Russian Ark

West Hollywood is home to many Russians...so the public library here has loads of Russian DVDs to check out (the public library is located across the street from the Pacific Design Center photographed here). I just watched the "Russian Ark," the only modern film to have been shot in one single take. It was filmed at the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg. It's about Russia's history and its relationship with Europe. I didn't know what to expect from the movie but as soon as it began I knew that this was an extraordinary film.

The screen is black and a ghostly voice mentions that there was some sort of accident but that he's not sure what's happened to him. We soon find out that he's invisible...then he notices a man wandering around the palace. The narrator represents Russia and on the other hand, this man he encounters with disheveled hair and black clothes symbolizes France, or Western Europe in general. The Frenchman confusingly asks, "which language are we speaking in?" in perfect Russian. That's when we find out that he's an outsider. The Frenchman is dead as well, but unlike the Russian, he's not invisible. He roams about freely and says what he pleases about Russia...essentially capturing the notion that many Western Europeans (or any Westerner for that matter) have that Russians can't think for themselves. The movie is very true to Russia's history...there's even a spy following the Frenchman around, who's hardly even noticeable...but in the end, I was convinced that Russia, or at least St. Petersburg, is a fascinating place and that it will remain so.

My favorite scene is the one in which the narrator follows Catherine the Great (who bought many of the masterpieces on dispaly at the Hermitage) out into the freezing snowed up courtyard...they're running as fast as possible, almost as if they knew that a ghost were following them.