Winner of the 2011 Venice International Film Festival’s Golden Lion, FAUST, Alexander Sokurov’s latest film, is an hallucinatory period piece set in the early 19th century and inspired by Goethe’s famous play.
Read the full rave FILM COMMENT review here.
“Simply wondrous. Like so many Bruegels, Boschs, Vermeers, and Rembrandts come to life.
It is so lush, so exhilarating that it almost exhausts you. It is so lush, so exhilarating
that it almost exhausts you.” - Joumane Chahine, FILM COMMENT
Employing elaborate camera movements, a dense soundscape, intricate production design and spectacular locations, FAUST conjures up a unique and phantasmagoric vision of the Faustian legend. Faust, played by Johannes Zeiler, is a man in search of the ideals of the Enlightenment but he becomes obsessed with the lovely Magarethe (Isolda Dychauk) and eventually sells his soul to the Devil (Anton Adasinsky) also known as the Moneylender, so that he may possess her. Comic, cosmic, painterly and stunningly beautiful scenes abound as the Devil takes Faust on a strange, unforgettable journey that ends in Hell itself.
 The story of FAUST is one of the most popular in western literature – there is the opera, play, movies and countless other adaptations.
FAUST concludes Sokurov’s ambitious “Men of Power” tetralogy, which includes films on Adolph Hitler (“Moloch” 1999), Vladimir Lenin (“Taurus” 2001) and Emperor Hirohito (“The Sun” 2005). Russian President, Vladimir Putin, helped provide government funding for the film, and German actress Hannah Schygulla makes a cameo appearance as the Moneylender’s Wife.
Sokurov’s FAUST also features the exquisite cinematography of Bruno Delbonnel, cinematographer for "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince", Tim Burton’s "Dark Shadows", "Amélie", and the upcoming Coen Brothers film "Inside Llewyn Davis".
“Bliss out the next on the delirium that is Faust the latest from Alexander Sokurov
(“Russian Ark”). An eccentric interpretation of the Goethe play, “Faust” is mesmerizing, at times predictably if divertingly bewildering and beautiful,
with images that burn into your memory...”
- Manohla Dargis, NEW YORK TIMES
“Russia’s leading and most controversial filmmaker! Faust is a free and borderline- freaky adaptation of the soul-selling classic.” - Richard Corliss, TIME
“There are some films that make you cry, there are some films that make you laugh, and there are some films that change you forever after you see them; and this is one of them.”
- Darren Aronofsky, filmmaker and 2011 Venice Film Festival jury president
“***** Cranky, wild and visionary...It’s a rude, lewd take on a classic, and irresistible.”
- Nigel Andrews, FINANCIAL TIMES
“A memorable adaption of the diabolic classic...
a sense-scrambling work that conjures images of incredible potency.”
- Kevin Harley, TOTAL FILM
“FAUST is a must-see, operatic arthouse event.” - Daniel Green, CINE VUE
“Forget Marlowe, Goethe, Gounod and Murnau, or rather lay them aside, since the idiosyncratic helmer adds his own spin on the classic legend...undeniably impressive!”
- Jay Weissberg, VARIETY
Russia • 2011 • 134 mins • 1:33 • NR • Dolby Digital
German w/English st • Digital Formats only
A Leisure Time Features Release
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