AllMovie

Few secrets are revealed in the Italian feature-length documentary The Secret Life of Sergei Eisenstein. Save for the revelation of the famed Russian filmmaker's private notes and sketches, there's little here that hasn't been covered elsewhere. Still, filmmaker Giancarlo Bertelli (normally a producer of conformist action films) does a nice job weaving the various elements at his disposal into a cogent narrative. Also, it's always pleasurable to see vignettes from such Eisenstein triumphs as Battleship Potemkin, Strike and Ivan the Terrible. Also included are snippets and stills culled from Eisenstein's never-completed Que Viva Mexico.