Arquivo

The second “Elegia” from a series of poetic and visual essays from 20 to 90 minutes long that Sokúrov began in 1978. A tribute to legendary Russian classical singer Fiodor Shaliapin (1873-1938), the film revolves around the transfer of his body from the cemetery of Batignolles in Paris to Novo-Devitchye, in Moscow, in the year 1986 - an event of diplomatic proportion, a “beau geste” intended as a celebration of the jubilee of the relationship between Russia and France. In his lifetime, Shaliapin was censored publicly for immigrating from Russia to the west. In a typically Sokúrov-like approach, the reproducing of the file of personal images of the protagonist is completely out of chronological sequence and is subject to the logic of his subjective individual experience. The troubled historical context of the early twenties is not presented in an objective way, but consonant to the slight chaos predominant in the memories of the singer. Sokúrov worked on with no state or private funding and, when Leningrad Documentary Films attempted to make the film legal, the Russian cinema State Department answered: “Shaliapin was not forgiven”.