Pictures and Reflections: Andrej Tarkovsij
Andrej Rublev
SSSR, 1966
black and white / historical fresco
Russian version / Czech subtitles
174 min.
Concept: Andrej Michalkov-Končalovskij, Andrej Tarkovskij
Script: Andrej Michalkov-Končalovskij, Andrej Tarkovskij
Direction: Andrej Tarkovskij
Direction of photography: Vadim Jusov
Music: Vjačeslav Ovčinnikov
Performing: Anatolij Solonicyn (Andrej Rublev), Ivan Lapikov (Kirill), Nikolaj Sergejev (Feofan Řek), Nikolaj Burlajev (Borisko), Nikolaj Griňko (Daniil Černý), Irma Raušová (confused girl)
This historical fresco about a Russian painter of icons, Andrej Rublev, from the fifteen century. It is a statement about the power of the soul and about the source of indestructible creative energy. Bellman Barisko symbolizes the substance of the creation of his provocation, great self-confidence, and desire to work until he is completely exhausted. It is a presage of the wake of Russia and the stimulus of Rublev's work. The naturalistic presentation of nature, village houses, cathedrals in towns, life of short men, monks and artists make very suggestive areas of the time. The black and white film is very visually stylised in the many. The unique opus in the framework of the historical genre is divided into eight chapters. It fulfills one of Tarkovskij's credoes: "Art exists exclusively for the reform the world."
The Mirror (Zerkalo)
SSSR, 1975
colored / philosophical
Russian version / Czech subtitles
102 min.
Script: Alexandr Mišarin, Andrej Tarkovskij
Direction: Andrej Tarkovskij
Direction of Photography: Georgij Rerberg
Music: Eduard Artemev, fragments from the work of J.S. Bach, G.B. Pergolesi and H. Purcell
Editing: L. Fejginovová
The author's text reads Innokentij Smoktunovskij, the verses of Arsenij Tarkovskij recites their author.
Performing: Margarita Terechovová (young mother/Natalia), Ignat Doniclev (Alexej - twelve year old/Ignat), Filip Jankovskij (Alexej - five years old), L. Tarkovská (grandmother), Alla Demidovová (Líza), Anatolij Solonicyn (doctor), Oleg Jankovskij (father)
For the greater part, a documentary film is woven from dreams, suggestion of associations, and metaphors. The introspection on the border of the soul's uncovering, from which we can rationally feel the chill. In the compositions on the musical principle, there is a life which still penetrates to the symbolism, which creates the possibilities for the author to go from the small time/place of an illness to the greater time/place of his parents and relatives, to the history of his nature countryside and world. The repetitive view of mirrors - the metaphor of one's insight - to create a larger idea of the need to look at oneself from a distance. The forty year old Alexej has a dialogue with his mother, and he is thinking about his childhood (it appears in his dreams), he fills the white places in his memory. In the hospital, he has time to balance his life. He is divorced - like his parents - and so he prepares the same situation for his son. The verses of the director's father, Aresnij Tarkovskij, create a poetic-philosophical commentary, expressing the faith to the life (his departure from the family is a mystery to the author, whom he tries to understand).
The actor who plays the young mother is the one who also plays the former protagonist's wife. It is Tarkovskij's true mother. (…) Aljoša's outlook on life is remarked by his life failures, his bad conscience - wise optimism radiates from the father's point of view. The beginning is also symbolic: Aljoša's fathers sees on television where a specialist cures his patients using hypnosis, thus taking immobility and fear from his own voice, so that he could speak aloud and clearly for all his life. The fate of one Russian family, in which the circulation of time expresses itself, in which a son, deserted by his father, can become a father who leaves his son, where the character of the mother can be reflected as a torturous identity of a woman, of the mother of her own son, one's birth and desertion. The most personal film of the creative genius is the author's trial of his conscience, a way of returning...