THE QUEEN OF SPADES, above all else, is an extremely dense film. Every scene, if not every shot, is saturated with its particular ambience, making it at once satisfying and exasperating to watch. Constantly brooding, at times almost hysterical, it is the best Russian movie the Russians never made, mirroring the relentlessness of the protagonist. We can never quite persuade ourselves to condemn his desperate singlemindedness, nor glibly register that justice has been done at his downfall, the lovers seeming almost two-dimensional in comparison to his tragic humanity. It is, of course, also a grand ghost story, and in this sense at least as British as DEAD OF NIGHT (1945). After all, the supernatural elements, the almost metaphysical significance of the three cards and the haunting of the young fortune hunter by a mixture of determination and guilt, could hardly be bettered.
Review of The Queen of Spades
The Queen of Spades
(1949)
The best Russian movie the Russians never made
17 September 2020
Warning: Spoilers