Nostalghia

Plot synopsis:
The Russian writer Andrei Gorchakov (Oleg Yankovsky) travels to Italy to research the life of 18th-century Russian composer Pavel Sosnovsky, who lived there and committed suicide after his return to Russia. He and his comely interpreter Eugenia travel to a convent in the Tuscan countryside, to look at frescoes by Piero della Francesca. Andrei decides at the last minute that he does not want to enter.
Back at their hotel Andrei feels displaced and longs to go back to Russia, but unnamed circumstances seem to get in the way. Eugenia is smitten with Andrei and is offended that he will not sleep with her, claiming that she has a better boyfriend waiting for her.
Andrei meets and befriends a strange man named Domenico (Erland Josephson), who is famous in the village for trying to cross through the waters of a mineral pool with a lit candle. He claims that when finally achieving it, he will save the world. They both share a feeling of alienation from their surroundings. Andrei later learns that Domenico used to live in a lunatic asylum until the post-fascistic state closed them and now lives in the street. He also learns that Domenico had a family and was obsessed in keeping them inside his house in order to save them from the end of the world, until they were freed by the local police after seven years. Before leaving, Domenico gives Andrei his candle and asks him if he will cross the waters for him with the flame.
During a dream-like sequence, Andrei sees himself as Domenico and has visions of his wife, Eugenia and the Madonna as being all one and the same. Andrei seems to cut his research short and plans to leave for Russia, until he gets a call from Eugenia, who wishes to say goodbye and tell him that she met Domenico in Rome by chance and that he asked if Andrei has walked across the pool himself as he promised. Andrei says he has, although that is not true. Eugenia is with her boyfriend, but he seems uninterested in her and appears to be involved in dubious business affairs. Later, Domenico delivers a speech in the city about the need of mankind of being true brothers and sisters and to return to a simpler way of life. Finally, he plays the fourth movement of Beethoven's Ninth and immolates himself. Meanwhile, Andrei returns to the mineral pool to fulfill his promise, only to find that the pool has been drained. He enters the empty pool and repeatedly attempts to walk from one end to the other without letting the candle extinguish. As he finally achieves his goal, he collapses.

Tags: psychedelic, depressing, philosophical, romantic

Review:
There are very few people worthy of the accolade of "Genius" but the late Russian film-maker Andrei Tarkovsky was definitely one of them.
In his film-making career he is responsible for some of the most beautiful images ever to be put on a cinema screen."Nostalghia" deals with a Russian poet who is in Italy to research the life of a Russian composer, who died there.
Accompanied only by his female, Italian, interpretor, who is attracted to him, the poet feels strong feelings of home-sickness for Russia and he strongly misses his wife and child who stayed behind.This was Tarkovsky's first film made outside the Soviet Union (and his first in a language other than Russian), but it is still very obviously a Tarkovsky film, complete with many haunting images of water and fire.
Here, the poet's memories of Russia are presented in monochrome.As with all Tarkovsky films, "Nostalghia" demands a great deal from the viewer.
This shouldn't surprise an student of Tarkovsky's work since no director, possibly with the exception of Ingmar Bergman, analyzed spirituality as Tarkovsky did.NOSTALGHIA follows the trekking of a Russian traveling through Italy along with his beautiful interpreter.
The movie documents his effect on the Russian traveler, and the traveler's longing to recapture his spirituality.A lot has been said of the ten-minute unbroken sequence where the lead protagonist attempts to carry a lighted candle from one end of a pool to the other.
It also imparts an important question to the viewer about those who truly make a difference in the world: the observers, or the "insane", who try to take positive action on the behalf of others.No praise of any Tarkovsky film is complete without talking about the technical angle of his work.
Yet, with Tarkovsky's brilliant direction, without a single cut for nearly an entire reel, it becomes one of the most suspenseful and, yes, one of the very best scenes ever captured on film.In fact, the direction's almost too good.
Accepting the latter explanation, has kept my mind busily turning for several days now.Regardless of whether you accept Tarkovsky as philosophically profound or wise, his work is complex and open to multiple interpretations like a well-written haiku.
However, for those that don't dismiss this film as self-indulgent and ponderous, Tarkovsky offers a rich composition that can support and survive several generations of critics and interpreters.A more traditional episodic film with a clearly defined story line and a swift movement between scenes would have less to hide behind that a film like "Nostalghia," but there is no law that says a piece of art cannot be obscure.
Apparently even Tarkovsky described this film as 'tedious', so you can imagine what it's like to be on the receiving end.
Tarkovsky's brilliance as a director is well illustrated in the film where the Russian and the old man talk in a room.
The scene where the Russian lies on his hotel bed and his nostalgia conjurs up his dog in a dream like but also tangibly real manner is powerful and haunting.The problem with this film is that the lead character was not really in exile and could go home anytime, unlike Tarkovsky himself, so why was he in so much pain?
The self sacrifice of the old man is a return to an old theme of Tarkovsky's that perhaps only shame can save mankind.There are many eccentric aspects to this film, for instance the Russian wandering around up to his waist in water.
Towards the end of his career, Tarkovsky began to question the rigid criteria he used in shooting a film in a way he felt won purity and aschewed the vulgar and trivial, but I think he got it right here.
There is a strange feeling that comes over me when I watch a Tarkovsky flick, like I'm seeing a puzzle come together to for a full picture, yet it is of something I cannot fully comprehend.
As a result of this, the film is as much about the feelings of loss and longing as it is about the lead character, the homesick Russian poet Andrei Gortchakov, who is exiled in Italy with his guide and translator Eugenia on a research mission into the life of a long-forgotten, 18th century composer.
In the hands of any other filmmaker, this plot would give way to a series of grand adventures and curious revelations, but, as we've seen in other films, like the majestic Mirror and Andrei Rublev, Tarkovsky is a filmmaker unconcerned with the external world of the film, who, instead, turns his attentions inward, to chronicle the internal angst and emotions at the heart of these tortured, complicated souls.As is always the case with Tarkovsky's work, it could be argued that the film has further shades that somehow draw parallels with the filmmaker's own life and works; with the exiled main character here becoming the (cinematic) voice for Tarkovsky's own feelings of loss and nostalgia during the making of this film.
As is always the case with Tarkovsky, the visual design of the film is meticulously created and deeply hypnotic, with the production design creating an emotional labyrinth for the characters, which is then, rigorously explored by the camera.The use of cinematography is always an important factor is Tarkovsky's work, because it is so vital in creating and (then distinguishing between) these varying layers of reality, fantasy, memory and premonition - with the filmmaker employing a variety of techniques, from cross cutting between sepia-tone and defused colour, and the juxtaposition between regular speed and slow motion.
The film is deliberately slow, like the majority of this filmmaker's work, with the camera moving at it's own pace in order to linger and meditate on certain images and moments.
It does, nonetheless, ultimately tie in with the inner feelings and emotions so synonymous with the title and, is integral to the inner pain felt by our central characters.Into the mix of things we also get a dose of the mystical, supplied here by the character of Domenico, another tortured soul who's back-story involves keeping his family hostage for a prolonged number of years under fear that the world would end.
The first is a brutal and literally jaw-dropping act of emotional and physical catharsis (set to the strains of a distorted Beethoven), whilst the other is a long and slow meditation on fate (and probably the most iconic scene in this film), involving an empty pool, a lighted candle, and a weary, heartbroken Gortchakov.Nostalgia is a deep and thoughtful film, best suited to those viewers who are interested in spending some time with a film that takes a great deal of time to fully reveal it's self.
Like the majority of Tarkovsky's films, it is bleak, dreamlike and hypnotic, in the way in which the images just linger on the screen, waiting to be decoded.
Some might be frustrated by the slow pace and the reliance on character over narrative, however, if you are an admirer of Tarkovsky's best films, like Andrei Rublev, Mirror and The Sacrifice, then you'll be sure to find something of interest here..
A lot of it is in this one: the water, the garbage, strange, haunting sounds in the background, the dogs, the empty rooms with metal beds and rotten walls, the rain, the warmth of pure, shy love, the static, photography-like pictures (sometimes even filmed pictures), the poems, the philosophical discussions.The failure of "Nostalghia" shows the fragility by which these ingredients are held together in films like "Solaris" or "Stalker".
I would say that this film is different every time I watch it, it's more than poetry, it's hypnotic to the state of Tarkovsky casting a spell on the viewer..
I always thought Tarkovsky would make a great movie when given Western budgets and technology, but he pretty much just remade his earlier movies on better film stock.He has a beautiful vision.
It's sometimes true that the most demanding movies can yield the most lasting rewards, and the penultimate film by the late Andrei Tarkovsky certainly puts the theory to the test.
This was the first feature he directed outside the Soviet Union, and its protagonist is (like Tarkovsky himself was) a Russian artist exiled in Italy.
But don't expect anything remotely plot-driven; like other Tarkovsky films it's a dense, challenging exploration of faith, madness and memory: beautiful, enigmatic, intellectual, and extremely slow moving.
Tarkovsky's "sculpting in time" theory has not been closely followed for good reason: it makes for tedious, dull, and repetitive movies.
Nostalghia, a film Andrei Tarkovsky directed while he was out of Russia and in Italy, is almost as personal, if not more-so, than his film the Mirror.
And on top of this, we're given a substantial amount of black and white scenes, often either in slow-motion speed or directed by Tarkovsky to seem like such, from dreams and memories that call for a time and place that is specific but also ethereal, strange and probably symbolic.So why then does the film not work if the creator's soul was poured entirely into it?
I think, perhaps, there is almost *too* much of a reliance on creating a mood of meditation, for there to be total concentration upon the atmosphere that Tarkovsky has created- as he has in all of his movies- upon which is a sort of world unto itself, seen through its filmmaker in a way no other can see it.
This may be expected for one already familiar with the director's methods, but even still there's so many silent moments, so many long takes with the most slight of camera movements, so much contemplation in place of dialog (there's only a few scenes where we see characters communicate in that manner), that it takes a lot out of the viewer to stay with the ideal of spiritual redemption that Tarkovsky is after.Or is it redemption?
This strange sensation to seek in to a character that Tarkovsky leaves open to much interpretation, plus the procession of shots that seem to last for about as long as imaginable, makes it an uneasy viewing experience.But at the same time that there's this uneasiness, there's also a wonderment that is going on as well.
I couldn't pull myself away even if a part of my mind screamed out "where's the plot?" There's such a strong sense of direction going on, the moods created in certain places (i.e. the fog over the hot springs at the Spa, the darkness in the bedrooms, the chilling sensibility to the flashbacks/dreams), almost in spite of the lack of a really solid story, as it becomes less about what happens than about what is in this character, the nature of this exile in Italy as it makes Andrei pull into his own existential finale of sorts.
That finale, as some may have read, is extraordinary, maybe the whole reason, as with Sacrifice's fire finale, that Tarkovsky made the movie in the first place: the poet carries a candle, as suggested by Domenico, across a sacred pool, and when it goes out he goes back, and does this again, and again, until finally he makes it across.
Tarkovski's Nostalghia is the most stunning film, visually, emotionally, and intellectually that I have seen in recent years.
Nostalghia transcends the barriers of cinema and projects itself into our own consciousness and world, in a way that film should, in order for viewers to weigh their actions and relate with the human community..
It's not a movie; it's an experience.Slowly Tarkovsky draws you into the magical world he created, plays with your emotions like Beethoven played the piano and whispers ideas into your mind which will start a cascading stream of your own thoughts and memories.I won't go into describing individual details of this movie, as that would be like trying to explain the brilliancy of nature by showing you the beauty and perfection of a single butterfly wing.If you haven't seen it yet you should, and let yourself be engulfed by the product of a brilliant mind..
A lesser writer would've struggled in this regard, but Tarkovsky's vision in Italy is just as strong as it was in Russia.Nostalghia is more stylish visually, but I feel that the story and characters were stronger in Stalker.
As days are passing from watching Nostalghia for the first time, the movie is growing more and more on me, i can't stop thinking about it, and how Nostalghia is deep atmospheric beautiful experience that will change your perception of reality and your innerself.
At first i was not so much amazed by the movie, and i was thinking that this will be the least favorite from Tarkovsky i have watched (i only didn't watched Andrei Rublev), but then the pictures and atmosphere from the movie were coming in my mind in waves and how i was wrong, for every Tarkovsky movie you need strong patience, every scene is full of symbols and different interpretations.
Nostalghia has a similar anti-modernism like sacrifice, various themes, and despite it's just two hours long, it's one of the slowest Tarkovskij films.
The plot is, on the surface, as light and breezy as the feathers one sees falling upon lighted candles at the very beginning; yet slowly, gently, the film builds to a moving crescendo, possessing as its notes some of the most poignant, astonishingly and painfully beautiful images ever to be captured on film, that will have you experience an entire spectrum of emotions of which you never suspected yourself capable, in the course of one cinematic sitting - if ever at all."Nostalghia" is pure magic, a work of true genius.
One of most powerful symbols that I have encountered in Nostalghia is when the main character, a writer (Oleg Yankovsky), walks through the empty pool of high-sulphur (or something like it) water, with lit candle in his hands.
Tarkovsky breaks new ground in the cinema, using cinematography, sound, and temporal space to transport the viewer to his dream-like state.
Like "Solaris", "Stalker", "Offret" and "The Mirror", "Nostalghia" is simply one of the greatest movies ever made..
For the visually-minded, Tarkovsky films are not slow, just like abstract expressionism is not hard to understand.
the work is of a kind impossible to achieve except by film - and yet that is not true, as a reader can put down a book, and muse, and be moved, and become more wise; which is what the viewer must do when presented with near stillness of image, and the suggestion of history, and brooding emotion, and depth.don't even think of seeing it if you ever wonder if you have the time..
While I do rank Andrei Rublev(the greatest Soviet film ever made from personal view), Mirror(Tarkovsky's most personal) and Stalker above it, Nostalgia doesn't disappoint in any way; coming from a director who was one of the few who did not make a bad film, even my least favourite Ivan's Childhood was great and contains one of the best child performances ever.Nostalgia is not for everybody, despite being one of his shortest it is one of Tarkovsky's least accessible along with Solaris.
It's not a Tarkovsky film without beautiful visuals and imagery and great directing and Nostalgia absolutely has both.
I mean, it's not that it wouldn't be an interesting artistic essay on text, but it's just the fact that it could be taken out of the film and put in any other of his pictures at any moment, with any character saying it and it would make no difference for the Tarkovsky buffs.
It's imperative to understand that Tarkovsky is more about mood and imagery than strong driving narrative, although it's untrue that this film lacks narrative (unlike Mirror which is simply a collection of scenes).
I've read comments written before, And I'm surprised how some people are criticizing the movie,and I think that they have to read some good deep poetry before trying to criticize the film, and I'm sure that they will not understand it too!
It makes the work less for a film like this, because you already know how he projects the creative angst of the artist from the character into the folds of your mind.
Tarkovsky being pretentious is like Lucas using CGI; but he is undoubtedly a genius - because of his other films.
Just so, Tarkovsky's life parallels that of the main character, who is also called Andrei: left in Italy surrounded by so much "beauty it's sickening", he becomes haunted by flashbacks of his family in Russia.
A compelling sonic disturbance is created in flashbacks to Russia that sound like a table-saw grinding away at wood; "The Music" the mystic speaks of is warped and fragmented vinyl.Nostalghia, I feel, is not the Tarkovsky movie you want to see first.
This wonderball film is the only one of Tarkovsky's works that somehow made me feel cheated for something.
The beginning was utterly mystical and strange and attracted me to the film, but halfway through I had a hard time keeping up.Of course, there are scenes that were as stunning as anything Tarkovsky has done before, if not even more stunning.
The formularized plot is totally unrecognizable due to the unique sensations unforgettable scenes, and perfect acting.I try to do the same thing as Andrei, but I can't even light the candle.Please viddy this film, and you can feel the true charms of pure cinema.
The only thing that saves the film is the talent of Tarkovsky to shoot beautiful scenes.
His love for both worlds are united here as he reached his heaven.Tarkovsky showed us a lot of things in this film what made him a unique director.
Andrei Tarkovsky's Nostalghia (1983) is as great an example of Fine Art as I have ever seen in any medium, cinema or otherwise.The film as a whole can be considered to be a montage of scenes and images that are only very loosely, and at times not at all, connected to each other in a "straight", literal sense.