Russian Ark, 2002Dale Bullington

Key Facts About Russian Ark- Single 96-minute Steadicam sequence shot by Alexander Sokurov

- Shot through the Winter Palace of the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg

- Encounters various real and fictional people through 300-year history.

- Repeatedly breaks and reconstructs “fourth wall”. Some interactions, sometimes unnoticed.

“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 is uncanny. If cinema is sometimes

dreamlike, then every edit is an awakening... Russian Ark spins a daydream made of

centuries.” -Roger Ebert

Russian Ark provides a delicate balance between glamorization and criticism of Russian history, culture, and political

phenomenon.

Marquis de Custine“The love of their country is with them only a mode of flattering its master; as soon as they think that master can no longer hear, they speak of everything with a frankness which is the more startling because those who listen to it become responsible.”

“The Russian mind is still obsessed with such notions: everyone disguises what is bad and shows what is good before the master’s eyes.”

“Whenever your son is discontented in France, I have a simple remedy: tell him to go to Russia. The journey is beneficial for any foreigner, for whoever has properly experienced that country will be happy to live anywhere else.”

This delicate balance personifies a Russian and Eastern European cultural motif: presenting a polished, gilded exterior while simultaneously attempting to undermine

the very “masters” they seek to appease.