Having been to Russia and The Hermitage and picking up quite a lot of Russian history, I still find this films content to be considerably esoteric. It is not so much a history lesson as it is an occasional milieu of famous peoples and events from which this viewer feels completely removed.

The praise for this film, I feel relies too much upon the - dare I say - gimmick of the one take wonder. It is beautiful, but it pales to the awe of walking the salons of the Winter Palace in person. It is also accomplished but all the technical brilliance can't conceal the - possibly erudite, but in my mind - whimsically vague wanderings of two ethereal men-out-of-time.

The one scene(?) I did find intriguing was in front of Rembrandt's Danae. "This painting and I share a secret." Indeed.

The last 10min is fantastic

A gimmick in search of a film. Yes, it's technically impressive to stage a single shot that travels the length of the Hermitage. But the script's structure is weak, as it pretty much follows a tour guide from one gallery to the next. Perhaps it would make more sense to those already familiar with Russian history.