DbcultAccessing Vault...
6.2/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.2/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Prince Woronzeff remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have a thing for vintage melodrama and don’t mind the occasional stiff performance, sure, check it out. It’s for the folks who like old European settings and plots that hinge on people being way too obsessed with inheritance papers. If you need pacing faster than a tortoise or modern cynicism, you’re gonna hate it. 🎩
There is this moment about halfway through where the fake Prince has to keep up the charade at a party, and the tension is... well, it’s mostly just people staring at each other very intensely. It feels like the director was trying to make it look grand, but the lighting makes everyone look like they’re hiding a bad secret. Maybe they are?
Brigitte Helm is in this, which is the main reason I even clicked play. She has this way of looking at a camera that suggests she knows something you don't. She’s definitely carrying a lot of the weight here. The rest of the cast? They’re fine, mostly just walking through doors and looking concerned about money.
Honestly, the whole "lookalike friend" trope is such a classic, but it’s played so seriously here that it gets a bit funny by accident. You can feel the movie trying to convince you that this is the most important inheritance in the history of Russia. It’s not. But I kind of enjoyed the melodrama anyway.
It’s not perfect. The editing feels a bit like it was chopped with a kitchen knife in a few spots. But there’s a strange sincerity to it. It’s not trying to be a La dixième symphonie level masterpiece, and that’s fine. It’s just a movie about a guy pretending to be another guy so the vultures stay away. 🦅
Sometimes you just want to watch people in tuxedos worry about their bank accounts. It’s a specific mood. This movie fits that mood perfectly.
