A FILMMAKING TOUR DE FORCE.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

HERE'S A belated holiday gift for anyone who appreciates art, history, cinema, costumes, technology and even insufferably witty French guys - all from St. Peterburg, with love.

``Russian Ark'' is a landmark feature film, but not merely because of its groundbreaking formal achievement - the entire piece was shot in one uninterrupted, 87-minute Steadicam take, mostly inside the vast Hermitage museum. Conceived and directed by Russia's superstar filmmaker of the moment, Alexander Sokurov (``Mother and Son,'' ``Moloch''), the picture presents a surreal, haunting pageant of Russian development, all played out amid some of the world's greatest art treasures.

Going as far back as the dawn of the 18th century, when Peter the Great was establishing his namesake city, the movie connects with various subsequent czars and czarinas, including the Big Three (Catherine and the Nicholases), their troops and their courtiers. There are also interludes with both contemporary and timeless visitors to the galleries.

However, conspicuously absent from consideration, except for a dismissive mention or two, is that major chunk of the 20th century that began with World War I and ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Some think this reactionary on Sokurov's part, especially considering the central role the Hermitage played in the 1917 revolution and the 900-day World War II siege of Leningrad.

Not insubstantial criticism, but in light of the magnitude of what's been accomplished here - literally showing the story of Russia's long, weird and sometimes doomed effort to define itself culturally - omissions, even as big a one as communism, aren't really worth troubling over. Besides, Sokurov has addressed the Soviet subject repeatedly in other features and documentaries, and if ``Russian Ark'' proves anything about the artist, it's that he views his work as a magnificently fluid continuum.

Now, a bit on how that form was achieved for this. The imagery was shot, after three glitched starts, from beginning to end on one of the shortest days of the year, Dec. 23, 2001 (almost never closed to the public, the museum gave the production a day to dress and light its 33-room route and the next, which had only four hours of daylight, to roll; coming back again was out of the question). As no film magazines or even conventional video equipment could record for the time required, the picture went directly onto an experimental, high-definition digital camera's hard drive.

There are some 1,500 costumed performers in all - among them the full Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, which plays throughout the massive, eye- popping climactic re-creation of 1913's last great royal ball - who had to make their moves with the utmost, effort-disguising precision under what surely must be the most complicated lighting scheme ever designed for a feature.

The obvious hero of this whole endeavor is the first-time cinematographer, Tilman Buttner, who set all those lights. But not just because of that. Sokurov hired Buttner because he was the camera operator for ``Run Lola Run,'' and the German cameraman applied his remarkable gifts of visual balleticism and superhuman stamina to ``Russian Ark'' in that capacity as well. It is literally through Buttner's unblinking eye that we see the entire picture.

And you'll probably never read something like this in another movie review: It's impossible to overemphasize the importance of the contributions of HD technician Stefan Ciupek, who controlled the video color balance and amount of light that came through the lens aperture, and focus-puller Andre Schneider. The unit translator earned his salary, too, as Sokurov speaks only Russian and Buttner only German.

And then there is our guide of a sorts, the semi-honorable Marquis Astolf De Custine (Sergey Dreiden). An impish but erudite figure, based on a real 19th century French diplomat who published a scandalously critical memoir of his years in the Romanov empire, Custine leads us through dozens of the huge palace's galleries, chambers, ballrooms, gardens and stairwells, showing us Da Vincis and Goyas, sharing gossip and state intrigues and repeatedly parrying with the voice of an inquisitive modern visitor who only the marquis can see. The voice is Sokurov's.

The production was not quite as high-wire as it sounds. Much digital tweaking was done in the months between the shoot and the film's premiere at last May's Cannes Film Festival. Still, the mighty audacity of ``Russian Ark'' makes for a singular moviegoing experience. Its artistic richness ensures an unforgettable one as well.

RUSSIAN ARK - Four stars

(Not rated: language, mild violence)

Starring: Sergey Dreiden, voice of Alexander Sokurov, Maria Kuznetsova, Mikhail Piotrovsky.

Director: Alexander Sokurov.

Running time: 1 hr. 36 min.

Playing: Nuart, West L.A.

In a nutshell: Astounding, single-shot tour of 300 years of Russian history, set entirely in and around St. Petersburg's Hermitage museum. Yes, it's a technical tour de force but also deeply engaging in its surreal array of historical, aesthetic, cultural and political considerations.