera "A Life For The Tsar")
Music by Mikhail Glinka
Performed by Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra
Conducted by Valery Gergiev
The film begins in the dark with the narrator (apparently Sokurov) commenting about how little he sees. "My eyes are open", he says, "and yet I see nothing". He does not know where he is but apparently has just died in an accident of some kind. Is this a movie? A play?" he asks. He receives no answer except a vision of 18th century aristocrats moving slowly into the Tsar's palace. An elegant white-haired man in a black cloak (Sergey Dreiden) suddenly appears and escorts the confused narrator into the corridors of the grand palace. "Everyone knows the present, but who can remember the past", says the stranger as they walk from one ballroom to the next, witnessing great works of art as well as ghost-like presences from Russia's past. We see works by El Greco, Rubens and Van Dyck in their awesome splendor. We run into Peter the Great thrashing a general, Catherine the Great looking for the bathroom, and Nicholas II, the last Russian Tsar hosting the Great Royal Ball of 1913, the last such formal occasion of its kind.
As we enter the Great Nicholas Hall, the opulent room is filled with thousands of aristocrats dancing the mazurka in gorgeous period costumes. A full orchestra is playing in the background and young soldiers are nattily dressed in their uniforms. How beautiful it all seems and how it appears they were destined to live forever but we all know how the nasty Bolsheviki spoiled the party. Ah yes, how green was my valley then. Sokurov said he wanted to make a whole film "in one breath" and he has succeeded in simulating the breathing process, pulling us in, then moving us out as we feel the rhythm of our own life beating with the swirl of lost humanity. At the end of Russian Ark, we see the peaceful flow of a river outside the hall to which the narrator comments, "The flow is forever. Life is forever." Having completed the past, our invisible guide is now ready to move into the endless silence that is, in the phrase of the Anglican priest Thomas Kelly, "the source of all sound".
- howard.schumann
- Apr 20, 2003
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- El arca rusa
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $3,048,997
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $29,022
- Dec 15, 2002
- Gross worldwide
- $8,691,860
- Runtime1 hour 39 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1
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