Oriental Elegy

Overview

A surreal journey of a displaced spirit as he wanders in the interminable darkness through the temporal landscape of a quaint and isolated feudal-era fishing village. Guided by a series of faintly illuminated rooms, the wandering spirit comes upon ancient souls who take on physical forms as they recount their personal stories of daily existence, loss, and tragedy in the peasant community. Intrigued by his initial visit to a curiously distracted elderly woman, the spirit returns to her home in order to ask a fundamental question - "What is happiness?" - an existential query that is innocently answered with innate humility and accepted unknowingness.

Details

Status

Released

Release date

April 26, 1996

Original language

Russian

Spoken languages

Japanese, Russian

Countries

Japan, Russia

Production

NHK,Lenfilm,Severny Fond

Cast

Aleksandr Sokurov

Director

Aleksandr Sokurov

Writer

Aleksandr Sokurov

Cinematography

Alexey Fedorov

Budget

Not recorded

Revenue

Not recorded

IMDb

tt0122467