In Francofonia, which is about the Louvre (how it was made, how it obtained the treasures it holds, and what happened to it during the Second World War when the Nazis rolled into Paris and became her master), a ship traveling across a storm-enraged sea is the film’s leitmotif and a symbol of what the Louvre is. The chaos all around it is, of course, history. Altogether, Francofonia is a film that shows Alexander Sokurov in his element. This is what he does best—philosophical meditations on the highest forms and productions of culture. by Charles Mudede