"Andrey Tarkovsky, a genius in life, a myth after his death" "A great director who created his own world in cinema, totally understandable and yet much misunderstood." "With time Tarkovsky is becoming more and more of a legend, but behind words like 'genius' or 'classic' the soul of the artist tends to get lost." "The soul which is alive in his movies." "There is cinematograph and there is the cinema of Tarkovsky." "Tarkovsky is the director number one." "A desperate talent." "Tarkovsky is undoubtedly the most complicated director, he tore his own soul apart and didn't spare others." "He was strict." "He knew what he wanted and understood how he would then cut and edit a scene." "Tarkovsky is the only Russian director who is to this day regarded as a genius on a worldwide scale." "It's very important to meet such a person as Tarkovsky in one's life, because Andrey for me is an example of spirituality." "Tarkovsky is one of the most mysterious directors in world cinema." "In his mystical movie Stalker he prophesized the day which was to become his last one, and places where his movies were shot have long ago achieved a cult status and became places of piligrimage for his fans from all over the world." "I myself turned into some kind of stalker." "I started taking people on trips to the Zone." "Tarkovsky's short life was full of dramatic events - constant family problems, misunderstanding and unacceptance of his art, exile towards the end of his life." "Tarkovsky sacrificed everything for art - his health, family and even his motherland." "SACRIFICES OF ANDREY TARKOVSKY" "During his short life Adrey Tarkovsky made 7 movies which became classics of world cinema " "Ivan's Childhood" "Andrey Rublev" "Solaris" "The Mirror" "Stalker" "Nostalgia" "The Sacrifice" " these pictures are not just pages in the history of world cinematography, each frame reveals a wounded soul of the great Russian director." "All his movies together form a single one - same esthetic, same characters who talk about conscience." "In inhuman conditions he behaves in a humane way, while you pretend that all this is irrelevant to you and regard your guests - is that the way you call us?" " as something external." "But we are yourselves, we are your conscience." "He was a true cinematographist, he devised his own language which is extremely difficult to follow - you can imitate it, but to follow it is impossible." "It's a dead-end, a great and a brilliant one, but still a dead-end." "He was a good friend but at the same time full of loneliness, which estranged him from everyday reality." "He was burdened with other tasks and for this very reason he was infinitely lonely." "He was an astral person, he had his own special cosmos inside." "Don't move!" "Stalker is the most mysterious movie of Andrey Tarkovsky." "Mysterious Zone, the prophecy of Chernobyl disaster." "This is what the Zone is like, it may even seem capricious, but at each and every moment it is exactly the way we ourselves have made it." "It is rumoured that the Zone was the reason behind early deaths of Tarkovsky himself and the leading actors." "Where was this mystical Zone shot?" "Strange as it may seem, the entrance to the mysterious Zone is situated right in the centre of Tallin." "It is the only place which still remains exactly as it was during the filming in 1978." "Let's go." "I was a trainee back then." "These gray edifices, this nothern light appealed to Tarkovsky and his cameraman so much that they spent hours on end roaming these yards." "Quite a lot was shot here." "Stalker's Land Rover stood at this very place." "Lie down!" "Here the characters hid in the car." "Don't move!" "And now we're standing exaclty where a soldier's motorcycle took a turn." "On his helmet were letters 'AT'" " Andrey Tarkovsky." "Stop!" "Let's look at Uspensky Cathedral now." "It's impossible to imagine now that once the Russian director was more famous in the West than in the USSR." "Andrey Rublev lay on the shelf for 5 years, and during all this time it was displayed in the West as an example of free Soviet cinema." "In my view, he was Andrey Pervozvanny not only of Russian cinema, but also of international one." "Tarkovsky was brought into the limelight in the West after his movie Ivan's Childhood it was said that new direction was emerging in the USSR." "Mum, there's a coockoo there." "For this movie Andrey cast his first wife, Irma Rausch." "They used to be group-mates at VGIK." "The story of their marriage shook the whole insitute." "There was a comsomol gathering at the faculty." "One of our fellow-students reproached Irma Rausch, saying that she was - to put it mildly - an indecent woman." "And he said it publicly." "Then Andrey stood up and said, "Irma, let's leave this place."" "He took her hand and they left." "They were absent for two days." "They appeared on the third day and said, "We're now husband and wife."" "At first, silence fell." "Then everybody congratulated them." "I had the impression that he was protecting her all allong." "It is the most serene period of Tarkovsky's life - he has a loving, caring wife, in 1962 his son, Arseny, is born." "Tarkovsky makes his first full-length movie which is well-received by the authorities." "I acted at Tarkovsky's Ivan's Childhood." "And what's your name, comrade liteunant of medical service?" "Masha." "I remember how I first met him " "I was walking across a yard at Mosfilm and suddenly heard a voice coming out of the window," ""Dear, come up here!"" "Suddenly a man enters, biting his nails and thumping his foot." "I quietly ask, "Who is that?" "This is Tarkovsky, a director," I am told." "Let me give you a hand." "I can manage." "Of course you can." "We travelled all around the world and received a Golden Lion together." "We're glad that 1962 was succcessful for Soviet cinema at one of the most prestigious festivals in the world, in Venice." "Even back then, the young director had a special method of working with actors." "Already at audition he told me, "Mind you, Kolya, the most difficult scene for you will be the wargame."" "You'll have to start crying in front of the camera." "And so for 4 hours I was running around inside this huge empty pavilion, summoning up emotions, brooding." "Then I see the equipment has been turned on, cinematographer is ready, Andrey is behind the camera." "And I realize that is the end of me, he's going to banish me." "I see Andrey coming towards me, I cringe, he approaches me and as an astute psychologyst he starts comforting me instead of scolding." "He says, "Kolya, dear, my poor thing!" "Why are you torturing youself like this?" "We'll cancel everything right away, just don't do this to yourself."" "He hugged me, and naturally I started crying from self-pity." "He promplty took my hand, put me in front of the camera and shot two takes at once." "He knew how to work with actors, he achieved what he wanted painfully, he used to say, "You see, at this point you should think about or hear or see" - for example to feel the leaves." "An actor stared at him blankly, not being able to understand what he was talking about and how to act." "Tarkovsky achieved a desired result by any means, sparing nobody, even his favourite actors." "There was a story that they couldn't focus a camera on Solonitsyn because his eyes were restless from fear." "He loved Tarkovsky very much, but Tarkovsky deliberately told unpleasant thing to him." "And so not being able to satisfy his favourite director he got nervous, and only in this state Solonitsyn was filmed." "I was working for them, for the people, days and nights I worked." "They are not humans after all, are they?" "Andrey Rublev, the most difficult, agonizing and significant film for Tarkovsky." "The most important thing is that we managed to do it together, although the work was very hard, nerve-racking." "Actors still look back on acting in this movie with anguish." "Tarkovsky sacrificed himself, and was extremely exacting towards actors, even cruel." "The most physically demanding scene for me was the searching of clay." "I know for sure this is the wrong clay!" "And which is the right clay?" "I know which!" "It was terribly cold, everybody put on sheepskins, and I was only in a shirt in the rain." "I ask, "Where do I have to fall down?"" "He says, "You fall right there, and then you scream 'Clay!" "'"" "The whole crew is watching, Andrey is waiting, I feel like I'm going to be a hero." "I didn't know about that precipice but I felt it all with my body - there were rocks and logs and bushes." "I slid right through a bush hurting myself, my eyes were blurred." "I was in pain but had to act out joy about finding the clay." "I've found it!" "I finished the scene, went cursing under my breath, feeling blood on my elbow." "Andrey stands there dressed in a sheepskin and tells me, "Kolya, excellent!" "One more take!"" "And it repeated 5 or 6 more times." "But after that he came into a hut which was heated for me, and personally cleaned my feet and rubbed my body with vodka, and generally was so tender that I knew - if at that moment he was to tell me," ""Kolya, one more time," I'd put on my shirt and went outside to work." "Andrey Arsenyevich was thought to be cruel at the shooting area, but I don't think so." "The thing is, some roles demand total dedication, not just theory but transformation in actual fact." "Sometimes it can look cruel, as was the case with my freezing on the metal floor - people see this and think he was a ruthless director freezing his actress, endangering her life - as nothing was tested beforehand in Russia of course." "Freezing was one thing, but no one knew how to return me to normal condition." "She drank liquid oxygen, she did it out of despair." "He asked, "Can you stay in this mask without oxygen for 1 minute?"" "I said yes, and I managed one and a half." "He was happy, came up to me and said, "You're my Snow Maiden."" "And at this moment harm really could be done as it was a mask which constricted the face, and if I had smiled my skin would have burst." "I think that I helped him by doing only one thing - believing in him unconditionally." "Had he told me to jump or to fly, I would have gladly done so." "He had such great charm and power that actors fell in love with him and many became Tarkovsky's actors, it didn't matter for them what to act, what was important was to meet the director's demands," "because they knew that in the end everything was to be just as good." "Only now do I see these intonations, speech, plasticity, biting nails nervously - we're all acting out Andrey Tarkovsky." "Actresses not only fell for director's charm, they immediately fell in love with him." "Lots of romantic adventures were attributed to him." "Andrey was amorous as is the case with any normal man." "He was versatile: sinful, enthusiastic, a drunk, a party animal." "We went on a binge, played a guitar, messed around, rambled, didn't talk about cinema much - he was a common man." "I once described our typical day in my diary, namely what we were drinking - cognac, whisky, chianti - you name it and after all this I took him home in a taxi." "He lay on my lap, tired." "I caressed his head and thought to myself, "Andrey, you're so old."" "Andrey was at the time 33 years old." "Nowadays we tend to erect a monument for him, but he was a common man with all the passions characteristic of young men." "During the shooting of Andrey Rublev Tarkovsky meets his new assistant Larisa Kizilova." "And people around him notice that he starts to change under the influence of a young energetic woman." "Those who followed on with Tarkovsky after Andrey Rublev started to break him from those who truly loved him - he was being led away from us." "He was a kind of person highly susceptible to influence, totally defenseless." "Maybe this was the reason for the split between two creators of the movie," "Tarkovsky and Konchalovsky." "It happened because I thought he was wrong from time to time." "This was later interpreted by his new friends as envy or whatnot." "He became more restrained with me because as I criticized him." "I told him that Rublev was too long and had to be shortened, and I still think so." "Tarkovsky was to hear the same reproach after each new release." "Only many years later would long shots be considered as a hallmark of the great artist." "Rain!" "Here!" "Come on, it's only rain!" "But at the time the movie was fiercely criticized." "The director was blamed for lack of patriotism, for painting the picture of gloom and dirt, poverty and cruelty." "It was even said that Tarkovsky drowned whole Russia in the rain." "But to this day Andrey Rublev remains the most important film of the great master." "After this movie Tarkovsky's life also undergoes a dramatic change." "He divorces his wife, leaves his son Arseny and marries Larisa Kizilova." "It would have been perfect if he had continued to lead the same life as before during Ivan's Childhood and Rublev, before his life snapped and before he was led astray." "I saw him writhing as he was led away, he looked like a rabbit about to disappear in a snake's mouth." "He didn't want to go and yet was forced into this new life." "Only the closest ones knew his suffering." "He had a lot of inner conflict after leaving his first family, and he realized that he repeated his father's destiny and condemned his elder son to suffering similar to his own." "Andrey's father, a famous poet Arseny Tarkovsky left the family when children were still very young." "Mother loved him till the end of her life, she never got married again." "Tarkovsky conceived a new movie, The Mirror." "It is regarded by many as the director's most ambiguous work." "It's a confession in which Tarkovsky tried to make up to his little son whom he had left." "The Mirror was a kind of attempt to explain to us what had happened to him, and also to express love to his mother." "For the part of the mother, Tarkovsky chose his own mother, Maria Ivanovna Vishniakova." "We really resemble each other." "Andrey expressed his innermost feelings in The Mirror." "I badgered both Maria Ivanovna and Arseny Aleksandrovich about what was going on between them." "Eventually, he looked at me with his green eyes and said," ""How would you like to get smacked on your lips?"" "Starting from The Mirror he began his confessions, and gradually he retired into himself more and more, communicating with outer world through his inner self." "Memories about hard times in evacuation with his moter and sister provided the basis of the movie." "War played a fatal part in his life, because of it he couldn't study music and drawing as he fell ill with TB in 47." "The family was extremely poor." "Father helped his children as much as he could." "Once he presented Andrey with a winter coat." "It was stolen on the first day at school." "The boy returned home in the frost undressed and fell ill." "From then on he suffered from a lung disease." "Why are you sitting in the dark?" "Has the light went out?" "For The Mirror Tarkovsky cast Larisa Kizilova." "Hold it tight." "Otherwise it'll escape and break the china." "We had a scene where I had to kill a cock, and the owner of these cocks stood there with a sack, he was the only one who believed that I wasn't going to cut off a cock's head" "and quietly asked me, "You're not going to do it, are you?" And I said, "I'm not."" "At this point Andrey Arsenyevich looked from behind the camera and said," ""Why the hell not?" "What will happen to you?"" "I said, "I'll get sick, Andrey Arsenyevich."" "To which he replied, "Splendid then." "Action!"" "Go ahead!" "Then we filmed without killing a cock, simpling blowing feathers." "And I had this terrible 'overturned' face, exaclty as in Dostoevsky." "Later I saw this shot and said to myself, "Gosh, I wish I could act like that every time."" "Tarkovsky was sure he'd made his best film." "Then came the moment of delivery of the picture." "I heard with my own ears what colleagues said about The Mirror - it was unbelievable." "Director's confession became subject of constant gossip, fierce criticism and outright disapproval." "It was unbearable to hear, but I saw Andrey as he was just sitting calmly staring before him, listening to all this but not hearing." "Each person who realizes their gift doesn't tolerate humiliation and bossiness." "They can suffer and even cry, but never succumb." "1..2..3.." "Loudly and distincly, 'I can talk!" "' Go ahead!" "I can talk!" "Yes?" "Alexey?" "Hello, mum." "What's wrong with your voice?" "Are you sick?" "It's nothing, after all words cannot fully convey one's feelings." "They are feeble." "You know, it's strange, I've just dreamt of you." "As if I was still a child." "By the way, mum, when did father left us?" "Was it 36 or 37?" "For one, it was 35, and then, what do you need all this for?" "And a fire?" "Remember, when a hayloft burnt down on the farm?" "The same, 35." "You know, Lisa died." "What Lisa?" "You know, Lisa, Elizaveta Pavlovna, we used to work at the printing house together." "Oh my God." "Listen, mum, why are we quarrelling all the time?" "After all, forgive me if I've done something wrong." "In Estonia everything related to Andrey Tarkovsky and shooting of Stalker is carefully preserved." "Letters on the old boiler-house still remain." "And a plate reminds us that a movie was shot on this location." "Next to the smoke stack they built a gate with barbed wire, it was the only piece of set there." "There Land Rover slipped through the gate and was fired at." "This is were railway lines used to be." "Stalker, Writer and Scientist going on a trolley stopped right here." "Well, we're at home now." "Here used to be an old car with a dead machinegunner." "My God, they have stayed here like this, these people?" "And from there the actual Zone began." "Initially the Zone had to look differently." "According to scenario it had to be a place once visited by aliens." "They left in their wake the Zone and plenty of riddles." "Scenery was to be filmed in Tajikistan, and the film itself was conceived as a sci-fi action movie." "Tarkovsky had already had experience of shooting such kind of movie." "I remember how he decided to make Solaris - it was after we watched a Kubrick's movie." "We wathced it, were stupefied, couldn't make neither head nor tail of it, and he said he wanted to make science fiction." "It was like a reply from Tarkovsky to Kubrick, a kind of dialogue." "Get in." "What about you?" "I'll go right after you, I need to close the hatch." "Everything's ok?" "You feel comfortable?" "Yes, come quick, Chris." "But even in a sci-fi movie Solaris Tarkovsky was concerned with totally different issues." "His main message was:" "You can't run away from your conscience, it's bound to get you everywhere." "After watching the movie, officials expressed a lot of criticism to Tarkovsky." "Here is some of it:" "To show more clearly what the world in future looks like, it's absolutely unclear from the film;" "there are too few shootings of nature of the planet in future;" "which camp does the main character belong to?" "A socialist, a communist or a capitalist one?" "Out of 32 recommendations about Solaris, he didn't heed a single one." "He behaved freely." "I watched him out of the corner where I sat quietly and couldn't understand how he could talk like that to his boss." "He talked to the boss exaclty the way he talked to me." "He had a free spirit." "In 1972 Solaris won the Grand Prix at the Cannes film festival." "Tarkovsky gets more and more recognition in the West, but less and less understanding at home." "I received a letter from a woman writing on behalf of all the spectators saying:" ""We all admire you, you're such a great actor, but we exhort you not to act in such a potboiler anymore."" "This was the exact word she used - "such a potboiler as Solaris."" "Obviously, I didn't take that into account but such was the opinion of all the spectators." "1977, Tarkovsky is ready for shooting another science fiction movie, Stalker." "But a major earthquake in Tajikistan ruins all the plans." "The director starts looking for a new location." "Out of the blue we get a message that Tarkovsky is shooting in Estonia and is searching for locations, and therefore we're requested to help as we know the place." "That's how we met." "Of course, we tried to understand what he wanted for Stalker, but all he said was:" "abandoned industrial landscape where something has gone wrong." "Are we going over there?" "Yes, but we won't take this way." "We'll make a circle." "Why the hell is that?" "One doesn't follow this way." "In the Zone a straight way is not the shortest one, the longer the better." "It's less risky like that." "Shooting took all summmer." "As the work dragged on, Tarkovsky's disappointment started to grow." "From the very beginning Tarkovsky didn't know how to shoot this movie, and basically it was a run-of-the-mill work for him, he wanted to shoot it as quickly as possible in order to start working on Hamlet, Demons or Idiot." "Don't touch that!" "I told you not to touch!" "What's wrong with you?" "Are you nuts?" "Tension was growing." "Things went out of hand when Tarkovsky's wife Larisa laid claim to the main female part." "Audition was conducted for Larisa Kizilova and Alisa Freindlich." "During which cameraman Georgy Rerberg bluntly asked Tarkovsky," ""So who are we going to cast, an actress or Larisa?"" "Naturally, director chose Alisa." "Furthermore, the first brilliant audition was included in the film." "Mum used to warn me, "He's a stalker, he's a doomed man, a prisoner." "And children?" "Think about what kind of children stalkers have!"" "But what could I do?" "I was sure I was going to be happy with him." "Larisa didn't forgive Rerberg his bluntness." "Larisa Pavlovna really made quite a mess there." "Even during shooting of The Mirror Andrey Arsenyevich behaved differently." "And during shooting of Stalker Larisa got her claws into Andrey Arsenyevich." "She tried to instil into him a thought that he was a genius and all the others had to bow before him." "Tension between the director and the cameraman was growing." "It was aggravated by Rerberg's propensity for women and alcohol." "Among the crew they used to call him Rerberg the Hitter as he easily hit it off with women." "He would take a taxi and go to Tallin for a couple of days and paint the town red." "Then he came back with a hangover and bloodshot eyes." "And one day Andrey Arsenyevich told him, "That's it, Gosha, you're out."" "Afer film was developed in the laboratory, it turned out that all the material was wasted." "Everyone was sure that it would be a severe blow for Tarkovsky." "He was very happy about this, one could see." "In a year Tarkovsky changed the scenario completely and started shooting a totally different movie." "This is the only place one can go if there's no hope to be found elsewhere." "You've come here yourselves, why then are you trying to eliminate the faith?" "Shut up!" "All the charcters became different, and of course Stalker himself underwent the most dramatic change" "In the initial version he was something of a criminal." "In the end he became totally different, more of a prophet or a God's fool." "Calm down, don't talk!" "No one believes, not just these two." "No one." "Who should I lead?" "It was a hard time for actors." "Tarkovsky was especially exacting to his friend Alexandr Kaydanovsky." "I can imagine how he was tortured during the shooting." "But after the shooting was over Tarkovsky and Kaydanovky also unwinded together." "They even spent days off in very interesting exotic places." "Once they even were thrown out of a police station." "They were arrested for being drunk and at 3 o'clock AM they started discussing Kant's categorical imperative and were kicked out because no one could sleep." "Different things happened." "While chilling out he was a completely different person, he told jokes, he was merry and outgoing." "But when it came to cinema he suddenly changed, there were no smiles, no humour, everything was dead serious." "During the shooting he was very reserved and inwardly-directed." "When everything was ready, he lowered his head like an harlequin, then budged and said, "There, move half a metre," or something like that." "He was always listening to his inner voice." "The way Tarkovsky rigorously consctructed each scene became legendary." "We picked all the colourful flowers in the field and removed them, only the white and blue ones remained." "There used to be a flowerbed nearby but a porcupine destroyed it, although the smell still lingered for a long time." "This man didn't miss a single detail, he elaborated each fragment of his art, and demanded the same of others." "We're now standing near the Yagala river, this is how it looked during the shooting." "A lot of material was shot here." "Remember that scene where Scientist is drinking tea, then they come in," "Here he comes." "and Stalker wonders, "You're already here?"" "It's incredible." "But how have you managed to outrun us?" "What do you mean 'outrun'?" "I came back here for my rucsack." "It was all shot right here." "The Yagala river." "It was said that actors were breathing its poisonous emissions during the shooting." "At the time, further upstream was a paper mill." "Can you smell this?" "It stinks like a swamp, this I can smell." "No, there's a river here." "It's possible that at that time a paper mill might have dumped its waste in the river." "There was an awful stench there indeed, but I don't think it was that detrimental to one's health because a lot of people lived right nearby." "I think people just invented all these rumours afterwards." "It was a quiet and picturesque place, we enjoyed working here." "Stalker was the last film made by Tarkovsky in his native country." "In 1980 the movie won the FIPRESCI prize at the Cannes Film Festival." "I myself turned into some kind of stalker, I started taking people to the Zone because fans of this movie started to emerge across the border, the first ones were a Finnish composer and a Norwegian artist, then were English, French and what have you." "One can still feel the atmosphere." "Tarkosvky, a world-renowned director, lives in poverty." "In 1981 Andrey makes a note in his diary:" "Tomorrow is my birthday." "Larisa calls all the friends to say that celebration is cancelled." "Today electricity has been cut off for nonpayment." "Son Andrey is growing up, he witnesses frequent quarrells between parents." "Both mum and dad had short tempers, and when two such people meet it often results into clashes." "But despite wrangling and quarrelling they really loved each other, and that's why they stayed together till the end." "Larisa has her own way of protecting Andrey from all the worries." "Larisa created for him exactly the kind of atmosphere he needed, a kind of hothouse, protecting him from all sides and actually she shouldn't have done so." "Sometimes worries help." "There's no more place for old friends in Tarkovsky's new milieu." "As Andrey told me himself, "Everybody is so respectful of you, no sooner do you extend your hand than an apple appears in it."" "That just won't do." "Ioseliani once told me about being at a party at Andrey's and saying something to him" " and Ioseliani is not the most pleasant man in the world, he tends to get really annoying so that one feels an urge to take a stick and hit him on his head, that's just the way he is." "Anyway, he said something unpleasant and everyone fell silent at once, all eyes were on Andrey." "Andrey looked at him and said, "He's allowed to."" "Of course he was a cult figure." "In the early 80's travels to Italy invited by his close friend, famous screenwriter Tonino Guerra." "Together they work on a documentary entitled Voyage in Time." "And so we arrived at a marvellous place called Bagno Vignoni." "and saw a hot steaming pool." "There for the first time we talked about nostalgia." "Nostalgia was the title Tarkovsky chose for his new movie." "Tarkovsky arrived in Bagno Vignoni in 1982 and stayed at our hotel." "Almost nothing has changed here since and locals remember each episode being shot." "He wanted to use this place in a movie and so he got down to work." "I remember that at first he tried shooting in a pool full of water and then in an empty one." "I can't see the smoke." "He said to me, "What's most important in Nostalgia is my art and my feelings, and we'll have to shoot in one take a scene where you carry a candle which is a metaphor for what I'm trying to do in my cinema and maybe in my life too." "I've always been uncompromising in my life, and this is how we're going to shoot this scene, in one single take."" "Acting in a movie without a definite script, escpecially during close-ups, it is very important to feel then acting becomes pleasant and joyful, otherwise it becomes a torture." "He told me, "Here, Oleg, now you have the right eyes."" "Then he would get behind the camera, focusing on surroundings, then getting back to me." "And then he'd say, "Stop, Oleg, you've lost it."" "During our collaboration I always felt his enormous love for Russia, and it never occurred to me - and to him either - that he'd come to Italy to stay." "It came as a surprise for everybody that after the shooting was over," "Tarkovsky decided to stay in the West for good." "I think his departure was a tragic event, I witnessed it with my own eyes." "It happened after Tarkovsky learned that Nostalgia hadn't won the Grand Prix at Cannes." "He could hardly contain his anger, he said," ""I won't go to a press conference, I won't accept any awards."" "Then his wife arrived, they discussed something for about half an hour, and eventually Larisa convinced him." "His closest people tried to make him stay abroad and succeeded, local officials also 'helped' by not extending his visa." "It was enough." "And so he made a choice, a fatal choice." "You're watching a rare video from the press conference where Tarkovsky announced his decision to stay in the West." "He realizes that in the name of freedom of his art he sacrifices his son who will never be able to leave the country." "It was enough just to take a look at his face, it was a face of the man who takes a fatal step." "I can't watch this video, it's too painful." "Florence was the first and the only city where he was offered a job and provided with everything." "He loved Italy." "It was the only country where he felt - not exacly at home, but almost." "In the West Tarkovsky managed to make only one movie, The Sacrifice." "In 1985 he travels to Sweden." "The island of Gotland became a special place, similar to those in Solaris and Stalker, where art and brilliant thoughts originated." "Sven, this is were a car will be burning." "Bergman and his crew used to work on this island, so it was a curious mix of two atmospheres, that of Bergman and that of Tarkovsky." "You know, I often say to myself, that if one does the same job everyday, a lot like a ritual, it will change the world." "As far as I know, it was one of the most expensive movies in the history of Swedish cinema, although it's not Solaris or Space Odyssey, the movie is quite simple - there's only a small cottage and green fields on the island," "but it was important for Andrey Arsenyevich that everything was precise - he wanted a specific shot with a specific tree in it, and if we couldn't find the right tree there was no shooting that day." "It was somehting unheard of in Sweden." "As the ABBA's song goes - it's "Money, money, money"." "In the West you cannot simply say, "I don't like the weather," "I don't know what to shoot today, maybe we'll have to do it all over again."" "I want a small group cuddled together." "Your name has to be Tarkovsky to be allowed a thing like that." "Everyone thought he was a difficult person to work with as he never gave explanations or allowed thinking, he simply provided directions." "The leading actor Erland Josephson was so struck by working with Tarkovsky that he published memoirs about this experience." "Today director Ilmar Taska stages a play based on these memoirs." "More fire!" "The scene with a burning cottage had to be shot twice." "During the shooting of this scene one of the cameras broke down." "The cottage had to be built again from scratch." "At first everyone said it was an impossible work to do at such a short term." "It seemed to me that Andrey Arsenyevich summoned up all his earthly and unearthly powers to achieve it and he succeeded." "I like Sacrifice very much, for me it's a testament for all of us." "A man is totally devasted by what is going on in the world today, and he says," ""I'll renounce everything - my beloved son, my native home, just let me suffer for all the sins alone."" "It was exactly the destiny of Andrey Arsenyevich himself." "During the shooting of The Sacrifice Tarkovsky was already very sick." "In December 1985 he was diagnosed with bronchial cancer." "No one had thought he was sick, it didn't show, he was full of energy." "Even when he lied in bed after unsuccessful chemotherapy he still was determined to finish cutting The Sacrifice, and he did." "At the time, Andrey was mostly depressed by being far from his son." "I was a hostage in Russia until 76, when I was finally allowed to leave." "And to a large extent, the fact of father's illness contributed to it, because when officials learned about his terminal cancer, they must have thought that holding hostages was no longer necessary." "When I finally saw him he was already bedridden, so our meeting was a slightly sad one." "In the video shot at the hospital one could see his face, serene and child-like." "He didn't think about death, just the other way round, he thought he was going to defeat it, he tought that his illness was a shock necesary to reunite our family and he could get well and continue his work." "Improvement in his condition was not to last." "Andrey Tarkovsky died on December 29th 1986 in a hospital in Paris." "The great director is buried in the Russian cemetery in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois." "He was a great man, there's no one like him." "The Sacrifice was his testament to me." "We saw it during his funeral and were really struck." "He once told me, "Watch this movie very attentively, everything I wanted to tell you is there."" "I couldn't have received a better message." "Don't be afraid, my boy, there's no such thing as death." "Of course, there's fear of death, and it's a bad one indeed, it often forces people to do what they shouldn't do." "But if people were to do away with this fear, everything would change." "In the end there's a scene of the boy watering a tree which will grow and blossom provided he believes in it, and he passes this belief to other people" " this is exactly what Tarkovsky bequeathed to us."