Rewatched "Nostalgia" today. The beginning should be in a small town near Bologna, I wonder if it is Bagno Vignoni mentioned later. As well as the Notre Dame Church, each column has an arched structure, which is very beautiful. The fresco on the wall is Piero della Francesca's La Donna del Parto (The Virgin in Childbirth). The monastery that later appears in drunken dreams or delirium is the Abbazio di San Galgano (Abbazio di San Galgano) in Siena, Tuscany.
The film opens with the theme of fertility, which must have a deep meaning. Conception and childbirth bring to mind these words: mother, blood, family, land, and even home. If the relationship between man and his mother is physical, the relationship between man and his hometown and the land that symbolizes his hometown is metaphysical. From this, the theme of nostalgia is indirectly introduced. What's more, the land has always been the focus of Ta's films: the slightly down shot, staring at the earth, accounts for a considerable number of all his seven feature films, so that the earth seems to be a protagonist of its own. This connection between one's mother and one's hometown is mysteriously sublimated through this religious opening. The frescoes of the Virgin, the lit candles, the rites of supplication, the whispered prayers of women, the flying birds. But the meaning of childbirth to women has always been a controversial topic, and Eugenia's conversation with the Hallows' Conservator brings out the contradictions involved in the topic (perhaps intended to warn some viewers not to overreact). In addition, in Gorchakov's dream later, the wife lying on the bed looked like she was pregnant.
In the last scene in Rome, the young man who handed Dominic the oil can and was so excited after he set it on fire that he rolled all over the floor screaming and laughing must be more or less a nihilist. They have no thought, not even a trace of clumsy thought, in them, but are only interested in form, that is, in making trouble and handing knives. They only believe in vandalism, arson, slander and murder. The difference is that in Dostoevsky's "Ghost", the sharp knife is aimed at the person who betrayed the "common cause"; in "Nostalgia", the person who delivers the oil tank is also helping the martyrs. People who show protests. This young man's fanaticism is a blasphemy to Dominic's worries. The irony doesn't stop there. The sound of the music was broken, and the original high-pitched music of "Ode to Joy" became distorted and broken, and it was eerie. In the end, I only heard Dominic howling in the firelight, painful and hoarse.
It needs to be emphasized that art works and real life are two worlds after all. We should not equate artistic characters with their creators, nor should we be too obsessed with certain details and completely deny the value of a certain character. In great works of art, we should pay attention to the core ideas conveyed by this character as a type of thought, at the level of commonality and abstraction, and its significance to contemporary society and human civilization. Some of the characters' seemingly immoral behaviors (such as imprisoning their family members for seven years or burning down their houses) are only produced in response to the need to shape images, and even clarify and emphasize ideas. from the perspective of its importance. Dominic ("Homesickness") and Alexander ("The Sacrifice") are two examples; in literature, Humbert Humbert ("Lolita"). It is not only absurd, but even anti-art, to accuse them of mere vulgar morality, without regard to their ideological and artistic value. After all, Dominic realized later that "he was selfish", because he once "only wanted to save the family, not the world"; the idea of "saving the world" and its symbolism were borrowed in "The Sacrifice" four years later. The most extreme expression is obtained by Alexander. In short, the path to the core of the characters—the ideas that the author desires to express should not be obscured by the eyes of ordinary people.
In fact, Gorchakov probably didn't quite understand, let alone believe in the usefulness of holding a candle flame through a pool of water. After all, he had even forgotten about it, but he must have felt that he was fulfilling his promise. The necessity and the possibility of miracles, even because Dominic trusted and entrusted him, even because in a dream he discovered that they were just two sides of one body, brothers who had the same goal. Or maybe he had a hunch that he would never return to Russia. Or maybe he didn't want to just do that nude sculpture, with sore hands up high and cold feet on his feet, overwhelmed by the fear of punishment, as in the nightmare vision of the serf musician, but to do something, well. Bear hard witness to your exile and suffering in Italy. In any case, Gorchakov and Dominic died almost at the same time. "La fiamma della fede" - The candle of faith, though weak, lasts and burns inexhaustible under the protection of the steadfast. And the heart suffering from nostalgia is destined to be lost in a foreign land. In the end, only the heavy snow that is unique to the North Country fell one after another, and Quan was a quiet consolation.
Tarkovsky's films have a lot in common with Dostoevsky's novels. In my opinion, the protagonists of their works are both: the mind and the soul. Needless to say. Second, their works are polythematic and polycentric, showing a "polyphonic" style, although one or several themes are always dominant. There are two aspects. On the one hand, it refers to covering a wide range of topics under the premise that the primary and secondary are clear and will not overwhelm the guest, giving a clear impression. For example, "Nostalgia" talks about the impossibility of translation, "Stalker" discusses whether art is selfless, and "Mirror" mentions Russia's predicament and road through Pushkin's letter. On the other hand, it means that the author's ideas are hidden in the tit-for-tat dialogues or arguments of the characters, so as not to give the impression of self-talk, but to be balanced with opposing arguments, but at the same time, the audience or readers can clearly judge The author's position is on whose side. For example, in "Stalker", after the writer criticized the drawbacks of modern machines to the human spirit, scientists immediately used the poverty and hunger of hundreds of millions of people to refute it. Although the work of refutation can be done in the mind of the reader without the need for the author to do it on paper, self-sufficiency inevitably highlights the narrow-mindedness and prejudice of the author. However, the art of the two is different after all. I think that Tuo's works are more suitable for adaptation into plays than movies; it is unimaginable if Tuo's films strip away the images that need to be reacted with intuition, and only have scripts that are viewed with reason. Nonetheless, I am still saddened and regretful for Ta's untimely death, because the potential of genius is always beyond expectations, and if "Idiot" is indeed adapted into a script and made into a movie, it may be a classic.
Two days ago (April 4th) was the 88th anniversary of Ta's birth. Once again, deep memory of Andrei, and all the great Russian artists. It’s a long way to come to Japan, and the future is promising. In the future, when I set foot on Russian soil, I want to first look for your footprints.
2020.4.7
***Supplement: 2019.3.30
Gorchakov and Dominica are two sides of the same coin. The former is troubled by nostalgia, the separation and imbalance between self and reality, which directly makes him worry about the integrity of personal existence. In this sense, Gorchakov's "nostalgia" is not only a worry that he will never be able to return to his hometown, but also a worry that he will be lost forever after his connection with his hometown is uprooted. will not be me". Dominica is trapped by the premonition that the end of the world is approaching, and by the profound anxiety about the current state of the world-the human world that frantically pursues utilitarianism, is polluted by pragmatism and materialism, and is on the road of self-destruction. Makes him worry about the integrity of all human existence. From this, we can see the contrast and connection between the two characters. The two not only set off each other, but also become a seamless one.
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