Andrey Tarkovsky's quotes about the meaning of life, happiness and cinema

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Andrey Tarkovsky is rightly called an icon of Soviet cinema. This director and screenwriter became the author of such cult films as Solaris, Ivan's Childhood and Sacrifice. Films directed by Tarkovsky are appreciated all over the world and have been translated into a dozen languages.

In this article you will get acquainted with Andrei Tarkovsky's phrases about cinema, learn about his attitude to love and loneliness. Also get a brief background about his life to understand what kind of person he was, what he had to go through and what influenced his worldview so much. Andrey Tarkovsky's quotes are filled with great wisdom and an interesting look at simple things.

Andrei Tarkovsky - a man of the era

In order to understand this great artist, you need to know some details of his biography. Andrei Tarkovsky was born in the family of the famous Soviet writer Arseny Tarkovsky and proofreader of the printing house Maria Yuryevna. The father left the family when the boy was only three years old, and terrible poverty began. Later mother with littleAndrei moved to Moscow. Tarkovsky recalls that despite the fact that it was a very difficult time, he owes a lot to his mother. The Great Patriotic War fell on the teenage years of Andrei Tarkovsky, but the mother was able to save her son.

Further there were studies at VGIK, the world-famous film "Andrey Rublev", filmed together with Konchalovsky, then the shooting of "Stalker", "Mirrors". In addition, Tarkovsky managed to work on theatrical productions and on the radio.

In the early eighties, Tarkovsky began to work a lot in Italy, where the works "Nostalgia" and "Time to Travel" appeared. Then there was a long trip around Europe, and at one of the conferences organized by the press, Andrei Tarkovsky said that he did not intend to return to the Soviet Union. For the last film in his life, "Sacrifice", the director received the main prize of the Cannes Film Festival and a number of other eminent awards, most of which he did not have time to learn about. He died of cancer, clinging to life to the last and undergoing chemotherapy in Paris, but to no avail. In 1986, the master of cinema died.

Andrey Tarkovsky was married twice: his first wife was Irma Raush, who gave her husband a son, Arseniy, the marriage broke up due to the director’s relationship with a young girl, Larisa Kizilova, who became his second wife and was devotedly in love with him all her life. Larisa died after her great husband.

Andrey Tarkovsky's quotes about the meaning of life

Tarkovsky's quotes about what he put into the concept of "the meaning of life" are poignant. Most of themtaken from his diaries, which he kept for most of his earthly existence. These diaries were published after Tarkovsky's death and became another bridge on the way to understanding the great personality of this man.

"The soul yearns for harmony, but life is disharmonious."

Tarkovsky talked a lot about the soul and how difficult it is to be a person who is always at the mercy of external circumstances.

The following quote from Andrei Tarkovsky is often cited in various publications:

"It doesn't matter how long you live, what matters is how you live."

These words were uttered by him before the screening of his film "Ivan's Childhood" and were repeated by his biographers more than once as the credo of his life: to live every day like the last.

And then in the book "Martyrology" Tarkovsky generally stated:

"Life has no meaning."

Tarkovsky on cinema

The main love of Andrei Tarkovsky's life, of course, was cinema. One day he said:

"Even if there are eight people in the theater during the screening of my film, I will work for them."

Such dedication to his work was transmitted to the audience, although his work was not always understood by the majority. This lack of focus on the mass public was expressed in one of his phrases, which said that creativity in a deliberate setting on the viewer becomes anything but art. He believed in cinema and believed that it was not subject to any crises, the only thing that shakes art, according to the director, isdevelopment.

Andrey Tarkovsky quotes about loneliness

Despite the fact that there were always a lot of people next to Tarkovsky, he felt lonely and created, remaining inside himself, even surrounded by a noisy crowd. Thoughts about his loneliness are vividly expressed in a quote from his book "Martyrology", which says that the artist feels lonely, because he is really lonely, and it's time to stop forgetting about it.

"The trouble with today's youth is that they are trying to unite on the basis of some noisy actions, sometimes aggressive."

Tarkovsky wanted to teach everyone to be alone: it is not easy to be alone, and not to be bored alone with yourself, to be interesting to yourself. In people who strive for society in order not to feel lonely, Andrei Tarkovsky saw a danger from a moral point of view.

Andrey Tarkovsky about happiness

Quotes about Andrey Tarkovsky's happiness practically did not remain either in literature or in the memories of those who knew him. Relatives said that the director had his own understanding of ordinary human happiness. He said that we were not made for happiness, and that there are more important things in life than happiness. He considered the eternal search for the truth about a happy life painful.

Thoughts of love

A lot of quotes were said by Andrei Tarkovsky about the relationship between a man and a woman. He said that “a single woman is not normal” and considered the female inner world only in connection withmale. It is interesting that while shooting a movie filled with human feelings and evoking a variety of emotions in the audience, Andrei Arsenievich himself was a stingy person in the manifestation of emotions. Once he even said that he was afraid of the funeral because there were people around who showed their feelings:

"I can't look at people who feel something."

When asked what love is, Tarkovsky never answered. He said that he knew her, "but did not know how to identify."

Tarkovsky's books

During his life, the director wrote many books. Most of them in Russian were published many years after his death. Martyrology, Nostalgia, Captured Time and White, White Day are generally recognized as the best among the books of Andrei Tarkovsky. Even for those who are simply fond of cinema, and do not deal with it professionally, it will be useful to familiarize themselves with the information, reasoning, and conclusions of Tarkovsky in books devoted to directing art: Directing Lessons and Lectures on Film Directing.

Andrey Tarkovsky's quotes are a kind of bridge that connects us with the departed figure. They reveal his extraordinary outlook on life. Quotes about happiness, as well as about love, are few, but that's why they are especially valuable, and his reflections on the meaning of life and loneliness give reason to stop and think. A whole era has gone with Tarkovsky, but he has remained in his films, books and, of course, dozens of quotes.