Andrei TarkovskySoviet director, 1932-86 |
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Despite a small number of films, Tarkovsky is considered as one of the most distinctive directors in film history. Together with Sergei Eisenstein and Dziga Vertov, he is probably the most important Russian filmmaker. From his debut Ivanovo detstvo (Ivan's Childhood, 1962), awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, he developed a innovative film style, at once poetic and spiritual, where the image-driven narrative leave less space for words and actions in a traditional sense. In this aspect he shares little with Bergman, but the two directors also have things in common.
Tarkovsky's last film, Offret (The Sacrifice, 1986), was shot on the island of Gotland, close to Fårö (Tarkovsky actually wanted Fårö as shooting location, but as a foreign citizen he wasn't allowed entrance to the by then military Fårö). Tarkovsky engaged some of Bergman's regular collaborators, among them Sven Nykvist and Erland Josephson, and in the film also gave reference to The Virgin Spring (1960) The Shame (1968). The film had four prizes at the Cannes Film Festival, including Nykvist's special award for best artistic contribution.
Bergman on Tarkovsky
"When film is not a document, it is a dream. That is why Tarkovsky is the greatest of them all. He moves with such naturalness in the room of dreams. He doesn't explain. What should be explained anyhow? He is a spectator, capable of staging his visions in the most unwieldy but, in a way, the most willing of media."
"Late one evening in 1971, Bergman and his friend and director Kjell Grede by pure coincidence stumbled upon a copy of Andrei Rublov in a screening room at Svensk Filmindustri. They saw it without any subtitles. He ranks it to be one of his most startling and unforgettable movie experiences ever."
- Ingmar Bergman in The Magic Lantern