TARKOVSKY'S NOSTALGHIA - Part 4: Additional Interpretations and Sources
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- This is the concluding video of this in-depth essay on Andrei Tarkovsky's masterpiece Nostalghia. It discusses visual references and influences on other filmmakers, as well as exlporing Tarkovsky's own development and origins, establishing Nostalghia as a relevant piece toward understanding Tarkovsky's oeuvre.
Kino Lorber Nostalghia Blu-Ray:
www.kinolorber...
Sculpting in Time:
utpress.utexas...
Andrei Tarkovsky Interviews:
www.upress.sta...
Voyage in Time DVD:
www.facetsdvd....
Andrei Tarkovsky - Time within Time: The Diaries:
press.uchicago...
Arseny Tarkovsky - I Burned at the Feast:
www.csupoetryce...
Hermann Hesse - Steppenwolf:
www.penguin.co...
Seneca - Letters from a Stoic:
www.penguin.co...
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations:
www.penguin.co...
Seraphim of Sarov - The Aim of the Christian Life:
www.saintsaliv...
The Desert Fathers:
www.penguinran...
Lotus Sutra:
www.simonandsc...
Ibn Arabi - The Bezels of Wisdom:
www.routledge....
The Philokalia - Volume II:
us.macmillan.c...
Regarding the 1+1=1 sign, I think your interpretation is in the right direction. Early when Gorchakov is in Domenico's residence, Domenico drips oil into Gorchakov's hand and says "One drop plus one drop makes a bigger drop, not two"
That's a very good catch, that I had unfortunately forgot. Certainly seems to go along the line of thought I hinted in the essay. Thank you very much itsjared!
"I feel that it is my most successfully realized film, the one that best expresses my interior world. The protagonist even became my alter ego of sorts. He contains all my emotions, my psychology, my nature. He is my portrait in the mirror."
-Tarkowskij on Nostalghia
Thank you for the valuable quote, it certainly reinforces what I strived to communicate in this in-depth analysis.
I attended a lecture by Tarkovsky at St James church in London in 1984. He was asked by the vicar to talk about the apocalypse which he began to do, referring to several quotations from the Book of Revelations. But then, as was his wont, he wandered off into different directions , citing Zen Buddhism, Taoism and Castaneda. The Q&A afterwards was fascinating as there were only about 20 of us in the audience. I also attended an interview with him at the National Film Theatre which was wide ranging and inspiring. A few years later I was living in Florence where I met his wife and daughter at some screenings of his films. The Q&A with them after a screening of Mirror was especially interesting. Again, just a handful of people were there. Mrs Tarkovsky set up the Institute there of which his son is now the director.
It must have been quite special to be present during those events. One can learn much by meeting such an accomplished artist in person.
Tarkovsky weaves magic with his films. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire series, and discovered a lot more details within Nostalghia that I'd previously overlooked.
Thanks Noel, I'm glad you've found something previously unseen in this very complex and profound artwork.
Your series on this has been one of the most structured, well-researched and downright enjoyable breakdowns I have ever watched. This series has made me see cinema completely differently... thank you!
Hey Caloke, I can't express you how gratifying it is hear such words. To know that somehow I managed to communicate the intricacy and textured nature of Tarkovsky's work, is extremely inspiriting. Thank you very much for your kind words. Cheers and have a nice Christmas!
Thank you for making this series. When I watched Nostalgia for the first time (even though I didn't understand or thought about half the stuff I know now) it became one of my favorite movies, it is truly an deeply artistic and philospohical movie and thank you for all the references and work you put into this.
You are very welcome, David. I'm just happy to share these thoughts with other people with similar appreciation toward cinema as an artform.
This review series has made me love Nostalghia so much. One of the most layered films I’ve ever seen.
I am thoroughly glad you have expressed that Sean, as it was my original intention, to showcase the film's multiple layers of meaning and how intricately and exquisitely they've been structured. Cheers.
After all this all I can say is Thank You, for real.
Your appreciation is deeply cherished and gratifying, I can assure of that, my friend. Cheers.
Thank you very much for this work. Amazing. A great hugh from Lima, Perú.
Gracias, compañero. Saludos de vieja Europa.
Интерестенгли)) Спасибо большое за разбор!!
Спасибо, мой друг.
Your channel is for sure one of the best film channels on youtube in terms of just how much educational value there is to be found in it
Thank you very much for your appreciation, Thomas. To be able to share this knowledge and obtain such gratitude is very rewarding.
I have watched a lot of Tarkovsky movie analysis, and I can say these are one of the very best and thorough ones I have ever seen!
Also love your choice of movies! Keep up the great work man, hope you make it big one day since you deserve it!
Hi Jecte. Allow me to express my deepest gratitude for your kind words. I harbour no illusions of grandeur or expectations of future renown, as I recognize that what I do on this channel is bound to appeal only to a very limited audience. To be honest, if a single person watches these essays and feels he has come out of it with a more comprehensive understanding and appreciation of Tarkovsky's art, then I'll be genuinely satisfied. Thanks again.
@@PlanSéquenceFilmArt Thanks again and I mean that in the most honest way possible! I meant "big" among the audience who can understand and appreciate what you do, like the Cinema Cartography channel has done, because your work is on that level. Your videos not only help understand the topic at hand but also the art in general, and really liked the refference part you did, because it gives even more depth to the topic. Cant wait for your analysis of Theodoros Angelopoulos' movies and I would also want to see more of Kieslowski, maybe something about Dekalog? Keep up the great work, best regards!
@@Prophet017 An Angelopoulos film analysis might come in a not too distant future, I'm cooking something at the moment. Dekalog will definitely have its video as well, perhaps several in fact, we shall see. Thanks again for the support and appreciation.
Great analysis.
Thank you for you kind appreciation as usual, Ben.
Beautiful Video essay ! Loved the film ✨ !
Thanks a lot, glad you appreciated it, my friend.
This was such a wonderful series. Thanks again for making it. After considering this film more, I don't think I like it too much, haha. I appreciate it, but these particular ideas don't seem to resonate as much with me. I like both Stalker and Solaris more. (I just finished reading Roadside Picnic, the novel Stalker was based on.) I think I'm going to watch The Mirror next...
You should talk about The Mirror if you haven't, or maybe you have. I'm going to check now. :)
Thanks for the appreciation, glad you enjoyed it. It's interesting because themes such as the role of borders, the universal character of art, limitations of language and relationship with Nature, are present in many other of Tarkovsky's films and are not exclusive to Nostalghia. Zerkalo will also have its dedicated analysis at some point in the future, stay tuned!
Hi! Thank you so much for putting such an inspirational effort in making these series of commentaries on Tarkovsky's "Nostalghia". I watched it for the first time a few years ago while living in Italy, as both an immigrant (I am of Serbian nationality) and its permanent resident... It has become my favourite movie of all times right away. I have seen it many times so far, and can't stop thinking of it and wathing it again and again...I also "infected" quite many people with it ))))... As a musician, composer, film and theatre producer (independent) with Christian but also holistic spiritual background, I am transported into a realm of sheer poetry of meditation and freedom, as well as engaged thought about the present times and prophecies about the near future, every time when watch this film. It's so hard to give substantial and luminous comments to this amazing intimate as much as universal cinematic masterpiece, but you did an excellent thing here! Great English & reading capacities too! So well and generously done! Thank you again!
Thank you very much for your comment and input. It's great to find other people that have been moved by this masterwork and I always appreciate learning of how it has affected them, sometimes in similar ways to me. Your compliments are very kind as well, I'm so grateful that you have enjoyed this exploration. Cheers!
Interesting series and great channel (subbed). Your videos made me see an angle which I missed earlier, Andrei's torn between his wife (Russia) and Eugenia (Italy) the latter is vivacious and beautiful but lacks the charm and appeal of the former. Also I think Andrei likes Eugenia more than she assumes as she often makes her way into his thoughts and interacts with his wife. Another angle you suggested that stuck with me was the mad man Domenico's comparison to USSR, there's no hate and actually Andrei thinks of Domenico as a kindred spirit but at the same time is aghast when he sees his reflection (Tarkovsky's admission that there are Soviet elements in him which he might be ashamed of). However I think Tarkovsky at the end did portray Domenico having a terrible end just like USSR in less than 10 years from this film's release. Domenico's sentimentalities were useless in the modern day world and it would not end well for him or USSR. One thing which was very obvious though was nostalgia of a Russian director in exile exploring a fictional Russian writer in exile who in turn was exploring a Russian poet who used to be in exile. This is as meta as it gets. Russian Doll like (pun intended).
Hey Prashun, thank you so much for your comprehensive comment! I find your interpretations to be very plausible and insightful, thank you for sharing those with us, I'm sure they will add another stimulating layer for the viewers. And I particularly appreciated the matryoshka simile, very perceptive comparison. Cheers!
It’s funny because I have been considering reading both Meditations and Steppenwolf, and it looks like you mentioned them both in the description!!
Indeed, they're very different books but valuable in their own way.
I'm so glad you finished this! I look forward to watching this soon. Just wanted to comment to say thanks, and I'm excited.
Thanks for your interest Jamie, it's quite rewarding.
Obrigado
De nada. Cumprimentos.
my impression of the movie was of both confusion and fascination. Certainly dramatic, i also perceived moments of (intentional) comedy like in Gorchakov's ironic "she's insane" line, or in his embarrassed survey of his hot spring 'audience' as he fails his candle crossing. Also horror at the sight of a self immolated man to the sounds of Ode to Joy. Actually the drama turns out to be quite internal, in Gorchakov's inability to remain in the present. He sympathizes with Domenico because he too keeps his family locked away in his dreams, where they can only express a fraction of themselves. The intranslatable nature of art is the poet's most lucid thought, who is perhaps the most inarticulate character . He expresses himself through nostalgic fantasies of his past and present that at times conjure an astral projection. In the end, his state is gloriously immortalized in the moving portrait of an Italian basilica surrounding Gorchakov and his Russian home (and whoever's dog) - a scene who's framing and composition is worthy among the finest images divined by man.
Thank you for your thoughts on the film, they reflect many of the aspects I mentioned during this in-depth analysis, once again acting as proof for Nostalghia's expansive content.
Wow! Excellent analysis, thank you so much for making this. I can't even begin to express how helpful you were. Thanks a lot.
It makes me extremely glad to know you have found these essays useful and helpful in understanding the various layers of the film. Cheers!
very profound, least to say. Thank you for putting this together.
No worries, my friend. I'm glad you have enjoyed this series of essays and that you have found food for thought in it. Cheers.
@@PlanSéquenceFilmArt already started watching your videos on Zerkalo..subscribed, share with friends and will watch more for sure.
@@dimitrisleivadas1538 My deepest gratitude to you, Dimitris. Ευχαριστώ πολύ!
This is amazing
Thanks Nouha, glad you've found it appealing.
I wonder what Tarkovsky thought of immortality. Did he mean it as an afterlife or rather as the immortality in memories, in works of art ...
It's a meaningful question, which I addressed in the later section of the video. Personally, I lean towards your second option.
This is absolutely mindblowing!
PS: I would love to see something about Parajanov sometime, if you like his films.
Thank you for you consistent interest Samuel. Surely hope to get to Parajanov in the future.
@@PlanSéquenceFilmArt If you like Parajanov's style then there's a modern experimental director Amit Dutta, who is reminiscent of Parajanov yet distinctly different. He aspires to cinematically recreate artworks. Its pure serenity and strikingly blissful. His films are available on Mubi. You can also find the trailers on youtube.
@@noelsony8221 I've heard about him and I've seen some footage from his works, but they're very hard to get outside the festival circuit. Will certainly keep an eye on him.
@@PlanSéquenceFilmArt i have some links if you like, they took ages to find.
The Unknown Craftsman- archive.org/details/IGNCA.Agayata.Shilpi
The next two have download links at the end:
The Seventh Walk - worldscinema.org/2020/12/amit-dutta-the-seventh-walk-2013/
Nainsukh - worldscinema.org/2020/06/amit-dutta-nainsukh-2010/
Kramasha is also on RUclips:
ruclips.net/video/hlyowrMY3qQ/видео.html
1+1= 1
That reflects the previous statement of Domenico about the drops. I think definitely this is not coincidental :)
Yes, I would definitely agree. I'm glad some viewers like you are picking up on this idea and finding it bears some actual meaning. Thanks for the comment!
Thanks a lot for this brilliant and expansive analysis of Nostalghia and Mirror (waiting for the third). I particularly love how you bring on the socio political context within which Tarkovsky was making these films.
I'm too guilty of not engaging with Nostalghia as deeply and since I watched Mirror after this one, and was deeply moved by the latter, I didn't go back to it at all. But one thing that nagged me was a certain cynical demeanor in Gorchakov, a certian male arrogance which also seemingly makes him suffer. Given how close this was to Tarkovsky's experiences in exile as you show so well, would you think this obstinacy/arrogance of the character was intentional or is it just me. Just as Alexei in Mirror is full of repentance and yet continues to hurt those he loves.
Again I'm in awe of the range of influences you cover- religious, artistic. All of it. Thanks for all the work you put in here.
Hi Apoorva, first of all thank you for your appreciation, I'm glad that you have found something meaningful or useful in these video series. The point you mention is interesting, because other viewers have also commented as well on a perceived arrogance or hubris, perhaps even cynical stance as you mentioned, on Gorchakov's part. I guess I understand why he could come across like that to some people, given his somber mood, grave countenance, uncompromising attitude, sparse words, added to some of his interactions with Eugenia, but personally speaking, I can't say I read him as such. To me, honestly Gorchakov seems like a man of profound sensibility, of permanent pensive state albeit perhaps with a somewhat impatient nature (understandable given his acute homesickness and physical ailment), something which may be easily confounded with smug self-assurance or a sense of superiority. On another hand, I must add that his humble demeanour and compassionate engagement towards Domenico, the almost immediate familiarity and intimacy that they develop, regardless of Domenico's condition and perception as a fool, is a much more significant facet of Gorchakov's portrayal for me at least. Cheers!
13:38 he also was also very interested in the antroposophical teachings of Rudolf Steiner.
Didn't know that. That would explain perhaps why so many elements from various religious backgrounds felt familiar.
@@PlanSéquenceFilmArt Here is an interview where he explains his fascination: www.nostalghia.com/TheTopics/On_Steiner.html
@17:00 "1 + 1 = 1" also has a straight forward meaning similar to that which you relate. The One (God) is in mathematics analogous to Cantor's Absolute Infinite. If we talk about cardinals, not ordinals, for even the smallest infinite cardinal ℵ0, we have ℵ0 + ℵ0 = ℵ0 is an identity (true). Spiritually interpreted God cannot be replicated into separate multiplicities. The Absolute combined with the Absolute does not make a higher Absolute. (Mathematicians would say The Absolute is not a Set, it is a proper class, the largest class, the class of all Sets).
Very insightful mathematical interpretation of that element in the film, thank you for that. In Buddhism you have the indivisibility example of water from two diferrent vessels which, when combined into a single container, makes it then impossible to discern water from one vessel from water of the other.
You're just schizo posting -- why think that the cardinality of a denumerably infinite set has anything to do with "infinity" as it is talked about in theology. "The infinite" as theologians talk about it just means "the incomprehensible"
Who knew Russians do slapstick comedy! 🪆
Hey, being erudite doesn't mean one doesn't have a sense of humour!
Great video, but your laundry list of interpretations does not shed any light on how those ideas, tools and themes may have contributed to a better end product. You don't show an opinion on whether those themes worked for you or not, and whether you would choose to research them yourself for your own work. Without a view from yourself about what elements of the films you find valuable and why, what fits your taste and what falls short, the art remains a dead historical fact and listing Tarkovsky's influences is a historical research project and barely an interpretation.
Tarkovsky's work *can* be seen as an extension of religious, spiritual and academic ideas, but that would be underselling it. The experience in the living audience reveals over time it's true value. Much like a religion can't exist without worshippers and a corporation dies without customers. You are an educated element of that audience and your opinions on what works and what doesn't, is valuable. More valuable than others, because your full bodied interpretation of what the story means and where it goes, gives us a view into your own educated mind and view.
I was looking forward to an opinion that penetrates the mysticism of the film and gives context to the experience of watching the film, instead we all got a dream-like wikipedia page on what Tarkovsky had previously read. Where is the meaning? In everything he inherited before him? Is he a walking URL hyperlink to previous works? No, he did something that the others did not and that has been missed.
All that being said; good video, good luck in the future, you have talent. I just wish there was more to come back for, more than a list of research topics I would find myself when looking specifically for it.
In the scene where the main character stands in the river, inside the flooded house and talks to the little girl, the voice-over says this line: "My strength is two occult, adamantine darts".
Hey friendlybus1, thank you sincerely for taking the time to write such a long response to the video, it is most welcome. I must point out however, that I'm afraid I cannot correspond to your expectations for two reasons: First, the videos produced on this channel are meant to inform, contextualize and generally to educate the viewers, with the aim of preparing him with means to attain the essential grasp of the artwork's true nature by themselves; Second, there's a deliberate willingness to remove my person and character from the video content that I generally produce.
In regards to the first point, as you may be well aware if you have read Tarkovsky's book "Sculpting in Time", it is a much more genuine and beneficial method to allow a viewer, or any person contemplating, meditating or studying an artwork, to realize its quiddity, by their own selves. Given that a profound and enigmatic creation such as this will inevitably ring with a multitude of colours and shades depending on who's watching, the aim of these essays therefore was to provide the tools that make it possible for the viewer to understand how to operate and reach the meaning beyond the conventional appearance, which lies beyond the immediate perception, to get at the foundation of the poetic cinema that Tarkovsky so eloquently describes in his book. Schopenhauer himself talks about the outstanding advantages of comprehending a subject in its innermost reach and attaining a conclusion by oneself, in his famed "Essays", and that self-attained outcome was what I basically aimed for with these video essays as well. Using a famous Zen simile, I hereby intented to point at the moon, and hopefully those listening me will directly look at the moon and realize it themselves, instead of focusing on my finger or on me at all, which leads me to my second point.
Pertaining to the second reason, while I may occasionally perform value judgements in an attempt to highlight the astonishing accomplishments of the cinematic (and other artistic) works mentioned here, unfortunately I have no interest in presenting myself as an entity related to the subject matter. Hence why I neither disclose my face or name, nor do I talk about how the film has personally touched or moved me (at least not intentionally, though who knows if I may have slipped accidentally on occasion?). Although many RUclips channels freely and manifestly attach their persona to their content, on my part, it would make me rather uneasy and uncomfortable to directly expose myself in such a fashion. I see in me nothing worthy to be pointed out specifically, and in fact wish to have the focus steadily locked on to Tarkovsky's art and other film works. Indeed I much prefer to leave the artists and their shimmering creations unstained by my unremarkable and expendable individuality as much as possible.
Hope that cleared the reasoning behind this presentation and always feel free to offer your input on the videos on this channel. Cheers.
Do you have a mail id to reach you
Hit me up on Facebook, mate. Cheers.