Russian Ark

Russian Ark (Russian: Russkij Kovcheg) is a 2002 German-Russian co-production experimental historical drama film directed by Alexander Sokurov. Audio in Russian with English subtitles.

In Russian Ark, an unnamed narrator wanders through the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, and implies that he died in some horrible accident and is a ghost drifting through the palace. In each room, he encounters various real and fictional people from various periods in the city's 300-year history. He is accompanied by "the European", who represents the Marquis de Custine, a 19th-century French traveler. A grand ball follows, featuring music by Mikhail Glinka, with many of the participants in spectacular period costume, and a full orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev, then a long final exit with a crowd down the grand staircase.

The film was recorded entirely in the Winter Palace of the Russian State Hermitage Museum on 23 December 2001 using a one-take single 96-minute Steadicam sequence shot.
Russian Ark uses the fourth wall device extensively, but repeatedly broken and re-erected. At times the narrator and the companion interact with the other performers, whilst at other times they pass unnoticed. The film displays 33 rooms of the museum, which are filled with a cast of over 2,000 actors and three orchestras.

Cast & Characters:
Alexander Sokurov as Narrator
Sergei Dontsov (Sergey Dreyden) as the European (Marquis de Custine)
Mariya Kuznetsova as Catherine the Great
Marksim Sergeyev as Peter the Great
Anna Aleksakhina as Alexandra Feodorovna
Vladimir Baranov as Nicholas II