Talking about genius: Tarkovsky 85 years
MOSCOW, 4 APR — RIA Novosti. World famous film Director and screenwriter, one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century of cinema Andrei Tarkovsky 4 April would have turned 85 years old. During his short life he managed to create such films as “Ivan’s childhood”, “Andrei Rublev”, “Mirror”, “Solaris”, “Stalker”, which entered the Treasury of world cinema and has influenced many Russian and foreign filmmakers.
The love of cinema
As told in an interview to RIA Novosti, the son of Tarkovsky, Andrey Tarkovsky Jr., despite the versatility and talent of his father, the movie was not for him at random. “At least, because he did the maximum possible in the cinema and raised his level of exceptional height. Because Tarkovsky’s films — it is not just a movie. Of course, when he entered the film Institute, he was interested in cinema, but he did not know what it is. By his own admission, he began to discover the movie only after “Ivanov of the childhood”, — he said.
As noted in the book “Imprinted time” Tarkovsky himself, the man who attempted to become a filmmaker risks his entire life, so it should be a conscious act.
According to him, with the help of cinema can put the most complex problems of our time — at the level of those problems which for centuries have been the subject of literature, music, painting
“I love the movies. I don’t know: will my work, for example, certainly fit the concept, which I hold, the system of working hypotheses that I put forward. Around too many temptations: the temptation of cliches, prejudice, temptation, the temptation of common areas, other people’s artistic ideas. Because, in General, so just shoot a scene beautifully, effectively, to applause… But only to collapse on the way, and you were dead,” admitted the Director.
The search for the answer
According to the interlocutor of the Agency, Tarkovsky in his paintings was looking for a response to simple, in essence, the question: “Why are we here?”. There was no way to answer this question for him was art. It was his knowledge. “He was looking for answers to vexed questions, and not afraid to ask them. Although now people are even embarrassed to talk about it. It is believed that the questions that nobody can answer. But for him, it was the search for the meaning of life,” he said.
Thus the Tarkovsky insisted that there is nothing pointless the word “search” in relation to a work of art. “They concealed the impotence of inner emptiness, lack of true creative consciousness, a tiny vanity.
“Looking to the artist” — what these words are bourgeois Amnesty misery! Art — not a science to be able to afford to make experiments… Funny that when Picasso was asked about his “search,” he said wittily and accurately, clearly exasperated by the question: “I do not seek, I find,” wrote the Director.
According to him, he was always a supporter of art, carrying in himself a yearning for the ideal, expressing the desire for it.
I am for an art that gives man hope and faith. And the more hopeless the world, which the artist says, moreover, can be, should be felt opposed to it ideal — it’s the only way to live!Andrei Tarkovsky
According to Tarkovsky, he was always interested in the inner world of man, for it is much more natural to make a journey into human psychology, the supply of his philosophy, those literary and cultural traditions which sustain his spiritual base.
Tarkovsky Jr. said that he had met with many people who had a great influence the work of his father. “When I met Pope John Paul II, he spoke very highly of Tarkovsky. And the current President of the Pontifical Council for culture cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi is a big “fan” of Tarkovsky. I personally know several Catholic priests who have been ordained, because I watched the films of the father, first of all, “Andrei Rublev” and “Stalker”. This is the case when art can change a person’s life,” said he.
The relationship with Russia
In 1984, Tarkovsky has collected a press-conference in Milan, which reported that it did not intend to return to the Soviet Union.
As told by his son, initially Tarkovsky had no intentions to stay abroad, he was preparing the painting “Nostalgia” for the Cannes film festival in 1983. However, the situation changed dramatically when a member of the jury at Cannes was Sergei Bondarchuk, which became the push to Tarkovsky any prize not received. The Director was amazed by this betrayal. After he asked for three years to work abroad and make three paintings, including “hamlet”, understanding that to remove them at home will not let him. He said — come back, we’ll decide. These words he caught a real opportunity to become restricted to leave.
“Apparently, in Moscow, then just couldn’t understand that he’s not going to stay in the West forever, but really only wants to do work, to do which at home it is not possible. But, in the end, this lack of understanding and this alienation from home, it cost very expensive, it literally finished him. However, he told me that it was the only possible solution, because the main thing in life for him was always to work”, — said the Agency interlocutor.
Despite the tragic rupture with the homeland, Tarkovsky stressed that in all his paintings he has always been very important subject of roots, ties with my homeland, with childhood, with pride
“For me it was always very important to establish their belonging to tradition, culture, circle of people or ideas. For me, it is extremely importance to Russian cultural traditions, coming from Dostoevsky, in fact, not having development in its entirety in modern Russia”, — he remarked.