The Frame

Russian Ark is a tour through Russian culture via the St. Petersburg museum-cum-palace The Hermitage. I really can’t tell you much about the story, though (what story there is involves the narrator and a French man he somehow meets as he travels through The Hermitage’s history and their discussion of Russian culture–the French guy is always interesting, giving an outsider’s view on the relationship between Russia and European culture), because the thing that Russian Ark will be remembered for is its virtuosic use of one single take. The camera takes the narrator’s point of view, moving through The Hermitage, sometimes through history (as they move into a new room, it will become a different time period), roving from conversation to conversation, from work of art to work of art. I’m making it sound like a documentary, which it isn’t. I apologize, but there isn’t a traditional story, either. Director Aleksandr Sukurov had exactly one day to shoot the film (the museum would only close for one day to allow his crew in), and eventually, if he hadn’t gotten the film in the take we have, he wouldn’t have been able to get it at all. It’s an incredible technical feat, just getting all the right actors in the right costumes in the right place at the right time, making sure the support crew wouldn’t be visible–my mind boggles just at the planning involved. I recommend that you do watch the making-of documentary on the DVD if you watch Russian Ark; it’s probably as interesting as the film itself. The question of whether or not the single-take is merely a gimmick, though, in terms of the film as a whole, is one I haven’t been able to answer yet. I enjoyed the technical prowess, but technical genius merely for the sake of technical genius is not always enough, and I think Sukurov is right on the line here.
Above Average