Cinematography : Bruno DELBONNEL Music : Alexander ZLAMAL Cast :
- Johannes ZEILER ...Faust
- Maxim MEHMET ...Valentin’s Friend
- Georg FRIEDRICH ...Wagner
- Antoine MONOT Jr. ...Der Mönch
- Katrin FILZEN ...Margaret's Maidservant
- Eva-Maria KURZ ...Iduberga
- Isolda DYCHAUK ...Gretchen
- Florian BRÜCKNER ...Valentin
- Stefan WEBER ...Mephistopheles (voice)
Sokurov’s version of Faust,
based on the first part of Goethe’s play, has been reworked by the
director’s established co-auteur, Yury Arabov, who won the 1999 Palme
d’Or for the best script (for the movie Moloch). This new movie concludes
the tetralogy about people and the course of history, which commenced
with Moloch. The budget reached the €8 million mark, which
is an unprecedented sum for an arthouse production in Russia. The
lion’s share of the money was spent on re-creating historical costumes
and sets. Shooting was done in the Czech Republic and on Iceland,
while dubbing took place in Germany (the movie will be in German)
and special effects work in Finland. The roles have been offered predominantly
to European actors including Hanna Schygulla, who has
starred in movies by Godard, Fassbinder, and Wenders. Cameraman
Bruno Delbonnel worked on such vast projects as Amelie, Across the
Universe and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The movie is
now in post-production but the date of its world premiere has yet to be
announced.