Country: France, Russia, Netherlands
Year: 2001
Duration: 47'


Driven by a misterious force, a man embarks alone on a journey. He crosses immense snow-covered plains, borders, and seas, and finally arrives in a foreign country. In an industrialized region, he walks through traffic in the streets and unexpectedly arrives at the gates of an abandoned palace. It is the famous Boijmans museum in Rotterdam and in the shades of night he discovers that the objective of his journey is a painting by Master Peter Saenredam, St. Mary's Square in Utrecht. To his surprise, the man experiences a revelation in which he himself was present when the picture was painted in the seventeenth century.

Biography

film director

Aleksandr Sokurov

(Podorvicha, Russia, 1951) studied cinema at VGIK in Moscow but left before completing his studies because of contrasts with the Goskino. In 1980 he began working at Lenfil'm, but only after perestroika could the films he made during this period be seen, like his debut film The Lonely Voice of Man (1978). In 1985 he inaugurated the series of Elegies and in the 1990's he experimented with digital technology in A Humble Life (1997) and Dolce (1999). He received world-wide recognition with Mother and Son (1997), Moloch (1999), Russian Ark (2002) and Father and Son (2003). In 2003, the Film Festival dedicated a complete retrospective to his opus. In 2011 his film Faust won Golden Lion in Venice Film Festival. In 2019 la sua scuola di cinema nel Kabardino-Balkaria, che ha lanciato giovani registi come Kantemir Balagov e Kira Kovalenko, è stata chiusa per via dei contrasti tra il regista e il governo russo. In 2019 the film foundation set up by Alexander Sokurov, which raised young directors such as Kantemir Balagov and Kira Kovalenko, has been closed after claims of government hostility.

FILMOGRAFIA

Finzione

Odinokiy golos cheloveka (La voce solitaria dell’uomo, 1978-1987), Razzhalovannyy (The Degrade, cm, 1980), Skorbnoye beschuvstviye (Una dolorosa indifferenza, 1983-1987), Ampir (cm, 1987), Dni zatmeniya (I giorni dell'eclisse, 1988), Spasi i sohrani (Salva e custodisci, 1989), Krug vtoroy (Il secondo cerchio, 1990), Kamen (Pietra, 1992), Tikhiye stranitsy (Pagine sommesse, 1994), Mat i syn (Madre e figlio, 1997), Molokh (Moloch, 1999), Telets (Taurus, 2001), Russkiy kovcheg (Arca russa, 2002), Otets i syn (Padre e figlio, 2003), Solntse (Il Sole, 2005), Aleksandra (Alexandra, 2007), Faust (id., 2011), Francofonia (id., 2015), Skazka (Fairytale, 2022).

Elegie

Elegiya (Elegia, cm, 1986), Moskovskaya elegiya (Elegia moscovita, 1987), Peterburgskaya elegiya (Elegia di San Pietroburgo, mm, 1990), Sovetskaya elegiya (Elegia sovietica, cm, 1990), Prostaya elegiya (Elegia semplice, 1990), Elegiya iz Rossii (Elegia dalla Russia... studi per un sogno, 1992), Vostochnaya elegiya (Elegia orientale, 1996), Elegiya dorogi (Elegia di un viaggio, 2001), Elegiya zhizni. Rostropovich. Vishnevskaya (Elegia della vita - Rostropovich, Vishnevskaya, 2006).

Documentari

I nichego bolshe (And Nothing More, 1987), Zhertva vechernyaya (Evening Sacrifice, 1987), Patience Labour (1987), Altovaya sonata. Dmitriy Shostakovich (Sonata for Viola. Dmitri Shostakovitch, 1988), Mariya (Maria, 1988), Sonata dlya Gitlera (Sonata for Hitler, 1989), K sobytiya v Zakavkazye (To the Events in Transcaucasia, 1990), Leningradskaya retrospektiva (1957-1990) (A Retrospection of Leningrad (1957-1990), 1990), An Example of Intonation (1991), Soldatskiy son (Soldier’s Dream, cm, 1995) , Dukhovnyye golosa (Spiritual Voices, 1995), Robert Schastlivaya zhizn (Hubert Robert. A Fortunate Life, 1996), Smirennaya zhizn (Una vita umile ,1997), Peterburgskij dnevnik: Otkrytie pamjatnika Dostoevskomu (Diario di San Pietroburgo: L’inaugurazione del monumento a Dostoevskij, 1997), Peterburgskij dnevnik: Kvartira Kozintseva (Diario di San Pietroburgo: L’appartamento di Konincev, 1998), Povinnost (Confession, 1998), The Dialogues with Solzhenitsyn (Uzel) (1998), Dolce (2000), Peterburgskij dnevnik: Mozart. Rekviem (Diario di San Pietroburgo: Mozart. Requiem, 2004), Citaem blokadnuju knigu (Leggendo il libro dell’assedio, 2009).

Cast

& Credits

Regia, soggetto, sceneggiatura, voce del narratore/Director, story, screenplay, voice: Aleksandr Sokurov
Fotografia/Director of photography: Aleksandr Degtjarev
Montaggio/Film editor: Sergej Ivanov
Suono/Sound: Sergej Moškov
Produttore/Producer: Pierre-Olivier Bardet, Kees Kasander, Vladimir Persov
Produzione/Production: The Kasander Film Company, Ideale Audience, Studio Bereg
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