Russian Ark

Aleksandr Sokurov directed this 2002 historical drama, which unfolds inside the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, home of the Hermitage museum. An unseen narrator, a contemporary Russian filmmaker, finds himself inexplicably adrift in the building during the early eighteenth century. There he meets the Marquis de Custine, a French diplomat from the nineteenth century, and the two men move through the palace's halls. Only the marquis appears able to perceive his companion. As they wander, the rooms open onto episodes drawn from three centuries of Russian history, from the reign of Peter the Great through Catherine the Great to the last imperial family, and eventually to present-day museum visitors. The two men argue about Russia's relationship with Europe as these scenes play out around them.

The film is a landmark of Sokurov's career, arriving between Mother and Son and Faust in a filmography that also includes Stone, Francofonia and Fairytale. It was written by Sokurov with Anatoly Nikiforov and produced by Jens Meurer, Oliver Damian and Andrew Colton, with a credited cast of 56 led by Sergei Dreiden as the marquis and Mariya Kuznetsova as Catherine the Great. It runs 99 minutes and took about 7 million dollars worldwide. Ratings sit at 7.2 on IMDb and 7.2 on TMDB, while the critics' score of 8.2 from 108 reviews is noticeably higher than either audience figure.