With impeccable framing of each scene, both in terms of the material environment and the framing -classically precise- by the camera, Puiu dares to film a dense but rewarding theological conversation informed by philosophy, history and the subtleties of upper class politesse. The discussion itself is drawn from the work of Vladimir Solovyev -who in Russia and Eastern Europe is as central a thinker as Kierkegaard in the Wést-, often remembered as the friend of Dostoyevsky and the noble campaigner against antisemitism in Russia. Laced with irony (Puiu's), it offers a meditation on the nature of good and evil. But this is not merely a conversation filmed. The filmic construction of each scene through camera perspective, the bodily language of the actors, the choreography of servants and aristocrats, all combine to produce a deeply moving fresco of an instant in time, a lull before the impending storm which would sweep the characters and their world away. Sublime.
Review of Manor House
