Pick of the Week: Andrei Rublev
Length: 205 minutes
MPAA Rating: No MPAA rating, but contains animal cruelty, graphic violence, and nudity.
Languages: In Russian with English subtitles.
Andrei Rublev (1370? - 1430) was Russia’s greatest icon painter, and in the 1960s the Soviet government provided the funds for a film inspired by his life that was co-scripted and directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. Finished in 1966, Tarkovsky’s nearly three-and-one-half-hour-long masterpiece is known to English-speaking audiences as Andrei Rublev. The movie is set in and around Moscow from 1400 - 1424, a time when the region was ruled by Grand Prince Vasily I. The main body of Andrei Rublev is divided into seven chapters, where each chapter begins with a title card. The seven chapters are preceded by a prologue and followed by an epilogue.
The film begins with a prologue showing a man named Yefim making a brief flight in a crude hot-air balloon. In the few minutes he is airborne, Yefim exults, "I’m flying! I’m flying!" as land and water glide past below. Then the balloon crashes, and the prologue ends with a shot of the deflated balloon on the ground with the body of Yefim lying nearby. The film’s title character does not seem to appear on camera during the prologue, although it is possible that he witnesses the balloon flight. The meaning of the prologue is open to interpretation, but it seems to me that Tarkovsky wanted to show that man’s creative impulse can make spirits soar but gives rise to hopes that are easily dashed.
The first chapter is titled "The Jester," and takes place in Summer, 1400. Three Orthodox monks, who are icon painters, leave a monastery and head for Moscow. We eventually discover that the three are Andrei Rublev (Anatoly Solonitsin), Kirill, and Danil. On their journey, the monks shelter briefly with peasants being entertained by an irreverent jester. Kirill remarks, "God sent priests, but the devil sent jesters." Soon Kirill sees some of the Grand Prince’s soldiers passing, and he tells them of the jester’s lack of respect for the clergy. The soldiers take the jester into custody, and near the end of the film we learn that he is imprisoned for ten years and half his tongue is cut out.
Five years pass, and the second chapter, titled "Theophanes the Greek," takes place in 1405 - 1406. The three monks are now living at Andronikov Monastery. Soon the Grand Prince sends a messenger to Rublev to order him to work with Theophanes the Greek in decorating Moscow’s Cathedral of the Annunciation. Both Danil and Kirill are agitated by Rublev’s receiving this recognition. Danil refuses to work with Rublev on the project, but he wishes him well. In a fit of jealousy, Kirill makes a nasty scene as he leaves the monastery to return to the secular world. And so, Rublev, accompanied only by his pupil Foma, joins Theophanes. At one point, Theophanes tells Rublev, "What is praised today is abused tomorrow. They will forget you, me, everything." Then Tarkovsky shows us a haunting sequence of a fantasy that Rublev has of what appears to be a reenactment of the Crucifixion.
Another two years pass, and the third chapter, titled "The Holiday," takes place in May, 1408. Rublev, Danil, Foma, and others travel in boats to a job in Vladimir. When the group spends the night on the river bank, they witness a pagan celebration involving nudity and ritual sex. Rublev is captured and tied up by pagan men, who say they will drown him in the morning. A woman named Marfa approaches Rublev, and he tells her, "Love should be brotherly." But she responds, "Isn’t all love the same?" Then she drops her cloak, revealing her nakedness, kisses him, and unties him. Next morning Rublev rejoins his group, and they resume their journey just as soldiers arrive and begin rounding up the pagans. To escape, Marfa runs into the river and swims within a few feet of Rublev’s boat, but he ignores her.
Next page More About Andrei Rublev Page 1, 2, 3
