Cert 15
149 mins
BBFC advice: Contains brief female sexualised nudity
I am conflicted about whether to curse Artificial Eye for releasing an Andrei Tarkovsky retrospective or be happy that I am plugging a hole in my film knowledge.
Even his fans will appreciate that Tarkovsky is heavy going although I warmed to him after I watched Ivan's Childhood last week.
I would pitch The Sacrifice at the same level. Arty to the point of surrealism at times but with an overall point which does provoke deep thought.
The problem for me is that viewing Tarkovsky is a little too much akin to being in a literature appreciation class at school or philosophy seminars while studying for my degree.
I remember how we used to have to try to raise the veil on French poets or work out what was going through an author's mind when they wrote a classic novel or understand the complex theories of the likes of Nietschke and Hegel.
It is, in my view, an impossible task because we can never really know what they were thinking at the time.
Even the opening conversation in The Sacrifice prompts the question: "what on earth are they talking about?"
The film is set on the birthday of its lead character, Alexander (Erland Josephson) who has a nasty habit of drifting into windy monologues about the meaning of life (he nearly loses his grandson during one).
Actually, the grandson (Tommy Kjellqvist), only named Little Man and mute until the film's final scenes, is central to the main plot of the film - which is the imminent threat of nuclear holocaust.
The latter is revealed when Alexander's family and best friend (Allan Edwall) are gathered to celebrate his birthday. Their extreme reactions following the announcement of doom are fascinating.
Of course, this prompts deeper thought about what anyone would do in similar circumstances. In the hands of Tarkovsky it is is strange yet effective.
One scene, in which his wife (Susan Fleetwood) seems to lose her mind in the face of death, is particularly memorable.
But, like all Tarkovsky films, it goes on and on and ends with a finale so baffling that I don't even think my philosophy lecturer could work it out,
Reasons to watch: deep and poetic
Reasons to avoid: meanders far too much for me
Laughs: none
Jumps: one
Vomit: none
Nudity: yes
Overall rating: 6/10
Star tweet
Mark Oosterveen Friday night treat - more Tarkovsky. Finally going to get round to watching The Sacrifice, his final masterpiece apparently.
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