A Russian writer travels through Italy to research a composer and falls into a deep homesickness. He meets Domenico, a local man who asks him to carry a lit candle across a hot spring. Tarkovsky shot it in Italy, his first film made outside the Soviet Union.
At a glance
Nostalgia is a 1983 drama film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (2 narrative, 1 psychology and 1 cinematography), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Stalker uses several of the same techniques.
Returning to the same physical object again and again until it means more than what it is. It moves the plot and also stands for the film's main ideas.
How this film uses it
The candle is a small flame that must cross a pool without going out. Domenico gives it to Andrei and asks him to finish the walk. Carrying it becomes an act of faith.
Where to see it
The candle walk. Andrei walks the length of the drained pool at Bagno Vignoni, relighting the candle.
Moving the film at the slow, deliberate pace of a ritual, with long takes, few cuts and unhurried camera moves. The patience builds dread and gives each step the weight of a ceremony.
How this film uses it
The long, slow walk across the pool takes its time, with few cuts. You wait with Andrei as he tries again and again. The slowness makes a small act feel like a ritual.
Where to see it
The pool at Bagno Vignoni. Andrei repeatedly walks its length with the candle, then collapses.
Staging dreams, fantasies and imagination as literal scenes. The inner mind becomes visible, whether as wish, fear or creative power.
How this film uses it
In a dream, Andrei sees his wife and the Virgin Mary as one figure. The dream shows how he mixes memory, love and faith. You see his longing as an image.
Where to see it
The dream sequence. The wife and the Virgin appear as one woman.
Showing an inner problem as something you can see, such as a visible lie, a blurred actor or a fully built imagination. The idea becomes a physical sight.
How this film uses it
The last shot places Andrei and a dog in front of Gorchakov's Russian house, inside the ruined Italian abbey of San Galgano. Two places that cannot overlap are in one frame. It shows a mind that belongs nowhere.
Where to see it
The final shot. The Russian house stands inside the abbey while Andrei sits in front of it.
Questions
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