ELEGY OF A VOYAGE (Elegiya dorogi)

(director/writer: Alexander Sokurov; cinematographer: Aleksandr Degtyaryov; editor: Sergei Ivanov; music: Frédéric Chopin/Gustav Mahler; cast: Alexander Sokurov (Narrator); Runtime: 48; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Andrey Deryabin/Pierre Olivier Bardet/Vladimir Persov/Aleksandr Sokurov; Facets; 2001-France/Netherlands/Russia-in Russian and Dutch with English subtitles)

“Dreamlike, brooding, meditative journey on painting.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Alexander Sokurov (“Russian Ark”/”The Sun”/”Aleksandra”) directs this dreamlike, brooding, meditative journey on painting.

The Russian filmmaker is the unseen narrator who takes us from Russia to Rotterdam via rail, road and the Finnish ferry, as he takes us through various landscapes–seas, misty snowscapes, busy cities–before coming to his final destination of the Boijmans Museum in Rotterdam (the film was commissioned by the museum).

“Elegy” then becomes a study on Brueghel’s The Tower of Babel and Peter Saenredam’s landscape painting, “St. Mary’s Square,” and an additional five other paintings. The music of Chopin and Mahler play in the background.

REVIEWED ON 1/17/2010 GRADE: A-  https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/