Background
The narrator's guide, "the European", is based on the Marquis de Custine, who visited Russia in 1839 and wrote a book about his visit, La Russie en 1839. A few biographical elements from Custine's life are shown in the film. Like the European, the Marquis' mother was friends with the Italian sculptor Canova and he himself was very religious. Custine's book mocks Russian civilization as a thin veneer of Europe on an Asiatic soul. Echoing this sentiment, the film's European comments that Russia is a theater and that the people he meets are actors. The Marquis' family fortune came from a porcelain works, hence the European's interest in the Sèvres porcelain waiting for the diplomatic reception. At the end of the film, which depicts the last imperial ball in 1913, the European appears to accept Russia as a European nation.
In One Breath, a documentary about the making of Russian Ark, written and directed by Knut Elstermann, gives more insight into the single long shot tracking techniques and formidable organisation behind the making of the film.
Read more about this topic: Russian Ark
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