[Faust] is the final instalment of a cinematic tetralogy on the nature of power. The main characters in the first three films are real historical figures: Adolf Hitler(Molokh, 1999), Vladimir Lenin (Telec, 2000) and Emperor Hirohito(Solnzte, 2005). The symbolic image of Faust completes this series of great gamblers who lost the most important wagers of their lives. Faust is seemingly out of place in this portrait gallery, an almost museumesque literary character framed by a simple plot. What does he have in common with these real figures who ascended to the pinnacle of power? A love of words that are easy to believe and pathological unhappiness in everyday life. Evil is reproducible, and Goethe formulated its essence: “Unhappy people are dangerous”. (Aleksander SOKUROV)