Russian poet Andrei came to Italy to write a biography of a deceased musician, looking for the place where the musician once lived in Italy. Accompanying the poet on his travels was a beautiful female translator named Eugenia, who was in charge of helping Andre communicate with the locals. Eugenia has a secret affection for the poet, but the poet is tired of the beauty of the female translator. The poet and interpreter stayed at a small town hotel and met Dominic at the open-air bath next to it. Dominic is seen by some as a mentally ill lunatic because he locked his wife and children at home for seven years. Compared with Eugenia's indifference, the poet Andre hopes to know more about Dominica's inner world. Due to differences of opinion, the female interpreter chose to go back to the hotel alone and Andre entered Dominic's home to start a long conversation with him. Dominique told the poet that he had locked his wife and children at home to protect them, and now he wants to save all humanity by walking from one end of the Santa Caterina Baths to the other with a lit candle in hand. Dominic wanted the poet to help him with the ritual, as he was stopped whenever he walked into the bath himself. People feared that he would drown in the bath when he was unsound. After a brief hesitation, the poet agreed to Dominic's request and returned to the hotel with a candle. Eugenia waited for him in the poet's room, hoping to ease the antagonism that had just arisen from the disagreement. But the poet doesn't care about Eugenia's gesture, but shows her the candle he got from Dominique. The female translator was furious for not getting the expected emotional feedback, and condemned the poet for being imprisoned by complex thoughts in his head, a boring person who did not understand the joy of love between men and women. Eugenia decides to give up her obsession with the poet and chooses to return to Rome to start a new relationship with a man from a wealthy family. When the poet was about to leave Italy and return to his hometown, he received a call from a female translator from Rome and was told that Dominic was giving a speech in the square. Eugenia said Dominic asked her about the poet's status, hoping to confirm that the poet had completed the promised candle ceremony. After finishing the call, Andre decided to postpone the time to go home and went to the open-air bath to fulfill his promise. Dominic set himself on fire after finishing his speech. The poet finally completes the ritual after the candle flames have been blown out many times by the wind, and at the same time suffers a heart attack.
The film can be divided into a narrative part in color and a narrative part in black and white. The color picture part tells the story that takes place in the physical world, while the black and white narrative part is the display of memories, dreams, and character consciousness. For example, playing the piano requires the tacit cooperation of two hands. The interweaving of the real world and the emotional world in Nostalgia creates a sad and beautiful movement. If the narrative part of the color picture of the film is like the humanoid body that Nuwa squeezed out of loess, then the inner emotion of the characters conveyed by the black and white part is the breath that Nuwa blew into the humanoid body. With this tone, the talents made by Nuwa became smarter. With the emotional presentation of the narrative in black and white, the choices and behaviors of characters become plausible and credible.
The first black-and-white imagery was during the opening credits. Accompanying the scrolling of the subtitles is a family portrait of the poet's family. There are poets, sisters, mothers, grandmothers and dogs as children. They appear several times in the film in the form of streams of consciousness or dreams. This video also echoes the subtitle that reads "Missing Mother" at the end of the film, pointing out that the main theme of "Nostalgia" is to express and discuss the thoughts of hometown and family. The second black-and-white image follows the conversation between the female translator and the priest: the angel's feathers fall from the sky and are picked up by the poet. The poet slowly looked in the direction of the home and saw that the angel was walking towards the door, probably to welcome the soul of the deceased mother. The next paragraph takes the form of a dream after the poet slept in his hotel room. In the dream, the mother hugs the weeping female translator, who softly whispers to the poet like a mother, and the dream ends with a long shot of the pregnant mother lying on the bed. This black-and-white video shows the poet's longing for his mother and his subconscious empathy for his mother's emotions to the female translator. For men, the relationship between mothers and wives is very delicate, because they both take on the responsibility of providing psychological comfort to men. When the mother dies, the task of providing emotional support for men falls into the hands of the wife. The third main black-and-white image appears after the female translator has read the Russian musician's letter about homesickness. This section is somewhat similar to the family portrait at the beginning of the film, with a long, slow-moving close-up of the poet's family members, again highlighting his Missing the family. The next white and black image is connected after the poet drinks alone. He ponders the reason why Dominica confines his wife and children. When he looks in the mirror, he finds that the person in the mirror is not himself but Dominica's image. Indict the silence of God. This seems to express that the poet and Dominic have reached a certain ideological agreement, which also paved the way for the poet to help Dominic complete the candle ceremony. The last black-and-white image appears at the end of the film, of the poet lying sideways on the grass in front of his house, surrounded by huge stone pillars in a religious style. The camera is getting further and further away from the poet, and the snow is falling in the sky, forming a surreal picture. Such an ending may be understood as the poet's final return to his hometown after he died of a heart attack.
"Nostalgia" not only expresses the sadness and nostalgia for the passing of relatives and hometown, but also carries out metaphysical thinking on issues such as death and belief. If, as Christianity says, people can live forever after death and reunite with their loved ones, then the poet can be freed from the memory of his mother, and Tarkovsky can be freed from the memory of his mother. Therefore, the director endowed Dominic, the poet and the female translator, with different world views, and explored the spiritual world of human beings through the communication and conflict between the characters.
The biggest highlight of the film, or the most difficult place for the audience to understand, is the portrayal of the character Dominic and his relationship with the poet. Locals think Dominic is crazy because he locked his wife and children at home for seven years. But Dominic has his own beliefs and an extremely critical attitude towards the current human society. He believes that the end of the world will come soon, so he not only tries to protect his wife and children, but also wants to save all mankind. Although the film does not give a clear answer to the source of Dominic's beliefs, it can be seen that Dominic should be a Christian by telling others not to forget what God said to St. Catherine. The phrase Dominic recited - You are she who is not, and I AM HE WHO IS - means that God told St. Catherine to be humble and to understand your own lowliness. Dominic, who believes in this sentence, is desperate in the current society where human self-consciousness is inflated and beliefs are lacking. Therefore, in the climax of the film, he chooses to give a speech in the square to call on people to re-examine themselves and self-immolate after the speech. to wake up the world. In the face of an extreme believer like Dominic, it may be difficult for most audiences to resonate emotionally, but the film's protagonist, the poet, risked his life to help him complete the candle ceremony.
In order to better show the character and thought of the poet, as well as provide a reasonable explanation for his choice in the story, Tarkovkis created the role of the female translator to contrast with Dominic, so as to express the poet's inner world from another aspect . Compared with Dominica, who is willing to sacrifice her life for her faith, the female translator is a secular person who does not believe in religion. She and Dominic are like two ends of a number line, and the poet walks between them. From the beginning of the film, the poet expresses his boredom with the female translator, saying to himself that he is fed up with her beautiful face. The female translator knew that the poet was married, but she still loved him. After not getting the expected emotional feedback time and time again, the female translator breaks down and rages, condemning the poet and pointing out the character traits of the male protagonist. The poet is melancholy, deep, haunted by his own complex inner world. The poet is unable to be interested in such things as male and female love because he is immersed in the pain of the death of his mother and the nostalgia for his childhood hometown. He longed for spiritual solace, but he questioned the existence of God and shed tears because of God's silence. Therefore, when the poet and the female translator had different views on Dominica, the poet chose Dominica instead of the female translator. What he needs is not a lover who laughs and curses, but a spiritual mentor who can give him the power of faith and relieve the depression in his heart. Faced with the choice of poets, most moviegoers may find it difficult to accept, because it does not conform to the thinking logic of modern society. In today's age when all concepts and ideas can be deconstructed and questioned, religion has gradually lost its power. People began to pay more attention to the development of individual life, instead of exploring metaphysical issues. Tarkovsky uses such an unconventional story setting to show his reflection as a thinker and as an artist. When he found that the human society lacking belief was slowly becoming broken, ugly, and possibly even going to the abyss of redemption, he used Dominic's mouth to make a cry calling for human self-examination.
Dominic's speech before self-immolation is the climax of Nostalgia, and it is also the most direct passage in the entire film. Dominic believes that the human path to the heart has been clouded by shadows. Human beings need to get out of the mundane and trivial matters, listen to the seemingly meaningless voice, and work together for a lofty ideal. He questioned the so-called rational person, and accused the free will without faith will lead to the destruction of the world, and the bones and ashes will be the destination of everyone. Dominica hopes that human society will reunite and live in the most simple and natural way. Before he set himself on fire, Dominic offered a tribute to his mother - oh mother, the air is that light thing that moves around your head and becomes clearer when you laugh. In Dominic's heart, the pure and beautiful mother's love represents human beings The most primitive and noblest emotion. Here, the poet's longing for his mother and his sadness for the loss of his mother's love have sublimated to a metaphysical level, connecting with the spiritual essence that human beings should have. Tarkovsky also paid the highest tribute to his mother here.
Dominic, a madman and a fool in the eyes of others, cried out to all mankind with the most devout and fraternal heart. Every word of his speech is eloquent, directly attacking the psychological crisis faced by human society. Whether it was during the Cold War when the film was filmed or in 2017, Dominica's questioning of the so-called rational person is still deafening. After the authority of religion was overturned, the purpose of human existence began to be lost, and the emptiness in the heart gradually expanded. The progress of science has continuously improved the material living standard of human beings, but it cannot provide the ultimate answer to the meaning of human existence. With the loss of belief, people's ego begins to swell, gradually forgets to love others, and only looks at their own interests. Comparison, jealousy, discrimination, hatred, robbery, shooting, nuclear threat, arms race, world war. All kinds of evil diseases of human nature caused by selfishness and greed, just as Dominic said, let human beings kill and maim each other. Even after taking other people's lives, there is no trace of guilt, and no sympathy for those in need. The musicians mentioned in the film are victims of the nation's ideological struggle. In spite of the harsh and high-pressure political environment in Russia, he returned to his hometown at the risk of being enslaved again, but in the end he could not resist the depression in his heart and committed suicide. The essence behind these kinds of ugly acts may be the powerlessness and absurdity of human society, not knowing where we came from, what we are going to do, and where we are going. This unfilled emptiness in the heart turns into resentment upon others. Reasonable people reject religion because of reason, only to find that they still have to face an irrational world. Tarkovsky, who was in the Cold War era, must have been deeply worried about the disorder of human society, so he created the character of Dominic and used it to express his thoughts. Faced with such a predicament, Dominic firmly believes that human beings need to regain their faith and rebuild their relationship with God. He even chose to sacrifice himself like Jesus so that mankind could be redeemed.
Through Nostalgia, Tarkovsky shows the audience three types of people, who represent three different worldviews. The first category is the non-religious people represented by the female translator Eugenia, who are also not interested in metaphysical issues. She focuses on her earthly life and hopes to create a life that makes others look good. Eugenia cannot understand the pursuit of metaphysical and religious ideas by others, so she sees Dominic as a lunatic and the poet as a boring, unfree, and complicated person. However, Eugenia herself is also a person who has an empty heart and is not comfortable. She told the poet that she had started a very good new relationship with a man from a wealthy family, but it was just a face-saving lie. Eugenia knew very well that she and this man were inseparable from each other, and the future of their relationship was uncertain. The second category is the devout believers represented by Dominica. For him, listening to God's words, acting in accordance with religious teachings, completing the journey of redemption, and going to the bright new world after birth is the meaning of this life. It is precisely because he lives so devoutly and so pure that he is out of tune with this world where religious authority has been deconstructed. In Dominique's view, because too many human beings have broken with God's will and betrayed God's words, human civilization is heading towards the abyss, and God's doomsday judgment is coming. Because of this, Dominic locked his wife and children at home. He believes that this is the protection of his wife and children, which can keep them away from the dangerous and ugly world. But for people without religious beliefs, Dominic is undeniably insane. Because so-called rational people will not limit the freedom of life of their wives and children in such a cruel way. The third type of people portrayed in the film is the hesitant represented by poets. He longed for faith, but could not believe it. The poet is sensitive and somber. He is well aware of the shortness of life in this world and the inevitability of death, and he feels helpless and disgusted with the hypocrisy, jealousy, greed, and tyranny caused by clinging to the vanity of the world. He hopes to get spiritual comfort, to reunite with his deceased mother, to live in a natural, quiet and pure spiritual world, and to hope that his existence has a metaphysical meaning that transcends the body and death. In order to combat the absurdity and tediousness of life in this world, the poet also tried to find God, but he couldn't get it, and the silence of God made the poet cry. Ultimately, the poet's decision to complete the candle ritual represents his respect for Dominic's beliefs and his willingness to embrace the possibility of supernatural meaning. This may also be a reflection of Tarkovsky's worldview. In his last film, "Sacrifice," Tarkovsky told his son through the mouths of his characters that dead trees would bloom if they were persistently watered. even the human
Female translator, Dominica, poet. Viewers will more or less find that their thoughts fit their ideas, and they will think about themselves in the film. Although Tarkovsky's films are poetic and full of possibilities for interpretation, it is not difficult to see a preference for religion, mysticism, and supernatural powers in his work. However, today's world is diverse and open. Faced with the idea of religion or the supernatural, which can neither be proven nor falsified, everyone has the right to freely choose to believe or not. Tarkovsky's works just express his personal thoughts on human life, ask questions, and try to help the audience better understand the world. He, like all living beings, has no ability to provide a unique and correct meaning of existence for all mankind, the ultimate answer. The poet told a little girl a not funny joke while drinking alone, that a man saw another man sinking into a muddy pond and risked his life to save the man. Instead of thanking the rescuer, the rescued person said, "Why do you do this, I live here." As this story tells, sometimes the differences between people's minds are irreconcilable. Dominic, poet, female translator. Maybe they'll never fully understand each other and can only live the way they think is right according to their worldview, but there's nothing wrong with that. No matter how bad the meaning of human existence is, it is better to perform an absurd play that is generated by random probability and entertains oneself. Camus wrote in "The Myth of Sisyphus" that as long as we face the reality and never give in, what's the point of life if the purpose of life is to push rocks up the mountain endlessly. When we see through the absurdity of life but still love it, the moment we die with our heads held high and smiling, is it not a manifestation of divinity. It is also possible that in the infinite universe, higher life forms are quietly watching us. When the right time comes, they will come to the earth and inform the world of the profound meaning of human existence.
Tarkovsky's "Nostalgia" is a memory of his mother, a sorrow for his motherland, a wake-up call to the world, and a pursuit of faith.
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