Everybody who has seen some Tarkovsky movies knows that a thrilling plot is not to be expected. However with "Nostalgia" Tarkovsky seems to outperform himself in this respect. Maybe this is the reason that "Nostalgia" is the least viewed and least reviewed film of the Tarkovsky oeuvre. I saw some clips with an interpretation of the movie that had a longer running time than the film itself!
The only thing that is petty clear is that "Nostalgia" is a film about homesickness. The film presents this in three layers. The main character Andrei (played by Oleg Yankovsky) is a Russian writer who does research in Italy about the 18th century Russian composer Pavel Sosnovksy (framed after the real composer Maksim Berezovsky) who was studying opera in Italy. Sosnovsky was homesick, as is Andrei a couple of century's later. The third layer is Tarkovsky himself. "Nostalgia" was his first film shot outside Russia, and he would not return to his home country. In this respect "Nostalgia" has a strong autobiographical element.
The film has two other main characters, the translater Eugenia (Domiziana Giordana) and the eccentric Domenico (Erland Josephson). The clips I refered to above had al sorts of profound thoughts about their meaning, but for me it was not obvious at all. At one point in the dreams of Andrei Eugenia met with his Russian wife. This reminded me very much of "Persona" (1966, Ingmar Bergman). Domenico is the fool of the village, but is he real a fool? His character has some resemblance with the character of Johannes Borgen in "Ordet" (1955, Carl Theodor Dreyer). In general the function of the character of Johannes was more clear to me than that of Domenico. Nevertheless there is one wonderful scene with Domenico. Domenico has kept his family inside his house for seven years because he is expecting the end of the World. After they are freed by local police his young son runs away and Domenico runs after him. In the beginning of the scene it is obvious that Domenico is trying to catch the boy. After a while this hunt gradually evolves in accompanying the boy in his voyage of discovery. A very beautiful scene indeed.
The way to appreciate "Nostalgia" may be to give up explaining and to start enjoying the beauty of the images. Images often with a lot of fog and certainly not the images you would find in a tourist travel guide of Tuscany, but beautiful all the same. Perhaps the most well known image is the one at the end of the film in which a wooden house Russian style turns out te be enclosed by the ruins of an Italian cathedral. An image also summing up the main theme of the film.
The only thing that is petty clear is that "Nostalgia" is a film about homesickness. The film presents this in three layers. The main character Andrei (played by Oleg Yankovsky) is a Russian writer who does research in Italy about the 18th century Russian composer Pavel Sosnovksy (framed after the real composer Maksim Berezovsky) who was studying opera in Italy. Sosnovsky was homesick, as is Andrei a couple of century's later. The third layer is Tarkovsky himself. "Nostalgia" was his first film shot outside Russia, and he would not return to his home country. In this respect "Nostalgia" has a strong autobiographical element.
The film has two other main characters, the translater Eugenia (Domiziana Giordana) and the eccentric Domenico (Erland Josephson). The clips I refered to above had al sorts of profound thoughts about their meaning, but for me it was not obvious at all. At one point in the dreams of Andrei Eugenia met with his Russian wife. This reminded me very much of "Persona" (1966, Ingmar Bergman). Domenico is the fool of the village, but is he real a fool? His character has some resemblance with the character of Johannes Borgen in "Ordet" (1955, Carl Theodor Dreyer). In general the function of the character of Johannes was more clear to me than that of Domenico. Nevertheless there is one wonderful scene with Domenico. Domenico has kept his family inside his house for seven years because he is expecting the end of the World. After they are freed by local police his young son runs away and Domenico runs after him. In the beginning of the scene it is obvious that Domenico is trying to catch the boy. After a while this hunt gradually evolves in accompanying the boy in his voyage of discovery. A very beautiful scene indeed.
The way to appreciate "Nostalgia" may be to give up explaining and to start enjoying the beauty of the images. Images often with a lot of fog and certainly not the images you would find in a tourist travel guide of Tuscany, but beautiful all the same. Perhaps the most well known image is the one at the end of the film in which a wooden house Russian style turns out te be enclosed by the ruins of an Italian cathedral. An image also summing up the main theme of the film.