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Oriental Elegy

Oriental Elegy

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  • Cast
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Status

Released

Release Date

Apr 26, 1996

Runtime

0h 45m

Genres

Documentary

User Score

62%

Original Title

Восточная элегия

Production Companies

NHK, Severny Fond, Lenfilm

Director

Aleksandr Sokurov

Description

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.