The Sacrifice
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Sacrifice | |
|---|---|
 British Film Poster. |
|
| Directed by | Andrei Tarkovsky |
| Produced by | Anna-Lena Wibom |
| Written by | Andrei Tarkovsky |
| Starring | Erland Josephson Susan Fleetwood Valerie Mairesse Allan Edwall Gudrun Gisladottir Sven Wollter Filippa Franzen Tommy Kjellqvist |
| Music by | Johann Sebastian Bach Watazumido Shuso |
| Cinematography | Sven Nykvist |
| Editing by | Michal Leszczylowski Andrei Tarkovsky |
| Distributed by | Sandrew (Swedish theatrical) |
| Release date(s) |  May 9, 1986 November, 1986 |
| Running time | 149 min |
| Country | Sweden / UK / France |
| Language | Swedish / English / French |
| IMDb profile | |
- This article is about the 1986 Swedish film. For the 2005 U.S. independent film, see The Sacrifice (2005 film)
The Sacrifice (Swedish: Offret, 1986) is the final film by Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky, who died shortly after completing it.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
 |
This section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the talk page for details.(October 2007) |
Alexander, an aging atheist actor/psychologist/writer (Erland Josephson) with a younger actress wife, a teenage daughter, and a young son (who is referred to as "Little Man" and is mute until the last shots) experiences the opening throes of the end of the world by a nuclear holocaust. In despair the protagonist vows to God to sacrifice all he loves (what this would mean in reality is not made plain in his prayer, and provides the final surprise of the film) if only this terrible act of fate may be undone, and to this end he sleeps with a local woman whom he believes to be a witch. When he wakes up the next morning everything seems "normal", but whether Alexander dreamt the whole episode is never made explicit. Nevertheless, Alexander sets forth to give up all he loves and possesses, burning his house and being driven off to an institution. One interpretation of the plot is that Alexander chooses to be insane, so that the earlier scenes of war could be his delusions instead of reality. He thus gives up his own sanity in order to spare the world from nuclear destruction. Poignantly, the first words the little boy in the film utters, in the final shot, are: "In the beginning was the word...why is that, papa?"
[edit] Style
The camera work is slow and contains all the hallmarks of Tarkovsky and Nykvist. The film's soundtrack includes three distinct pieces: the passionate aria Erbarme dich from Johann Sebastian Bach's Mattheus Passion, soothing Japanese flute music, and eerie traditional chants from the Swedish forests (in the old days farm girls used to call home the livestock from their forest pastures in this way). The film also contains several long closeups of Leonardo da Vinci's Adoration of the Magi.
The film uses long takes more than Tarkovsky's previous films. The opening, post-credits shot (a tracking shot of Alexander, Little Man, and Otto talking and walking) lasts nine minutes and twenty-six seconds, and is the longest take in all of Tarkovsky's work. Shots lasting between six and eight minutes are commonplace in the film, and there are only 115 shots in the entire film.
Most of the film takes place inside or around a house that was specially built for the production. The climactic scene at the end of the film is a long tracking shot in which Alexander burns his house and his possessions. It was done in a single, six minute, fifty second take, often misstated as Tarkovsky's longest shot. The shot was very difficult to achieve. Initially, there was only one camera used, despite Sven Nykvist's protest. While shooting the burning house, the camera jammed, ruining the footage. (This disaster is documented in documentary entitled Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky and the documentary Une journée d'Andrei Arsenevitch.) The scene had to be reshot, requiring a quick and very costly reconstruction of the house in two weeks. This time two cameras were set up on tracks, running parallel to each other. The footage in the final version of the film is the second take, which lasts for several minutes and ends abruptly because the camera had run through an entire reel in capturing the single shot. The cast and crew broke down in tears after the take was completed.
[edit] Relationship with Bergman
The film reflects Tarkovsky's respect for the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. It is set in Sweden on the island of Gotland, where many of Bergman's films had been shot, and features Bergman's favourite cameraman Sven Nykvist as well as one of Bergman's most well known actors, Erland Josephson, and the scenographer Anna Asp, who had been responsible for the sumptuous interior décor of Fanny and Alexander).
[edit] Reception
 |
Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. |
The film won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 1986.
[edit] External links
- The Sacrifice at the Internet Movie Database
- The Sacrifice at the Arts & Faith Top100 Spiritually Significant Films list
- DVDBeaver comparison of 5 different DVD editions of the film
- About Offret at nosthalgia.com
|
||||||||||||||
| Preceded by Ran |
BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Language Film 1987 |
Succeeded by Babette's Feast |
| Preceded by Birdy |
Grand Prix Spécial du Jury, Cannes 1986 |
Succeeded by Repentance |
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. (April 2008) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
