Russian Ark (2002)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: As successful as it is ambitious, Russian Ark condenses three centuries of Russian history into a single, uninterrupted, 87-minute take.
Russian Ark Photos
Movie Info
Cast
as The Marquis
as Catherine II the Great
as Catherine the Great
as The Spy
as Peter the Great
as Boris Piotrovsky
as Nicholas II
as Orbeli
as Alexandra Fyodorovna
as Conductor
as Himself
as Himself
as Nicholas I
as Alexandra Fedorovna
as Himself
as Catherine the First
as Herself
as Tutor of the Heir
as Boris Piotrovsky
as Talented Boy
as Herself
as First Lady
as Second Lady
as First Cavalier
as Second Cavalier
as Third Cavalier
as Fourth Cavalier
as Chancellor Nesselrode
as Catherine the Great
as Court Official
as Museum Official
as Court Official
as Court Official
as Museum Official
as Grandee of Catherine the Great
as Museum Official
as Maid of Honour of Catherine the Great
as Himself
as Narrator
as Marshal
as Widow
as Talented Boy
as 1st Card Player
as Minister of Peter the Great
as Custodian at the Museum
as 2nd Card Player
as Grandee of Catherine the Great
as Lord Chamberlain
as Master of Ceremonies
as Court Official
as Insane Italian
as Military Official
as Court Minister
Critic Reviews for Russian Ark
All Critics (103) | Top Critics (29) | Fresh (92) | Rotten (11) | DVD (4)
Part pageant and museum tour, part theme-park ride and historical meditation.
This is as immersive-and as Shining-level spooky-as history gets.
The movie's smooth voyage comes to seem like a dream play, suspended painlessly in time.
Might well be the first real masterpiece of the 21st Century.
A marvel of a film that makes the Hermitage its star.
This is a stunning film, a one-of-a-kind tour de force.
Audience Reviews for Russian Ark
Russian Ark should be remembered not only as a breathtaking logistic accomplishment that knocked me off my chair with its stunning single take using a Steadicam and digital technology, but also as a sumptuous travel through Russian history and an unforgettable homage to the Hermitage Museum and to Art itself.
Super Reviewer
A never-seen ghostlike figure wanders through the Hermitage Museum (previously home to the Czars) in St. Petersburg, watching re-enactments of Russian history and debating art and culture with a French aristocrat companion. With thousands of extras, it's pulled off in one amazing 95-minute take. It's more than a bit stuffy and tailored to the delicate sensibilities of the fine arts crowd, but it's impossible not to be impressed by the pageantry and technical achievement.
Super Reviewer
The ark here is the famous Hermitage of St.Petersburg, mysteriously afloat on the sea of time and of Russian history. The camera glidingly takes us through the opulent splendour of the great halls, lingering ever so over the detail in the architecture or some exquisite furniture, and we see those walkways and rooms peopled with the souls that must have tarried there before (as in a dream ... for they neither see nor hear us). And so a history lesson, a memorial if you will, a toast to what was Mother Russia (and not that whole Soviet business, what was that?), with a eye to what more may come.
Super Reviewer
Russian Ark Quotes
| Narrator: | I open my eyes and I see nothing. I only remember there was an accident. Everyone ran for safety as best they could. I just can't remember what happened to me. |
| Narrator: | Sir, sir...It's a pity you're not here with me. You would understand everything. Look. The sea is all around. We are destined to sail forever. To live forever. |