Of Freaks and Men

Saint Petersburg at the beginning of the twentieth century. A man named Johann has built a business producing silent erotic photographs. He works his way into two respectable families, binds each household member to his arrangement and finally draws everyone into the images he makes. Aleksei Balabanov wrote and directed. The film is shot throughout in sepia, with the frame shaped toward the photographs of the period; the aim is that what you are watching should itself look like an old record. There is almost no dialogue. Most scenes proceed in silence, deliberately matching the silent pornography that is its subject. Balabanov offers no moral commentary; his subject is looking itself. The viewer is placed in the position of the image's consumer, and the film sustains that discomfort. It caused argument in Russia and counts among the director's hardest works. Who it is for: viewers who like formal experiment and difficult Russian cinema. Who it is not for: anyone looking for story, or troubled by the material itself.