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Andrei Tarkovsky: The Collector of Dreams
"The Sacrifice" is Andrei Tarkovsky’s final masterpiece. The film was shot in Sweden, in summer 1985 while Tarkovsky was in exile; it turned out to be his final testament, urging each individual to take personal responsibility for everything that happens in the world.
Day after day, while the film was being made, Layla Alexander-Garrett – Tarkovsky’s on-site interpreter - kept a diary which forms the basis of her book "Andrei Tarkovsky: The Collector Of Dreams".
In this book the great director is portrayed as a real, living person: tormented, happy, inexhaustibly kind but at times harsh, unrelenting, conscience-stricken and artistically unfulfilled.
Day after day, while the film was being made, Layla Alexander-Garrett – Tarkovsky’s on-site interpreter - kept a diary which forms the basis of her book "Andrei Tarkovsky: The Collector Of Dreams".
In this book the great director is portrayed as a real, living person: tormented, happy, inexhaustibly kind but at times harsh, unrelenting, conscience-stricken and artistically unfulfilled.
388 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 2, 2016
Tarkovsky's personal translator on his last film, The Sacrifice--shot in Sweden, with many of Bergman's regular cast and crew--kept a detailed diary of the shoot. This is a perplexing and fascinating document, troubling in the things not noted about the great director, which makes me want to wipe the windshield so I can see things a little more clearly. But the insights are well worth reading it for--and the only person who really takes a thrashing in it is Tarkovsky's wife, who is depicted as a drunken, narcissistic mess... and as with all memoir, it bears reading between the lines. Everyone close to genius becomes possessive, I think, and her aversion to the wife was the most interesting part of this rich document.
Alexander-Garrett also has a bit of Tarkovsky's poetic eye, and her writing really is beautiful and dreamlike--dreams a big part of this. Here she's talking about Tarkovsky's art and its relationship to that of his father, the poet Arseny Tarkovsky (whose poetry is read aloud in The Mirror, for all you Tarkovsky fans):
"There is so much consonance between the worldview of the father and the son, their desire to cap[ture?] the urgency of life, its flow, its rhythm. For them, humanity is not the 'lord and master of nature' but rather an integral inalienable part of it, just as a tree is, or a rock, the sand, birds, the wind, grass, a butterfly...
"'How i do seek to breathe into a poem/All of this world perpetually in flux:/The movement of the grasses, hard to notice/ The instantaneous and inchoate grandeur/ Of trees; the irritated and winged/ Texture of dry sand chattering in bird-speech--/All of this world, magnificent and twisted/ Like that tree on the banks of the Ingul.'"
For Tarkovsky fans, I thought the insights about his work vis a vis that of Bergman was very astute,
in that the human being doesn't stand forth from the background, but is part of it--thus there are very few closeups in Tarkovsky, whereas Bergman is all closeups. Tarkovsky composes a vast canvas, more like Terry Malik. "Tarkovsky's human being is integrated into the cosmos, into nature. He is as much a mystery as is everything else that surrounds him."
Tarkovsky's relationship to Bergman--or rather, his work-- is a fascinating piece of the book, his early film school days in Moscow, but I thought one of is most memorable parts was Alexander-Garrett's depiction of her own life in bohemian Leningrad and how she became familiar with Tarkovsky, first in the war drama Ivan's Childhood when she herself was a schoolchild, and then later with the bohemians centered around the Kirov Palace of Cuture on Vasliievsky Island:
"During the daytime shows, it featured trophy films about vampires, mummies and unrequited love. Concurrently with the vampires and mummies, it was the preferred abode of the Bohemian underground, as well as of the occultists, Buddhists and clairvoyants, wh were then very much in vogue." The author was at the Academy of Arts at the time and describes "we were over the moon about solaris, and attired ourselves in the laced-up frocks and heavy knitted shawls associated with t trans-terrestrial Hari. An exalted sense of doom existed in relationships between the sexes to mirror the resignation that suffused the intimacies of the films protagonists. Tarkovsky's name was surrounded din an aura of mystery; each one of us wanted in some way to become a participant in his creative vision."
The sense of the artistic generation of Russians in the '70s made me think a lot of The Master and Margarita, which Tarkovsky had planned to film but did not live long enough to do it. The privileges and also the pressures of living with that kind of state control over your work. The Russians get very subtle about their protecting their creative lives.
The best way I can describe this book is as a big trunk in the attic, full of amazing bits and pieces and a lot of other stuff you wade through, especially as we get into the filming of The Sacrifice--I'm not as interested in the minutae of shooting the film as I am in insights into Tarkovsky as a brilliant, mercurial, intuitive Russian artist. But rich rewards for any Tarkovsky lover or people interested in the creative process.
Alexander-Garrett also has a bit of Tarkovsky's poetic eye, and her writing really is beautiful and dreamlike--dreams a big part of this. Here she's talking about Tarkovsky's art and its relationship to that of his father, the poet Arseny Tarkovsky (whose poetry is read aloud in The Mirror, for all you Tarkovsky fans):
"There is so much consonance between the worldview of the father and the son, their desire to cap[ture?] the urgency of life, its flow, its rhythm. For them, humanity is not the 'lord and master of nature' but rather an integral inalienable part of it, just as a tree is, or a rock, the sand, birds, the wind, grass, a butterfly...
"'How i do seek to breathe into a poem/All of this world perpetually in flux:/The movement of the grasses, hard to notice/ The instantaneous and inchoate grandeur/ Of trees; the irritated and winged/ Texture of dry sand chattering in bird-speech--/All of this world, magnificent and twisted/ Like that tree on the banks of the Ingul.'"
For Tarkovsky fans, I thought the insights about his work vis a vis that of Bergman was very astute,
in that the human being doesn't stand forth from the background, but is part of it--thus there are very few closeups in Tarkovsky, whereas Bergman is all closeups. Tarkovsky composes a vast canvas, more like Terry Malik. "Tarkovsky's human being is integrated into the cosmos, into nature. He is as much a mystery as is everything else that surrounds him."
Tarkovsky's relationship to Bergman--or rather, his work-- is a fascinating piece of the book, his early film school days in Moscow, but I thought one of is most memorable parts was Alexander-Garrett's depiction of her own life in bohemian Leningrad and how she became familiar with Tarkovsky, first in the war drama Ivan's Childhood when she herself was a schoolchild, and then later with the bohemians centered around the Kirov Palace of Cuture on Vasliievsky Island:
"During the daytime shows, it featured trophy films about vampires, mummies and unrequited love. Concurrently with the vampires and mummies, it was the preferred abode of the Bohemian underground, as well as of the occultists, Buddhists and clairvoyants, wh were then very much in vogue." The author was at the Academy of Arts at the time and describes "we were over the moon about solaris, and attired ourselves in the laced-up frocks and heavy knitted shawls associated with t trans-terrestrial Hari. An exalted sense of doom existed in relationships between the sexes to mirror the resignation that suffused the intimacies of the films protagonists. Tarkovsky's name was surrounded din an aura of mystery; each one of us wanted in some way to become a participant in his creative vision."
The sense of the artistic generation of Russians in the '70s made me think a lot of The Master and Margarita, which Tarkovsky had planned to film but did not live long enough to do it. The privileges and also the pressures of living with that kind of state control over your work. The Russians get very subtle about their protecting their creative lives.
The best way I can describe this book is as a big trunk in the attic, full of amazing bits and pieces and a lot of other stuff you wade through, especially as we get into the filming of The Sacrifice--I'm not as interested in the minutae of shooting the film as I am in insights into Tarkovsky as a brilliant, mercurial, intuitive Russian artist. But rich rewards for any Tarkovsky lover or people interested in the creative process.
May 20, 2021
“The problem of language inevitably arises amongst people of different cultures, for language is much more than an array of words, however precisely they might convey meaning. A language is the genetic, historic, emotional memory of a people. Some concepts are not only difficult to communicate – they are impossible to fathom. Andrei regarded interpersonal communication to be the most beautiful and also the most difficult thing in life, for a man.”
I highly recommend this book to actors, film students, and anyone working or wanting to work in film. The detailed accounts of the day to day process of film making were a bit sluggish to get through, at times. But, interspersed were the beautiful retelling of human interactions taking place behind the camera and in front of it. Overall, the writing is genuine and heartfelt. A very nice flow from one diary entry to the next. At times, I felt as if I was eavesdropping on their conversations. In the end, I hope I am able to find a watchable copy of ‘The Sacrifice’.
I highly recommend this book to actors, film students, and anyone working or wanting to work in film. The detailed accounts of the day to day process of film making were a bit sluggish to get through, at times. But, interspersed were the beautiful retelling of human interactions taking place behind the camera and in front of it. Overall, the writing is genuine and heartfelt. A very nice flow from one diary entry to the next. At times, I felt as if I was eavesdropping on their conversations. In the end, I hope I am able to find a watchable copy of ‘The Sacrifice’.
June 4, 2013
Having never heard of Andrei Tarkovsky, I first had to figure out who he was. Not suprising that I had not heard of him as he was a Russian film director. However, reading this deeply intimate book about the author made me want to run out and rent all his movies. The book was intense a time, and brutally honest about life.
Note the author graciouly gifted a copy to me in a give-a-way. The review however is my honest opinion.
Note the author graciouly gifted a copy to me in a give-a-way. The review however is my honest opinion.
September 2, 2019
a very loose memoir, with only superficial discussion of the films and their themes. Not a bad book but not particularly insightful to the student of tarkovsky.
August 13, 2018
Удивительная книга, показывающая Андрея Тарковского самого. Это не разбор и анализ творчества, не биография, а воспоминания близкого по духу человека, проводившего с ним практически каждый день в ходе съёмок последнего фильма.
Видя через эту книгу ежедневную работу над "Жертвоприношением", творческие метания как метод, создаётся удивительное ощущение, очень схожее с тем, что получаешь при просмотре фильмов Тарковского. Эдакий полусон, образы, видения, и при этом что-то очень личное.
Да, местами в книге есть моменты вроде подробного описания сцен или раскадровок, что может быть интересно только скурпулёзным исследователям творчества А. Тарковского, есть и описание жизненных сцен, взаимоотношений с женой и сыном. Это получается как будто дополнение объёма фигуре режиссёра. Наверное, лучшее, что приходилось про него читать.
Видя через эту книгу ежедневную работу над "Жертвоприношением", творческие метания как метод, создаётся удивительное ощущение, очень схожее с тем, что получаешь при просмотре фильмов Тарковского. Эдакий полусон, образы, видения, и при этом что-то очень личное.
Да, местами в книге есть моменты вроде подробного описания сцен или раскадровок, что может быть интересно только скурпулёзным исследователям творчества А. Тарковского, есть и описание жизненных сцен, взаимоотношений с женой и сыном. Это получается как будто дополнение объёма фигуре режиссёра. Наверное, лучшее, что приходилось про него читать.
December 20, 2015
"Whatever on earth makes you think I will write a book about you?"
"You'll see for yourself: it will happen. You'll remember me, then. After my death, someone is bound to want to know what it was like, working with Tarkovsky. You'll see..."
An unforgettable and endlessly moving reading experience.
"See, now we've met..."
"You'll see for yourself: it will happen. You'll remember me, then. After my death, someone is bound to want to know what it was like, working with Tarkovsky. You'll see..."
An unforgettable and endlessly moving reading experience.
"See, now we've met..."
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews