Faust

Like the first three parts of Alexander Sokurov’s tetralogy - and for that matter most of his work - this film demands a visceral response. No use trying to apply conventional criteria to unravel its mysteries and those who insist will most likely walk out of the cinema very quickly, as some did at its Venice premiere. Unlike his previous portraits dedicated to men of power who ended in defeat - the previous chapters dealt with Hitler, Lenin and Hirohito - Sokurov chose this time a fictional figure, one of the best known in Western literature, and one, for him, even more threatening than the other three he dealt with before.