The Prince

The castle is a ruins, only the outside walls are still standing, and the surrounding houses on the estate have been seriously neglected. Because these buildings, located some fifty kilometres south of Moscow, were the property of his family until the 1917 revolution, prince Eugene Meschersky coaxed along his family to restore their ramshackle realty. The castle was built towards the end of the 18th century. In 1917 it was pillaged, in the thirties it was used as a prison camp, and in 1940 it was again destroyed. On his arrival, prince Meschersky finds the four houses crammed with homeless people, who have found a shelter there. Vigorously, the family sets to work, and Meschersky, energetic and obsessed by his regained possessions, is already fantasising about the historical plays that will be performed among the ruins. But first a couple of constitutional obstacles have to be removed. In The Prince Is Back, the ruins is a metaphor for the disintegration of Russia. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)