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8/18/2019 Time and the Film Aesthetics of Andrei Tarkovsky
1/6
HV,A t\I t ,,,,
as not. the athletic and artistic alibi would merge, as with
the
otullipresent reproductions
o
classical statuary, discus-throwers and the
liJ ;e tbat would remain a k ey term of tile gayimagiuary tOr generations.
Similarly, it
was
no
accident that, as early
as
the 1880s, the classical statue
ora
maratllOner
in
Berlin s Tiergarten became the focus of an important
g y
cruising
re
(Andreas
Stemweile>t,
Kunst
w
schwiiler Alltag
in
Micl me B o U ~ e d EI4of {ulo;
Homosexuelle
Frauen
und
Manner in Berlin
/{J50·1950. GeschieJue Alltag wuf Kullur (Berlin: FrOHch Kaufnmnn,
1984), p. 76).
course, the artistic alibi had remarkable staying: power
despite
its
sub.mersionby the athletic alibi, supported
its
own crypto-gay
publishing mini-industry
in
the 1950s and 1960s, and continues
to have
clear judicial n cultural
Weight,
as evidenced
by
the recent Mapplethorpe
trial
in
Cincinnati.
1
Ricl:uud Dyer, Now You See it: Studies nLesbian ndGay Film
London:
Routledge, 1990),
pp. 17-27.
18 Linda Williams, Hardcore: Power Pleasure and
tile
Frenzy of the
Visible (Berkeley: University of CaliforniaPress, 1989), pp. 34-57.
He
describes time
in
tenns of human
memory
and life-processes. This scts
up a duality where time is cormected to memory and consciousl1ess and
intimately
expressed through
nature, This notion of li me a s memflI Y
will
lead to a brief discussion of Henri Bergson s concept of duration as a
comparative term to help understand Tarkovsky s aesthetics. The
connection to a now neglected early 20th century philosopher is not
obscurantism if one remembers the impact Bergson s thoughts had on
modern art. With Bergsonism in tbe ai r modem
art
becamehaunted by the
quest for
an
aesthetic to represent the
flux
of time and m.emory.
A nd as Erwin Panovsky, Arnold Hauser and others bavc noted,
film is the quintessential time-space art beeause time and space acquire
qualities of the other. Througb
montage
time
loses
its irreversibility, it is
Time, printed
in
its factual forms aod manifestations:
such b the supreme idea of cinema as an art.. O n th at I
bui ld my working
hypothesis,
both practical and
theoretical (63)
Time
and the
Film Aesthetics
of
Andrei Tarkovsky
Andrei
Tarkovsky was born in
1932, in
Laovrazhe, the
lvanova
dislrict of
the
Soviet
Union.
He ie tIfty-four
years
later
in
1986,
only
months after the release of his last film, The Sacrifice. His prior films are
iv ll s Childhood
1962,
Andrei Rublev 1966, Solaris 1971,
The
Mirror
975 Stalker 1979, and Nostalghia 1983. Tarkovsky s films form an
intensely personal
and
consistent oeuvre that
have accumuhHed
a loyal
following
in
the West and
(slOWly)
in the
East.
Tarkovsky s written
thoughts
on
film and art stm
remain
little
discussed.
This essay
will
look
into Tarkovsky s aesthetics through both hisfUms and his scattered
theoretical conjectures collected in Sculpting ill
Time:
Reflections on the
Cinema (from
which all
subsequent quotes
by
Tarkovskyare
taken) .
As the title
oftbe
book indicates, time is the most important
working principle
for
Tarkovsky:
Donato Totaro
8/18/2019 Time and the Film Aesthetics of Andrei Tarkovsky
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Tarkovsky also likens the time-pressure in a shot metaphorically
to the rhythms of a brook, spate, river, waterfall, or ocean. This now of
time can range from, quoting Tarkovsky, lazy and soporific to
stOUtly
and
swift:
The
extent to wbich these metaphors are reflected in his films
varies, but in mos t eases , l ike Andrei Rublev The
Mirror
Stalker and
NQstalgllia the mise-en-scene works with and against tbe rhythmic How of
natural phenomena, For example, the slow-motion tracking shot in le
Mirror whicb follows tbe right to left direction of a fierce wind blowing
a(:ross bushes and toppling over objects on a table (this shot appears tWt
i n t be film); the shot in n rei Rubley_wbere a lef t to r ight camera
movement follows the incidental background aclion of a stranded canoe
Hoating downstream while the central action oc{;urs in the foreground; the
scene
follOWing
the raid in AndreiRublev where the spiritual energy of an
exchange between Rublev and the ghost of Theophanes is subtly
underscored
by
hellish steam rising from the deatb-infcsted floor and
descending dandelion seeds; Nostalghia s stunningopening scene where all
the elements of the time-pressure (camera and figure movement., tnist, mm
speed) come to a halt in a freeze frame. In the same m the eonstal1t
sound of rainfall on windows, ceilings and puddles creates an aural rhythm
that reflects tbe solitude and overwbelming nostalgia that suffocates the
transplanted Soviet.
Hence the appearance
of l i f e ~ p r o c e s s e s
in Tatkovsky s mise-cn
scene form a powerful visual tapestry that goes beyond theme
or
imagery to
form and aesthetics. Tarkovsky relies
on
nature and natural phenomena to
Rhythm, expressed
by
tbe time-pressure within lit shot, and not editing is the
main formative elementof Tarkovsky s cinema.
Time-pressure is p erhap s i mp ossi bl e t define in precise,
analytical terms,
but
we c an c om e to a closer understanding of
t
by
examining how t
is
manifested, We know tbat the time that flows through
a sbot is Tarkovsky s guide to film form, but is there a source point for this
time-pressure? Is there SOlllctbing that TarkoYsky consistently relies on as a
temporallrh
y
1bmic foundation? Tbe rhythm Tarkovsky spe.1ks of,
the
time
tbrust that shapes each shot and consequently the editing, is predic. ited on
the spont.:weous rhythms of nature and its forces: water, rain, wind, fire,
tbg,snow, vegetation:
Time andthe
Film Aesthetics olAn/kef
T lrkovsKy
Rhythm in cinema is conveyed by the life of the object
visibly recorded in the frame. Just as from the quivering
of a reed you can
teU
what sort of current, what pressure
t he re i s in a river, in the same wa y we know the
movement of t ime from the flow
of
Ihe lift>process
reproduced in the shot
120
ve time running through the shots makes the
is
no t
determined·by the lengtb of tbe
but by the pressure of the time that fUns
17).
No r can I
accept
t be n ot io n t ba t e di ti ng is t he m ai n
formative element o f film, as th e protagonists o f
montage cinema , following KulesboY and Eisenstein,
maintained in the twenties, as if film was made on tbe
editing table
114 .
spatUHized.
Through th e m ov in g c am er a s pa ce l os es i ts static,
homogeneous quality, it is temporalized (as in Cubist painting). Bergson
was a major f igure of tbis time-based zeitgeist and influenced countless
a rt is ts w ho w er e searching for ways to articulate
time
and
memory
aesthetically. Briefly then, Tarkovsky s aesthetics will be explained in
terms o f
time,
duralion
an d
nature,
My
conclusion
will
hold
that
Tarkovsky s film aesthetic challenges viewer perception and cognition by
shifting between
or
simultaneously representing inner
and
outer states
of
reality.
rn charting the course of Soviet film history one will find a series
of importaor connections between filmmaker and theorist The names
Kulesbov, Eisenstein, Puoovkin, and Vertov stand oot as prominent ngures
in the evolution of filln language. theory, film/politics. Although these four
fllmmaker/thoorists are not singular
in
their visions they held the common
belief that montage is cinema s main formative principle. Tarkovsky can
be seen as continuing in this rich tradition of Soviet filmmaker/theorist, but
changing its course,
This opposition is best defmed against tbe early Eisenstein.
In
the
essay T he Cinematogaphic Principle and the Ideogram, written in 1929
Eisenstein states: Cinematography is. first and foremost, montage,,2 .
Many decades laterTarkovsky states:
Leaving aside other important cultural and political variables, with
this quote Tarkovsky is dearly severing himself from the Soviet tradition
of montage hierarchy,
Tarkovsky
g oe s b ac k
to
Lumiere s
rrivle
a un
Train
as
the
momentWhen a new aesthetic principle in art was born:
Uthe
ability to take
~ i m p m · f l \ i o n
of time (62), Out of
thL \
ability to imprint time grows the
\ lClIDtJ fStJDflC of Tarkovsky s aesthetks: what he calls rhythm. This rhythm
by calculated editing
but
by the sense
of
t ime, wbich
calls
t i m e ~ t h r u s t or t i m e ~ p r e s s u r e
flowing tbrouglu shot:
8/18/2019 Time and the Film Aesthetics of Andrei Tarkovsky
3/6
Time as memory is simllar to
bow
Bergson explains duration: the
flux of states
within
consciousness. For Bei'gs nthis signifies above aU
else, indivisibility.
Indivisibility can be interpreted cinetmlticaIly as a long take style
that
records
real time
or a
simultaneous
representation of different points
in
Time and memory merge
into cach
other; they
are
Ul of wind
are staged,
r e ~ s o o t
or recreated there still remains
the
spontaneous element
Of nature'stimet within the filmic time. Each·
of
the natural events and
elements *water, wind, fire,
s n o w ~
bave tbeir own sustained rhythm,
Tarkovsky uses·tbese natural rhythms to express his own, that
of
bis
characters and
the
tempornlshape
of
tile film.
Editing stiU plays an important part in TarkoYsky's aesthetics
but
creative eletnenl comes from matching the varying t i m e ~ p r e s s f c s
already estabHshed in each shot and not from clever or conceptual
juxtapositioning. For example, in Tile Mirror bis most complex film
structurally, Tarkovsky combineS bistorical and personal time y
intereutting childhood memory and political and culturnI history:
the
Spanish Civil War\ Russia-Germ.any in VlW2, Ibe Cultural Revoluliofl, the
atomic bomb. Tbe surface separation between the personal and the
historical is shattered
by
editing tbat carefully joins the various rhythms of
the stock shots to staged shots
In
one
segment
he
uses stock
footage
of Soviet soldiers crossing
Lake Sivasb
on
fool. The integration of this documentary-time with
Tarkovsky's time was so convincing that
many
people believed that
the
found footage was staged by Tarkovsky. The reason for this is because
Tarkovskywas conscious of
tbe
time·pressure
in
this shot and
took
care in
lin:k:iojt
it to contiguous shots ofa similar
rhytbm.
Tafkovsky refers to film as if it were a living, breathing entity:
8/18/2019 Time and the Film Aesthetics of Andrei Tarkovsky
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Time alUi tite FilmAesthetics Andrei ] arlwvsky
27
Andrei looks into a room and from his point of view we see a pile of dirt
and wateeon the middle of the floor. The image zooms in doser
to
the
rubble, flattening the space which nowbccomes clearer.
t
is a Russian
landscape, with mountains, earth and pockets of water. A zoom*in
abstracts the size perspective and places us into Andrei's psychological
state. The camera tilts up a mountain, A cut brings us out of this memory
image
and back
to
physical reality.
The second example
is
tbe fanlous final shot of
Noswighia.
As the
shot begins we
see
Andrei lying down
in front
of what appears
1
he
his
Russian bOlne.
The
camera slowly tracks
back
10 reveal that
the
Russian
landscape is nestled
wIthin an
open
Roman
cathedral. To complete
the
power Of this fantastic image, rain and snow begin to faU
in
different planes
of
the frame. The camera is now static but the illusion
is
not complete.
Somehow, perhaps through nuances in lighting or post-production work,
the
cathedral seems to shift in tone to match tbe grey/whiteness of the
falling snow. The image progresses to a tonal harmony that echoes
Andrei's earlier flashbacks to his homeland. Rhythm. the time-pressure
within the shot, reaches perfection through the tonal harmony and the
merging
of
dreanHime and real-time, The eudresull of this staggering
shot is, aesthetically, the perfect marriage
of
form and content, and
emotionally, a hauntingly beautiful and moving coda,
A consequence of duration is
that
shifts between realms of
reaUty
make it difficult to be certain of the ontological nature of certain events,
Happenings occur in Tarkovsky'.s ftlms thai eitber defy or stretch natural
explanation: levitations, telepathic acts, temporalJspatial discontinuities,
inexplicable natural phenomena. Ohjects, people, and events arc
represented with mimetic accuracy yet something remains askew, pressing
on
tlte
edge of natural and supernatural, dreanHimc
and
real-tUne. With
TarkoYsky's duration there is a constant pull between Inner and outer
worlds and few conventional cues to clearly separate
the
ontological status
of events, Petrie in tile quoted essay believes that these ontological
ambigui ties arc meant to shift tbe
viewer s
attention from the
representational to the transcendental meaning of the recorded event
..
:
4
In the general sense this
is
true,
since many of these ambigoous moments
are Tarkovskian testimonies of faith in the spiritual and creative act.
In
a
many eases the'se moments are also based
in
shifting states of
consciousness,
The play that exists
in
Tarkovsky'sfilms with interiors and
exteriors reflects the inner/outer, mentallphysicaJduaUty of his aeslhetics.
His films contain countless examples of locations that are in a state of
limbo between interior and exterior. Rain and stlOW ~ p o n t n e o u s l y fall
inside churches, houses, hotel rooms and makeshift dwellings. In an
outstanding
st Cne
in
The
Mirror a ceiling begins to crumble into a shower
of real-time and memory-lime, is
TarkoYsky's durauOfkbased aesthetics.
of
t in Nostalglna. In the
fm t
example
here
are
other
ways in
which Tarkovsky's
camera
style
reproduces dWdUon: tbe moving camera as a visual expression
of
dreams
~ l ; m m ~ ~ s io flux; static long takes and agoniZingly slow movements
orality; long takes that capture
tbe
same real-time
in the shooting of a shot (like the
cUmax
in The
ouage burns
to
the ground
in
one take); camera
PSycbological time; and the moving camera that
Dimato Totaro
Bazin
did), but a complete cinematic interpretation of Bergson
s
dt ratl
8/18/2019 Time and the Film Aesthetics of Andrei Tarkovsky
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8/18/2019 Time and the Film Aesthetics of Andrei Tarkovsky
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3 ema O
T laro
Sergei Eisenstein, Film Form Jay Leyda, ed. , t rans ., (New York:
MeridallBooks, Inc 1957), p. 28.
3 VladaPetric, hTarkovsky's Dream lmagery, ilm Quarterly voL 43,
no.2, (Winter 8 9 ~ 9 Q p. 29,
4 Petrie, 1 .32 .
33
Spectacles of
Daily
ife
Up o
oint
Cuba 1983
Tomas Gutierrez Alea)
Zuzana M.
Pick
To Tit60 with my best wishes for a prompt and
u
recovery, and in the hope you will soon challenge uS with
many other wonderful films. Salud yabrazos
To creme
a revolutionary cinema
was probably one of
the
most
resolute slogans
of
the New Cinema of Latin America. Often
misunderstood as a utopian and prescriptive formulation,
it
reflected the
promise
of
a radical practice capable of breaking from dominant modes of
filmmaking modeled on Hollywood cinema, Revolutionary cinema was
conceived as always open, never complete, and capable of fostering links
between filmmaker and spectator, between ideology and social change,
Therefore, the movement developed participatory sWdtegies of production
and reception in accordance to existing conditions within its diverse
national cinemas.
Tomas Gutierrez Alea is a Cuban filmmaker bes t known for
Memories
Underdevelopment (1968). His prestige as a director, bOlh
within and outside his country, has been the result
of
a distinguished career
spanning over
the
three decades. Tempting as it might to rank him as an
author, the well·deserved reputation
of
Gutierrez Alea furnishes only one
critical key to appro.lch his films. His work can equally projected into a
broadened perspective tbat engages colleclive and subjective positions. I
will
look at Up to a Point 983 by taking into account its simultaneous
inscriptions within
the
institutional and aesth.etic features of contemporary
Cuban film, In other words, will consider how the establishment of a
statl.>funded agency bas structured production strategies, and howcbanges
in the aesthetic conceptualization of Cuban filmmaking have affected the
production and reception of tbis feature film.
The production of
Up
to a Point wall preceded by the publication
of a critical study written by Gutierrez Alca entitled The Viewer s Dialectic
and fol lowed by a s tructura l re-organization within the Cuban I 'i lm