Faust

Faust is a German-language drama set in the early nineteenth century, in which a physician and scholar named Heinrich Faust is consumed by his efforts to understand the human body and the whereabouts of the soul within it. His dissection work with his assistant Wagner yields nothing, and his own circumstances are poor. He becomes involved with a moneylender named Mauricius, who is the Devil in disguise, and the two enter into a bargain. Faust has killed a man in a drunken quarrel, and he now desires that man's sister, Margarete. Mauricius offers to bring about a union with her in exchange for Faust's soul, and Faust agrees, though the arrangement draws him toward acts he cannot undo.

Aleksandr Sokurov directed the film and wrote the screenplay with Marina Koreneva; Andrey Sigle produced it. It followed Russian Ark (2002) in Sokurov's filmography and came between that film and Francofonia (2015). It is a loose adaptation of the German legend and of the literary versions by Goethe and Thomas Mann. The large international cast — 32 credited performers — is led by Johannes Zeiler as Faust, Anton Adasinsky as the moneylender, Isolda Dychauk-Ott as Margarete, Georg Friedrich as Wagner, Hanna Schygulla and Florian Brückner.

Made for about 14 million US dollars and running 140 minutes, the film drew middle-of-the-road responses. It holds a rating of 6.5 out of 10 on IMDb from around 6,000 votes and 6.6 out of 10 on TMDB from roughly 213 votes, while critics gave it 6.6 out of 10 across 38 reviews, so audiences and reviewers landed in much the same place.