Frasi di Andrej Arsen'evič Tarkovskij

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“Si percepisce… che quel che si vede nell'inquadratura non si esaurisce nella sua raffigurazione visiva, ma allude soltanto a qualcosa che si estende all'infinito al di fuori dell'inquadratura, allude alla vita.”

“L'immagine tende all'infinito e conduce all'assoluto.”

“[A proposito di Andrej Rublëv] La storia della vita di Rublëv è la storia di una concezione insegnata, imposta, che, dopo essere bruciata risorge dalle ceneri come una verità totalmente nuova.”

“L'anima è assetata di armonia, mentre la vita, invece, è disarmonica. Questo era anche il tema di Stalker: il protagonista, lo Stalker, vive momenti di disperazione ma ogni volta egli avverte nuovamente in sé la propria vocazione a servire gli uomini che hanno smarrito le proprie speranze e le proprie illusioni.”

“In Stalker io esprimo il mio pensiero fino in fondo: l'amore umano è il miracolo che si può contrapporre a qualunque arida teorizzazione secondo cui non c'è speranza per il mondo.”

“L'arte si rivolge a tutti nella speranza di essere, prima di tutto, sentita, di suscitare uno sconvolgimento emotivo.
Penso che la ratio, la ragione non solo non sia tutto nell'uomo, ma anzi, sia una parte molto piccola di noi. La ragione è sempre limitata e limitante.”

“L'immagine artistica è uno strumento sui generis per cogliere l'assoluto. Per mezzo dell'immagine si mantiene la percezione dell'infinito.”

“Il pensiero di Ejzenštejn è dispotico: esso toglie l'aria, elimina quella inespressa inafferrabilità che costituisce la caratteristica più affascinante dell'arte come tale.”

“[A proposito di Andrej Rublëv] Un artista come Teófane riflette il mondo, la sua opera è uno specchio del mondo che lo circonda; la sua reazione immediata è di constatare che il mondo è fatto male, che gli uomini sono perfidi e crudeli, depravati e futili. Nel film, Rublëv è l'opposto di Teófane, il suo contrario. Rublëv sopporta tutti i mali e tutti i dolori che lo circondano come Teófane, ma con un'intensità maggiore.”

“[Su Stalker] La Zona non simboleggia nulla: la Zona è la Zona, la Zona è la vita. Attraversandola l'uomo o si spezza, o resiste.”

“[Su Stalker] Volevo che tra i diversi spezzoni del film montati insieme non vi fosse soluzione di continuità temporale… come se tutto il film consistesse in un'unica inquadratura.”

“Aveva ragione Puškin a ritenere che il poeta, aldilà della sua stessa volontà, è un profeta.”

“Il destino ci seguiva passo a passo, come un pazzo con il rasoio in mano.”

“The idea of infinity cannot be expressed in words or even described, but it can be apprehended through art, which makes infinity tangible. The absolute is only attainable through faith and in the creative act.”

“One can only be staggered by the hubris of modern artists if we compare them, say, to the humble builders of Chartres Cathedral whose names are not even known. The artist ought to be distinguished by selfless devotion to duty; but we forgot about that a long time ago.”

“A literary work can only be received through symbols, through concepts — for that is what words are; but cinema, like music, allows for utterly direct, emotional, sensuous perception of the work.”

“No one component of a film can have any meaning in isolation: it is the film that is the work of art. And we can only talk about its components rather arbitrarily, dividing it up artificially or the sake of theoretical discussion.”

“For me the most interesting characters are outwardly static, but inwardly charged by an overriding passion.”

“The allotted function of art is not, as is often assumed, to put across ideas, to propagate thoughts, to serve as an example. The aim of art is to prepare a person for death, to plough and harrow his soul, rendering it capable of turning to good.”

“Objectivity can only be the author's and therefore subjective, even if he is editing a newsreel.”

“The whole concept of the avant-garde in art is meaningless. I can see what it means when applied to sport, for instance. But to apply it to art would be to accept the idea of progress in art; and though progress has an obvious place in technology — more perfect machines, capable of carrying out their functions better and more accurately — how can anyone be more advanced in art? How could Thomas Mann be said to be better than Shakespeare?”

“We know perfectly well that neither love nor peace of mind can be bought with any currency.”

“History is not Time; nor is evolution. They are both consequences. Time is a state: the flame in which there lives the salamander of the human soul.”

“An artist needs knowledge and the power of observation only so that he can tell from what he is abstaining, and to be sure that his abstention will not appear artificial or false.”

“It is perfectly possible to be a professional director or a professional writer and not to be an artist: merely a sort of executor of other people's ideas.”

“My function is to make whoever sees my films aware of his need to love and to give his love, and aware the beauty is summoning him.”

“I have to say from the outset that not all prose can be transferred to the screen.”

“Everything is conditioned by necessity of one kind or another; and if it were actually possible to find a person in conditions of total freedom, he would be like some deep water fish that had been dragged up to the surface. It's curious to reflect that Rublyov worked within the strictures of the canon! And the longer I live in the West the more curious and equivocal freedom seems to me. Freedom to take drugs? To kill? To commit suicide?”

“The Stalker seems to be weak, but essentially it is he who is invincible because of his faith and his will to serve others.”

“It seems to me that the individual today stands at a crossroads, faced with the choice of whether to pursue the existence of blind consumer, subject to the implacable march of new technology and the endless multiplication of material goods, or to seek out a new way that will lead to spiritual responsibility, a way that ultimately might mean not only his personal salvation but also the saving of society at large; in other words, to turn to God.”

“Becoming an artist does not merely mean learning something, acquiring professional techniques and methods. Indeed, as someone has said, in order to write well you have to forget the grammar.”

“The meaning of religious truth is hope.”

“An artist cannot be partially sincere any more than art can be an approximation of beauty.”

“Above all, I feel that the sounds of this world are so beautiful in themselves that if only we could listen to them properly, cinema would have no need for music at all.”

“All of us are infected today with an extraordinary egoism. And that is not freedom; freedom means learning to demand only of oneself, not of life and others, and knowing how to give: sacrifice in the name of love.”

“What is Bresson's genre? He doesn't have one. Bresson is Bresson. He is a genre in himself. Antonioni, Fellini, Bergman, Kurosawa, Dovzhenko, Vigo, Mizoguchi, Bunuel — each is identified with himself. The very concept of genre is as cold as the tomb. And is Chaplin — comedy? No: he is Chaplin, pure and simple; a unique phenomenon, never to be repeated.”

“No one component of a film can have any meaning in isolation: it is the film that is the work of art.”