the russian arc

In my total Russian immersion the past week or so, I've watched and re-watched a lot of the Russian classic films, documentaries, etc. From a four-hour long documentary on Russian Imperial history, two versions of Anna Karenina (Vivien Leigh wins, obvs, but the Sophie Marceau has the visual). 


But no visual or experience has trumped one movie that I almost didn't watch-- Russian Ark. Russian with English subtitles and the first 5 minutes-- I'll quote Jon Schumann "deliberately paced (read: slow)." But as I continued to watch and finally went and investigated, I found out that it was both was and was not deliberately paced. 


After four years of planning and assembling 2000 actors in the Hermitage Museum (including the Winter Palace) all 96 minutes are unedited, single take, single shot on a steady cam. 


I wonder how it would play if you didn't already know a lot about Russian history-- as very little is explained. But everything about Russian Ark helped me in my quest to give a soul to some grandeur and tragedy that I have few resources to show visually-- the way Alexander Sokurov could. The way this film manages to be both comprehensive and completely slice of life-- that's exactly what I need for Nic & Alix. 


And that soul of which I speak of, hope to capture... Some days, I feel daunted having never gone to Russia. But I think about the Marquis de Custine quote (who is a character in the film) from La Russie en 1839 "Russian civilization is a thin veneer of Europe on an Asiatic soul."

Also check out the making of... starts here