Arquivo

The first documentary by Sokúrov also marks the introduction to the celebrated series of “Elegies”, poetic and visual essays with a duration of from 20 to 90 minutes - the most recent of these, the ninth film in the series being Elegy of a Voyage (2001), shown at the 25th Mostra. Maria (Peasant Elegy) is a requiem to the memory of a Russian peasant girl who grew up with and observed tradition for the whole of her life in the most conventional means possible. Maria?s story is told in two parts. The first, in color, lends a pastoral air to Maria’s existence and shows scenes of her working in the fields, bathing in a river, on holiday in the Crimea... The second, in black and white, is set nine years later: Maria has died and with her the traditions and customs of all of an age.