Francofonia

Music Box Films | Release Date: April 1, 2016

5.1	USER SCORE Mixed or average reviews based on 7 Ratings

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DzimasAug 17, 2016

Maybe it was because I was expecting something along the lines of Russian Ark that this film left me cold. Rather than give us the grand sweep of European history, Sokurov focuses almost entirely on the collaboration between the Louvre'sMaybe it was because I was expecting something along the lines of Russian Ark that this film left me cold. Rather than give us the grand sweep of European history, Sokurov focuses almost entirely on the collaboration between the Louvre's director, Jaques Jaujard, and the German cultural minister, Count Franz Wolff-Metternich during WWII. Both were highly cultured men and the aim was to preserve the Louvre. Of course, much of the work had already been smuggled out of the museum and into country estates, but rather than force Jaujard to retrieve these works, Metternich makes life easy for him during Vichy France.

Sokurov uses this relationship to contrast what happened to the Hermitage, demonstrating that Germany honored French culture more than it did Russian culture. However, neither museum was a repository of purely national culture, but rather a collection of mostly ill-gotten gains, which he underscores with the recurring image of Napoleon. Sokurov lavishes a loving eye on the Babylonian statues in the Near East wing to drive his point home, and goes to the trouble of showing us on a map how Napoleon shipped these giant statures back to Paris.

Where Russian Ark was an evocation on the past through the treasures of the Hermitage, Francofonia is a subjective documentary on the value we place on art. After the premiere in Vilnius, Sokurov took a few questions. Someone asked him if he would first save the persons or the art from the sinking ship that he used as a metaphor throughout his film. Sokurov paused over this for a few seconds before finally saying humans. I doubt it, even if his good friend Captain Dirk was on board.

As both these films illustrate, art is all we have to hold us together as a people. It divides us also, but human sacrifice at the expense of great art is a no-brainer. I imagine Jaquard would have been more than willing to sacrifice himself for the treasures of the Louvre, just as many Russians did in their battle to safe Leningrad, nee St. Petersburg. The fact that Metternich played along with Jaquard's scheme also showed that he put art ahead of his own life, as I don't imagine the Fuhrer was too happy about this arrangement. Both survived to tell the tale. Unfortunately, not Captain Dirk.… Expand

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