From: dleschin@FEDS66.PRIME.COM ("", Dmitri Leschiner)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.soviet
Subject: Re: Solaris - the "freeway sequence"
Date: 12 Oct 92 19:20:15 GMT
Reply-To: "soc.culture.soviet via ListServ" <SCS-L@indycms.iupui.edu>

> Date:         Tue, 6 Oct 1992 21:42:58 GMT
> From: "(Igor Belchinskiy)" <bil@BURKA..AIX.KINGSTON.IBM.COM>
>
> In article <rabjab.2.718397433@golem.ucsd.edu> rabjab@golem.ucsd.edu (Jeff
>  Bytof) writes:
> >I am mystified by the length of the "freeway sequence" in the first
> >half of the film.  What point was Tarkovsky trying to make by
> >lingering on images of cars zooming along a Japanese freeway?
>
> Strange, was it really Japanese? I thought it was Moscow beltway -
> and these scenes were my favorite in the film specifically for that reason.
>

Strange, it really was. Tarkovsky got an expensive trip to Tokyo,
together with the whole filmmaking team, just to shot these few
scenes (which sure might easily be imitated staying in Moscow),
form soviet Ministry of Culture. That's while he was counless
times refused with trips abroad for much more meaningful purposes
(including presentations of his own films at festivals, where they
have been getting awards anyway). If I'm not mistaken, it was his only
trip abroad before he emigrated... Just another drop of absurd of SU.

There were rumours also in Moscow, that this scene was in fact cut short
in officialy permitted variant of film, which was shown to public. It was
said, the the scene was few second longer, and the transfer from noise to
silence was even more abrupt, than in shown variant. As usual, commission
from Ministry of Culture had to check the film for aesthetic and ideological
perfection, before release. His previous film, Andrey Rublev, was delayed
with release for about 5 years with that commission, and heavy cuts were
made in it. Needless to say, Tarkovsky was waiting for the commission with
fear. But they saw the film, and found it perfect, ... except only the
highway scene, that was too long and beared ill taste, in their opinion.

But they were merciful as well, as restricted themselves by cutting only
a few seconds from end of it... I think that story is actually an apocryphical
one, and I think I even read an actual account of the whole history, including
of how Tarkovsky managed to get the trip abroad (something probably has to do
with his friends in apparate of CC CPSU, and with Chernoutsan, person in charge
for cultural politics there - thay wanted to make some favour to him, but
couldn't anyway end up with something meaningful - but granted him this trip to
Japan instead. I'm not even sure that he didn't include this highway scene into
film just to justify the trip), which suggested that no cuts were really made
in Solaris, unlike Andrey Rublev - at least Tarkovsky himself wrote so in one
of his letters - but I don't remember details. But anyway, the story of
commission viewing is quite a characteristic one, and their supposed attention
to the highway scene may be easily explained: that was surely a subject of
highest interest for them in the whole film - first, it was West (even Japan),
which was always a subject of ill-hot desires for soviet bosses, second, the
scene was just at the level of their comprehension, and third, it was the scene
on which state hard currency reserves were spend, and they felt themselves
obliged to make their best to make sure that money were not spent in vain!

D.