Hermitage. Pro people My friend and I went to a film that was part of a festival in our city. We showed it for free, so we said, “Why not?” And they didn't really regret it.
About what: ordinary people with difficult fates. The film is based on several storylines, at the head of each of them is a hero with his life story, his involvement in the Museum and his “art favorite”.
For example, one of the heroines tells how she was worried that her “bankrupt boy” left the canvas of a Dutch artist, and another picture hung in his place for a long time; another heroine tells how she decided to save icons, and since the 40s she traveled all over Russia in search of relics, many of which are now stored in the Hermitage; a young man who looks at the “Return of the Prodigal Son” and seems to return.
Behind every person who works in the Hermitage is sometimes an era. One of the heroines was a witness of how the Hermitage was saved in the war, how paintings and other objects of art were taken out, how excursions were conducted “on empty frames”, how holes from bombings were then “patched”. True stories told in the first person. Sincere, sad, kind, touching.
How filmed: lots of close-ups. The film itself was shot in the form of an interview, apparently, the director, knowing the Russian language, herself leads the report. In addition to the stories themselves, there are a lot of shootings from the everyday process: how visitors come, how exhibitions are prepared, how storage facilities look, etc. And besides, interesting facts from the life of the Museum: if anyone did not know, then the Hermitage specifically contains cats, so as not to breed mice.
Who will like it: even if you are not a connoisseur of painting, the film will be interesting to watch. Especially when it comes to filmmaking.
8 out of 10