What the critics said about ‘Faust’ in Venice

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The Russian film ‘Faust’ took home the Golden Lion from the Venice Film Festival on Saturday, much to the surprise of many. The film, which screened late in the festival, seemed to have flown under the radar of many festival-goers and critics. Those who did take note were divided on the film, a retelling of the Goethe tragedy about a dissatisfied scholar who makes a deal with the devil.

Jay Weissberg, writing for Variety, said established Sokurov fans are ‘the only audience for this largely impenetrable though undeniably impressive indulgence.’

Deborah Young, writing for the Hollywood Reporter, said ‘Faust’ is the ‘most difficult’ of the series of four films in director Alexander Sokurov’s series on the nature of power. She added that the ‘expressionistic filmmaking lets loose in an idiosyncratic style of chaotic slapstick, in which frenetic theatrical acting contrasts with deformed visuals that can barely contain the actors’ and concluded that ‘this piece of highbrow entertainment’ will ‘struggle to take wing outside festival and showcase screenings.’

Here’s a trailer; although there’s no English, you can get a sense of the visuals:

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-- Julie Makinen