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Stalker Nineteen CHS 20/21 | STALKER-19
STALKER-19 what Tarkovsky’s 1979 film lends to our understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic
Andreea Iliescu MA Architecture
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Royal College of Art 20/21 Critical and Historical Studies Dissertation Thesis 19th April 2021 Tutor: Chris Fite-Wassilak 9234 words (body text only)
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Relating a person to the whole world: that is the meaning of cinema. -
Andrei Tarkovsky
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Acknowledgements CHS 20/21 | STALKER-19
I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to my tutor, Chris Fite-Wassilak, for his help and support throughout the development of this piece, encouraging me to relax into my own style. I would like to dedicate this piece to: 1
My mother, who has shown me that art, in whatever shape and form, is a door to the world.
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My Grandma, who loves and supports me always, even though she doesn’t understand any of my ideas.
3 Everyone out there, who, like me, is trying to find a voice and is constantly fighting doubts and insecurities in the creative process.
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Contents List of illustrations Preface CHS 20/21 | STALKER-19
Introduction CHAPTER 1.0 From specifics...to allegory CHAPTER 2.0 The ‘Meatgrinder’ CHAPTER 3.0 The Eternal Now
Conclusion Bibliography ANDREEA ILIESCU | 245953
Fig.2 8 | Andrei Tarkovsky on the set of ‘Stalker’ (1)
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List of illustrations Fig. 1 Dissertation book front cover, Collage of ‘Stalker’ film poster Author’s own 2021
Fig.3 Tarkovsky’s ‘Stalker’: Deep as a Mirror Ewan Wilson < https://the-artifice.com/tarkovskys-stalker-deep/> [accessed 10th April 2021] Fig.4. Andrei Tarkovsky on the set of STALKER (1979) Unknown < https://www.reddit.com/r/stalker/comments/at7vbt/andrei_tarkovsky_on_the_set_of_stalker_1979/> [accessed 10th April 2021] Fig.5. THE MYSTERY OF THE GLASS IN TARKOVSKY’S STALKER Unknown < http://idyllopuspress.com/idyllopus/film/stalker_glass.htm> [accessed 14th April 2021] Fig.6. Covid-19 hits London’s commercial waste sector Unknown < https://www.letsrecycle.com/news/latest-news/covid-19-hits-londons-commercial-waste-sector/> [accessed 14th April 2021] Fig.7. THE MYSTERY OF THE GLASS IN TARKOVSKY’S STALKER Unknown < http://idyllopuspress.com/idyllopus/film/stalker_glass.htm> [accessed 14th April 2021]
Fig.9 Stalker. Monkey sleeps. Mosfilm < https://www.theculturium.com/andrei-tarkovsky-cinematic-genius/> [accessed 16th April 2021] Fig.10 [CC BY-SA 2.0] Wikimedia Commons, Andrei Tarkovsky Festival de Cine Africano de Córdoba,< https://www.theculturium.com/andrei-tarkovsky-cinematic-genius/> [accessed 16th April 2021] Fig.11 Love in the Time of the Pandemic Karman Verdi < https://www.facebook.com/picnicmagazine/photos/pcb.10158433878398698/10158433871368698/> [accessed 16th April 2021]
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Fig.13 NATALYA ABRAMOVA as STALKER’S WIFE in STALKER (1979) Janet Towle, < http://goodnightsweetprince.rip/janet-towle.html> [accessed 16th April 2021] Fig.14 Festive closures: we’ll be back soon! Unknown < https://www.eastpointglobal.com/festive-closures-be-back-soon/> [accessed 16th April 2021] Fig.15 Film still < https://markeldersonelderson.blogspot.com/2013/10/stalker-andrei-tarkovsky.html> [accessed 16th April 2021] Fig.16 Criterion Review: Stalker Christopher Machell < https://cine-vue.com/2017/07/criterion-review-stalker.html> [accessed 16th April 2021] Fig.17 Bedroom Meesha J < https://i.pinimg.com/originals/66/27/e3/6627e37d2ac07bfdede55fda1e54a862.png> [accessed 16th April 2021] Fig.18 Christian’s Cinematic Syntax: Entering The Zone – “Stalker” Christian Mietus < https://lewislitjournal.wordpress.com/2017/09/30/christians-cinematic-syntax-entering-the-zone-stalker-film-review/> [accessed 16th April 2021] Fig.19 Beyond the pandemic, nurses face a tough fight for fair pay James Buchan < https://rcni.com/nursing-standard/opinion/expert-advice/beyond-pandemic-nurses-face-a-tough-fightfair-pay-160196> [accessed 17th April 2021]
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Fig.8 Now in 2K!: Restoring and Erasing STALKER’s Visual Obscurity Caleb Allison < https://blogs.iu.edu/aplaceforfilm/2018/01/24/now-in-2k-restoring-and-erasing-stalkers-visual-obscurity/> [accessed 14th April 2021]
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Fig. 2 The Passion of the Zone (Pt.1) - Ecological Shortsightedness and the Limits of Auditory Extension in Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker Randolph Jordan < https://offscreen.com/view/the-passion-of-the-zone> [accessed 10th April 2021]
Fig.12 In the Zone: A dialogue between Excess, Suture and Tarkovsky’s Stalker (1979) Midnightsciencefictionfeature < https://midnightsciencefictionfeature.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/in-the-zone-a-dialogue-between-excess-suture-and-tarkovskys-stalker-1979/> [accessed 16th April 2021]
Fig.20 Sculpting in Time: Legendary Russian Filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky on Why Film Enchants Us and What a Great Director Should Aim to Do Maria Popova < https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/04/08/sculpting-in-time-tarkovsky/> [accessed 17th April 2021] Fig.21 In the Zone: A dialogue between Excess, Suture and Tarkovsky’s Stalker (1979) Midnightsciencefictionfeature < https://midnightsciencefictionfeature.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/in-the-zone-a-dialogue-between-excess-suture-and-tarkovskys-stalker-1979/> [accessed 17th April 2021] Fig.22 The Monk by the Sea, Wikipedia Caspar David Friedrich < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monk_by_the_Sea> [accessed 17th April 2021]
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Fig.23 A Unique Perspective on the Making of ‘Stalker’: The Testimony of a Mechanic Toiling Away under Tarkovsky’s Guidance Sven Mikulec < https://cinephiliabeyond.org/unique-perspective-making-stalker-testimony-mechanic-toiling-away-tarkovskys-guidance/> [accessed 17th April 2021] CHS 20/21 | STALKER-19
Fig.24 Wonders in the dark - Stalker (1979) Lee Price < https://wondersinthedark.wordpress.com/2016/10/17/3-stalker-1979/> [accessed 17th April 2021] Fig.25 Window view Unknown < https://www.shutterstock.com/ro/video/clip-1019339836-closer-look-autumn-leaves-trees-outsidewindow> [accessed 17th April 2021] Fig.26 Film still < https://i.pinimg.com/originals/25/1e/b0/251eb08e69f7911cb4570b9bbbc9a176.png> [accessed 17th April 2021] Fig.27 Andrei Tarkovsky, The Cast and Crew on Set Unknown< https://cinephiliabeyond.tumblr.com/post/77419736246/andrei-tarkovsky-with-the-cast-andcrew-on-the-set> [accessed 17th April 2021] Fig.28 Andrei Tarkovsky, Solaris and Stalker: The making of two inner-space odysseys Steven Dalton < https://medium.com/@BFIstories/andrei-tarkovsky-solaris-and-stalker-5f4f706a4a85> [accessed 17th April 2021] Fig.29 Andrei Tarkovsky, Stalker, 1979 Atlas of Space < https://www.atlasofplaces.com/cinema/stalker/> [accessed 17th April 2021]
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Disclaimer
In this dissertation I allude to the plot of Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1979 film “Stalker”; if you haven’t already watched it, now would be an appropriate time!
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Preface This is a work in progress piece of writing. And so is the state of the world right now. If I had one more month, it would have probably turned out differently. Or maybe it wouldn’t, for I would have had enough of rewriting and refining. I guess I’ll never know.
It is important to mention that I do not know how this will progress. This is my first attempt at trying to settle into my own voice and step away from a formal paper structure. Much like a time prism, this essay is non-linear – it is aimed to be disorienting; it goes back and forth, touching on multiple facets which derive from some key scenes from the film.
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This essay is full of doubt, but at the same time it is trying to be brave. It’s not a summary of the film’s plot, in fact it is the opposite of it – it’s an amplification and development. While everybody knows that the film is great (hey, there is no doubt about it), I am interested in ways of seeing and thinking which result from engaging with it. I am thus trying to use ‘Stalker’ as a tool to analyze, as simply and as personally as I possibly can, what it is saying about our current spatiality in the pandemic world. Is there a way to re-narrate ‘now’ in the same way? What are the ways in which the film suggests thinking about the present?
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Three ambiguous silhouettes, barely distinguishable in the mist are walking in this forgotten place, heavily guarded and full of traps and temptations. The tale speaks of this close reserve, the Zone, which marks the place where Earth has been invaded by some celestial entity, managing to completely transform this otherwise ordinary-looking terrain. Here, the normal physical laws of nature do not apply; the Zone is a magnet for marauders and adventurers, much like our protagonists, all seeking the many strange objects to be found here, which can be repurposed for a multitude of financial uses. This place has given birth to a new, mysterious, semi-criminal profession: that of the ‘stalkers’, illegal guides to the marvels and pitfalls of this place.1 [1] Maya Turovskaya, Tarkovsky - Cinema as poetry (London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1989), p106.
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Fig.3 16 | The protagonists in the Zone (from left to right): Writer (Anatoly Solonitsyn), Professor (Nikolai Grinko), Stalker (Aleksandr Kaidanovsky), film still
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Introduction A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, I find myself tired, hopeless and pressed under the weight of time. The anxiety that has come upon me as an extrovert has certainly done some serious damage to my otherwise joyful personality. I have been faced with one of my biggest fears, the one of being confined to an apartment, forced to address some of the issues I would have otherwise escaped from through different forms of getaway. In the months of worldwide lockdown imposed as a result of the pandemic, I have been forced to stop and stand still. Or take a step back?
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Nevertheless, as I look back on the film, I find myself noticing there is a lot more to it than I initially managed to grasp. I thus started to reflect on the nature and vagueness of the film’s stylistic elements; for instance, the characters, who don’t have clearly defined names, but are called by their profession. Or the fact that I keep hearing about all these dangers in the Zone, but don’t actually see them on screen. And finally, the fact that there is no obvious plot, time or place for the story. There is a certain level of ambiguity which allows the film to transpose to a variety of situations, making it adapt with the viewer over time; the film exists in its own time plane, which, ironically, makes it timeless – thus allowing it to be applicable to different times, like today. Finally, there is an “other” sense of spatiality which emerges from the different ways the viewer can engage with the film: for instance, the strategic use of colour and disorientation used to involve the audience. Tarkovsky uses physical space to externalize the psychological experience.
[2] Mark Le Fanu, Stalker: Meaning and
[3] Geoff Dyer, A book about a Film
Making, <https://www.criterion.com/
about a Journey to a Room, (New
current/posts/4739-stalker-meaning-
York: Pantheon Books, a division
and-making> [accessed 1st April 2021]
of Random House, Inc.), p.7.
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I have received copious amounts of time for introspection and even more time to cherish solitude and its self-discovering wonders (or, on the contrary, indulge in its misery). I rediscovered that watching films can be truly experiential if I have enough time to engage. With so much free time on my hands, I dove deeper into a solo journey through the cinematic realm - what else to do whilst on furlough? Out of the plethora of dystopian and sci-fi films I watched to set the mood of lockdown, one film in particular echoed my state of mind over those weeks, as if it had infiltrated both my body and my home - Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1979 ‘Stalker’; judging by his published diaries, the 1970s were a period full of anguish, uncertainty and heartache for Tarkovsky2– very much similar to how I was feeling during COVID-19. The anxiety, emptiness and displacement I experienced over that period were visualized through the hypnotic long takes, the idea of failed futures and the possibility that, maybe, at some point, I will somehow reach the Room where my deepest desire would come true – and that would only be for life to go back to normal (or at least what I considered normalcy before the inception of the pandemic).
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‘Stalker’ is, without any doubt, Tarkovsky’s finest masterpiece, his second attempt at grappling with the genre of science-fiction, after Solaris (1971). However, I must confess that, looking back on the experience when I first watched it during lockdown, it was pure cinematic agony. Only one hour into the film and I couldn’t bear to watch a second of it any longer; every second felt like a minute, every minute like an hour, every hour like a day and so on. It was a full-on expansion of time, as if I was trading time for an even bigger unit of time.3 To put it simply, it was far from being love at first sight: I was slightly underwhelmed, quite unmoved and frankly, extremely bored. Little did I know I would end up writing a dissertation on it…
In hindsight, I must confess that, hadn’t I watched ‘Stalker’ so early in my life, my outlook would have developed at a much slower pace. To truly be able to relate to this film is to develop a holistic vision of the world, for what else is the Zone if not an allegory for life, peppered with traps and pitfalls which we ought to learn from and move on in the chase after our deepest desires?
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In
Dialogue
with
Tarkovsky
[4] Andrei Tarkovsky, Sculpting in Time, (University of Texas Press, 1986), p.36.
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Enough ink has already been spilt on ‘Stalker’s plot and subject matter, turning into some sort of phenomenological mysticism; I have seen and read way too much of that. Thus, as your host, I hope to entice you with a scintillating conversation about what this iconic film says about our current and post-COVID-19 world. Arguing that Tarkovsky prefigured the pandemic (similarly to how critics argue that he foretold the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl) and that the film essentially mirrors the year 2020 is an understatement. I would much rather try and use this space to put ‘Stalker’ goggles on and reflect upon what we can learn about today, about the state of the world as it is, about our contemporary condition through a personal analysis of such a historic film - a film said to be a truly one-of-a-kind film-watching experience. Follow me into the Zone, where much like the eponymous Stalker, I intend to be your guide into Tarkovsky space and time. I do not claim that I know the answers, for the main purpose of this piece is – selfishly enough - to enable me to settle into my own voice as an artist. Ultimately, isn’t this the purpose of all art, to explain to the artist himself and to the world around him what is the meaning of existence? Or, if not to explain, at least to pose the question?4
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Fig.4 20 | Andrei Tarkovsky on the set of ‘Stalker’ (2)
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CHAPTER 1.0
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From specifics...
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“My mother used to say
“He’s a stalker, he’s doomed, he’s
an eternal prisoner!”
Fig. 22 |5 The tray with objects in the opening scene, film still
...to allegory
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26th March 2020
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It’s spring in London and I am feeling alone in the city. Alone in the world…It’s a strange state that one, not wanting to reach out to anybody. I know I have to do something to change this mood, maybe try and keep busy with some personal projects. Had I been in our hero Stalker’s shoes, I would have happily embarked on a solo journey full of dangers, just for the sake of feeling the thrill one more time…but there is nowhere to go. The city feels empty and so do I.
Fig.7 The animated glass in the intro scene, film still
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I am sat in my bed, half asleep, as the film opens with a strange, almost-but-not-quite black and white scene, showing a tray with objects that are shaking inexplicably.(Fig.7) A half-full glass of water, quivering uncontrollably, catches my full attention, as I start to hear a train in the background, also announcing loudly a recording of the “Marseillaise”. As the sound of the moving train intensifies, the camera slowly pans from left to right, revealing a woman lying in bed with her eyes half-open. I then see a little girl, with her prominent head covered in a scarf (Fig.9); finally, a man, presumably the girl’s father, who looks anxious, gazing longingly at the child’s face. (Fig.8) The camera then pans back to the right, revisiting our characters lying in bed in reverse order – the man, the girl and the woman, all the way back to the objects on the tray which are still shaking, however at a much slower pace, for the train has already passed the house.
Fig.6 A deserted Piccadilly Circus at the height of the first lockdown in April 2020
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What do I learn from this? To me, this is clearly the start of a film where somebody embarks on a long journey, with a promise of danger. Although tautologous (and frankly, tedious as an idea), I think all movies should be journeys. I am, nevertheless, aware that this one is different. I know that ‘Stalker’ is not just a literal expedition, but also a spiritual one – on the one hand, into cinematic space and, on the other, into time.5 Tarkovsky manages to create a powerful ambivalence between the opening and the ending scenes: the child’s moving of the glasses at the end (spoiler alert!) is a deliberate counterpart of the scene described above in Stalker’s bedroom, where we see the objects on the bedside table trembling and shifting position as a result of the vibrations of the passing train.6
Fig. 8 Stalker (Aleksandr Kajdanovsky) lying in bed, film still about a Journey to a Room, (New York: Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc.), p.46. [6] Vida T. Johnson and Graham Petrie, The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky - A Visual Fugue, (Indiana University Press, 1994) , p.143. [7] Ibid., p.150.
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[8] Dyer, p.18.
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[5] Geoff Dyer, A Book about a Film
Stalker, a poor man living in a decayed industrial area, gets out of bed and starts getting ready for departure, gently closing the door behind him so as not to wake up his daughter and wife. The latter follows him into the room (maybe woken up by the rattling train? or maybe she wasn’t sleeping at all; it is fascinating to even think that they could sleep at all with the sound of the train in the background!), asking him not to leave, for she is aware he is meeting Professor and Writer at the bar before heading towards the Zone. His semi-criminal profession is causing a lot of grief and frustration for his family. The Wife, representing the ethical principle in the film7, begs him to stay; however, her pleas are in vain, for he is definitely going. She then threatens him by expressing her worry that he will eventually end up in prison. This is the first time we hear about the dangerous quest he is about to take on board. His answer is simple and passive, claiming that everywhere is a prison. (this is a metaphor for “the Soviet repressive system itself”8 , articulated through the concept of the “Meatgrinder”, one of the most hazardous parts of the Zone – see Chapter 2). The Wife is already giving us plenty of hints at what we are about to experience. Before beginning, it is important to understand the historical context of the film and the zeitgeist (the spirit of the age).
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Specifics of time and place Tarkovsky in the context of the USSR
Fig. 9 Monkey (Natasha Abramova), Stalker’s daughter in bed, film still
[9] Vida T. Johnson and Graham Petrie, p.1. [10] Dyer, p.91. [11] Turovskaya, Cover. [12] Dyer, p.41. [13] Ewan Wilson, Tarkovsky’s
[14] Turovskaya, p.xiii.
The post-thaw generation of young artists and intellectuals, who were determined to break out of the Stalinist straitjacket, intended to experiment with new cinematic styles and forms which had so long been denied by the previous rulers of the USSR. Tarkovsky, among others like Ioseliani and Paradzhanov, were continuously challenging the styles of the time, such as socialist-realist prose, thus aiming to provoke questioning the status-quo by attempting to create new poetic visions in cinematography.14
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It is well known that the director had to face a variety of bureaucratic challenges in order to make five of his most outstanding films in the Soviet Union. ‘Stalker’, an adaptation of Strugatsky Brothers’ sci-fi novel “Roadside picnic”, was shot in the late 1970s – back when the USSR was seen like a vast prison camp and when freedom was only considered to be attainable outside of the barbed wire of the Zone; the place itself is an allegory for how Tarkovsky envisaged the way in which the state exercised control over his and others’ artistic freedom.12 Originally, Russian sci-fi novels were critiques of society; dystopias, lack of free will and totalitarian governments, paired with analyses of capitalism could all be wrapped up in fantastical elements to proclaim an end to censorship.13 Soviet cinema had never been compliant in entirety since the death of Stalin and it continued to produce contradictory signals through the transitional political regimes under the rule of Chernenko and Andropov.
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It is no secret to anyone that Tarkovsky’s films are hard to digest. The director himself confessed that his cinematography is not for everyone, as he uses the medium of film to reflect upon his upbringing in the Soviet Union. Yet, at the same time, it is unquestionable that he gifted the world with a timeless legacy - his body of work, albeit slim (he only completed seven feature films throughout his career), inspired professionals and amateurs alike for generations – and it still continues to do so today. His films are often seen as a holistic and unified oeuvre, “a visual fugue” or a “meta-film”9 by many critics who named him “the great poet of stillness.”10 , essentially placing him as an outsider in the context of the USSR. The transcendent spirituality of his films, paired with the hypnotic long-takes and the elegiac reverence of landscape and nature established him as one of the most well-regarded film-makers of all time - someone who, simply, broke the canons of existing genres.11
Stalker: Deep as a Mirror < https://the-artifice.com/ tarkovskys-stalker-deep/ > [accessed 5th April 2021]
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His inherent urge for spiritual rebirth, accompanied by his vision of a technological apocalypse have been interpreted by critics as both “timely and prophetic.”18 What is more, it is claimed that ‘Stalker’ is such a slow film because it is a critique aimed at the advancement of technology. In no other time has this been more relevant than today, when due to the pandemic, our lives moved online into the digital realm – from art exhibitions and social events to work meetings and dinner and drinks with the people whose physical presence we can no longer enjoy. The specifics of time and place back then echo many aspects of our world today. Things fall apart
The opening scene is clearly a sign that Stalker’s relationship with his Wife is slowly deteriorating; their default mode of communication has reached the point of quarelling, arguing and contradicting each other – quite an unfortunate place to be in, relationshipwise; I bet you’ve also been there… so you must know very well that is, in fact, nothing more than just another metaphor for prison.19 Albeit a difficult dynamic, it is also a trap whereby the couple enters a vicious cycle between misery and the challenge of escaping it. This relationship dynamic is another example of how Stalker is merely a displaced man, seeking asylum from the world.20 Hence, he needs this journey as much as Writer and Professor do.
Fig.10 Andrei Tarkovsky on set Tarkovsky’s prophecy
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[15] Turovskaya, p.xxiii. [16] John A. Riley, Hauntology, Ruins, and the Failure of the Future, p.7. < https://www. jstor.org/stable/10.5406/ jfilmvideo.69.1.0018?seq=1 > [ accessed 26th December 2020] [17] Vida T. Johnson and Graham Petrie, p.15.
[18] Vida T. Johnson and Graham Petrie, p.4. [19] Dyer, p.17. [20] Ibid., p.41.
Seeing this on screen made me think about many of my friends who were living with their partners during lockdown; I have read and heard so many times that lockdown is a true relationship test. And I don’t know of many people who passed it. While some are breaking up, others are trying to meet their significant other through online dating; with the new restrictions, dating apps have developed online video chat rooms; thus, I would reconsider my position in regard to the relationship if I were in Stalker’s shoes – because finding a significant other has become even more challenging than usual these days. After all, we cannot touch and we shouldn’t be close to one another.
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Tarkovsky was also regarded by critics as a prophet rather than a teacher or a philosopher; this was, on the one hand, mainly due to the evocative nature of his films and, on the other, because of his unprecedented capacity to highlight cinema’s visual potential.15 His inclined admirers would argue that he foretold the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl through ‘Stalker’, as it was the last film he shot in the Soviet Union in the wake of its collapse; the film’s relevance in the context of the reconfigured geopolitical landscape of the time is indisputable through the variety of themes such as failed futures, industrial catastrophes and nostalgia.16 As Polish film director Andrzej Wajda points out, Tarkovsky sheds a light on the religious concerns by “throwing down the gauntlet” all of us living in a consumerist, technologically oriented world. 17
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[21] Dyer, p.16. [22] J.M. Magrini, On the System of the ‘Suture’ in Cinema < http:// othercinema.com/otherzine/ archives/index.php?issueid=15&article_id=33#:~:text=Suture%20refers%20to%20 the%20%E2%80%9Clogic,of%20 the%20film’s%20formal%20 structure.&text=At%20 this%20point%2C%20 the%20spectator,instead%20
Fig.11 Love in the time of the pandemic, photographic project by Karman Verdi
%E2%80%9Creading%E2%80%9D%20the%20film.
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Fig.12 The dialogue between Stalker and his Wife, film stills
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Back to the dialogue… The dynamic of how Stalker and his Wife interact with each other and with the camera renders this scene a fathomless resonance, as Tarkovsky manages to hem me as a viewer into the cinematic space through the technique of suture. (Fig.12) While witnessing their argument, I first see a shot of the Wife looking directly at the camera. She pronounces hurtful accusations, painfully admitting that marrying Stalker destroyed her life. This conversation is iconic because it is the first moment we hear about the notion of ‘time’, articulated by the woman, who says she has grown old, tired of waiting for Stalker to be the man she needs him to be. 21 She is looking towards me as if trying to convince me that Stalker shouldn’t leave, that Monkey, their daughter, had just got used to him being around; it’s almost as if she wants me to feel guilty for Stalker’s departure. Tarkovsky draws me into the scene by then directing my attention towards Stalker – a complementary image of him looking disoriented, staring expressionless at his wife. Ah, how I feel for him! That’s usually how my mother makes me feel when she starts yelling at me. The scene then culminates with a shot of them two speaking; I am therefore drawn into the world of the film itself; in essence, for suture to fulfil its purpose, I as the viewer have to feel a sense of absence or loss, which is then to be reconciled further by the stylistic arrangement of filmic elements. This system is sustained by the language of a shot/reverse-shot, as if the director had performed an incision, which he ultimately managed to sew and stitch back together, employing the technique to generate continuity and anchor me as the viewer into the cinematic world. 22
> [ accessed 17th January 2021]
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The ending of this scene, culminating in intensity and underpinning a climax of abandonment, is one of the most relatable in the film: Stalker, her husband, finally departs, leaving the wife alone, lying on the floor crying. What is more, the shot is also quite sexually charged, clear from her prominently erect nipples, visible through her nightgown, (Fig.13) as she writhes away on the hard floorboards.23 Meanwhile, another train gets closer, this time making the floor quiver, with the sound of the “Marseillaise” intensifying until vanishing completely, while the screen fades to black.
[23] Dyer, p.19.
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Fig.13 The Wife (Alisa Freindlich) writhing on the floor, film still
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The weather is really catching up here. Ah, how I miss a pub! The hairs in my nostrils paralyzing under the smell of damp and mould, so hypnotizing and specific, where beer taps are overflowing, as the roudy corporate workers of London enter in big groups, like jackals about to hunt their prey, either a lady or a pint, screaming at each other about how their boring day went at the office. I want all those things back, yet all I see is closed doors with rusty metal plates on them, saying: “Sorry, we’re closed, but we’ll be back soon!”. How reassuring…
Fig.15 Stalker, Writer and Professor meet at the bar, film still
Fig.14 “Sorry we’re closed” sign, first lockdown in London, spring 2020
[24] Dyer, p.20.
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The wet, ill-lit, sooty pub where the three about to start on an expedition to the Zone meet early in the morning.(Fig.15) If these timber floorboards could speak they would have a go at telling a tale or two and these tales would ultimately turn out to be the one and the same, ending in lament not just in terms of what happens in this bar, but in bars all over the world. I am already aware that I am finding myself in a realm of universal truth.24 This empty bar, with only one round table and no stools, is luring me in, inviting me to just stand nearby and drink and listen to what the characters have to say. Or maybe not even listen, just stand silently around the table and zone out, as I start to question whether the bar is even open in the first place. The bartender, wearing a white jacket, enters the room from the back, lights up a cigarette and shakes Stalker’s hand. The scene is punctuated by the intermittent flickering of one of the two fluorescent tube lights, which needs fixing.
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Building towards an allegory
There is something quintessentially Russian about this scene, but I cannot put my finger on it exactly. Could it be the drinking, the Writer doubting whether Professor is in fact a Professor, perhaps the long and deep process of philosophizing over some drinks before embarking on a journey? Alcohol seems to be a connector here, the conversation starter. Usually drinks are conversation starters, no doubt about that. Not sure why I am even talking about drinking, maybe because I just got off the phone with my dad and he thinks I have developed a drinking problem. Drinking with others, drinking on my own. What else to do these days, whilst at home, watching films on the condition of mankind?
38 |
Professor asks the Writer why he is looking to go into the Zone; as it turns out, he seeks inspiration for writing, or maybe he just needs to feel rejuvenated. Who doesn’t?! This year has pressed on me with the weight of ten long and difficult years. Professor asks him what he usually writes about; he claims, in a rather Flaubertian way, that “one should write about nothing.”27
[28] Baradwaj Rangan, Forty years on, Tarkovsky’s
[26] Ibid., p.29. [27] Ibid., p.29.
Stalker remains a great example of movie-poetry, easier to experience than explain <https://www.firstpost.com/ entertainment/forty-years-ontarkovskys-stalker-remains-agreat-example-of-movie-poetryeasier-to-experience-than-explain-6973641.html > [accessed 25th January 2021]
[29] Vida T. Johnson, p.150. [30] Turovskaya, p.106.
As the three men leave the bar, they take me with them into a wonderful voyage of cinematic unknown through this post-industrial wasteland – after all, this is a film about a journey to the Room. And I am far from being an outsider; no, this is not the case at all, for I am to be an active participant in this expedition, watching the trio mature as they experience the traps and dangers of the Zone. As they are setting on this journey, they head to this mythical place in the search for truth.30 Oh, aren’t we all? I can already relate, can you? I am going along for the ride too, I am one of them.
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“How about a glass for the road?”, asks Writer. He then gets a beer; now we’re talking! Speaking of beer, I am obviously interested to see if Stalker is going to get one down him, too. As it turns out, the only one doing the drinking out of the three is the Writer. Writer, they say… maybe he should have been called Drinker. He is also the one doing most of the talking. Stalker is just sitting there, looking anxious, while Professor is sipping on some tea silently.26
[25] Dyer, p.28.
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What a way to spatialize the exposition of a dystopian story! So here we are, at the bar where our protagonists meet for the first time. Writer, a chatty and argumentative drinker and a tall, unusually calm man called Professor; these generic code names, Reservoir Dogs-style (i.e. Mr. Orange, Mr. Brown etc)25 given by the Stalker as he introduces the other two makes me wonder whether Tarkovsky is slowly and indirectly making a transition from the specificity of the context into some sort of mystical ambiguity?
There is a slight analogy between Flaubert’s philosophy of making art and Tarkovsky’s way of engaging with film, for Flaubert believed the future of art lies in the freedom of will of its creator. Isn’t this what Tarkovsky’s films are about, intangibility, taking the shape of the mind, for the moment one tries to dissect the meaning it fades away in an instant? ‘Stalker’ is, inherently, like poetry – it has to be experienced, not explained.28 Nothing in this film is an accident and yet the whole film is infused with accidents, open to interpretation. This transition from specificity to the lack thereof is what attributes this film an overarching, universal truth. More than being called by their profession, the characters clearly perform symbolically; many critics have pointed out that each of the three men embody different philosophical principles: Stalker – religious faith; Writer – the artistic principle which has degenerated into cynicism, selfishness and skepticism and Professor – the concept of rationalism.29
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CHAPTER 2.0
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The ‘Meatgrinder’
“Do we have to go there?” asks Writer in fear.
Stalker replies.
Fig. 40 |16 Writer (foreground), Stalker and Professor (background) in the Sand Room, film still
“It looks morbid. Don’t you think Professor? I don’t feel like going in first.”
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“Unfortunately, yes. There is no other way.”
15th April 2020
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Glad of the break? I can imagine you are. Any sort of interlude is welcome: the end of a paragraph or even a double space break, not to mention the end of a section or chapter. What if I read staying at home as being in the Zone? What if I told you I perceive each room in my flat, particularly my bedroom, as the ‘Meatgrinder’? These white empty walls to which I have been confined are more pressing with each day that passes. Maybe because it’s a room of 2.5 by 3 m; the churn of death, of solitude, of boredom. I sit here, chewing on some crisps, wondering how long it actually takes for a film to get boring. I notice, nevertheless, that there is a difference between instant boredom as opposed to tedium as a gradual, suffocating process, which unfolds over time.31 After all, the film is 2 hours and 43 minutes long and I still have a lot left to watch.
Fig.18 Professor entering the ‘Meatgrinder’ tunnel, film still
A grimy, post-industrial, morbid-looking tunnel. One can only sympathize with the protagonists’ reluctance to proceed. The darkness grows loud with the sound of water dripping from the rusty metal pipes, which almost feels like subterranean rain.(Fig.18)
[31] Dyer, p.16.
“Do we have to go there?”, asks Writer in fear. “Unfortunately, yes. There is no other way.” Stalker replies. “It looks morbid. Don’t you think Professor? I don’t feel like going in first.”
Fig.17 Bedroom during lockdown, spring 2020
[32] Dyer, p.60.
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Oh, I feel you on that one! Neither do I. I would probably still hesitate to enter even if the US military service went in first. Judging by the expression on Writer’s face, he must be looking at something horrendous and terrifying. At this point, he seems to be in a state of more severe burning anxiety than we have ever seen. He sees a door in the distance. Stalker tells him to open it. Whatever lies beyond that door could be extremely distressing to experience. The film does not cease to strike me with its outreach to echo actual and contemporary events in its projected light.32
43 |
And then there was sound!
44 |
[33] Michel Chion, Film: A Sound
[37] Andrea Truppin, And Then
Art ( New York: Columbia
There Was Sound: The Films of An-
University Press, 2009).
drei Tarkovsky < http://filmsound.
[34] Fran Zayas, The 10 Best
org/owesvensson/truppin.htm >
Scenes in Andrei Tarkovsky Films
[accessed 3rd February 2021]
< http://www.tasteofcinema. com/2017/the-10-best-scenesin-andrei-tarkovsky-films/ > [accessed 1st April 2021]. [35] Eduard Artemyev, Meditation (Stalker Soundtrack) < https:// open.spotify.com/track/4V5UW31kW26I3dYdxfZnNl?si=lFujld-
Speaking of sound’s ability to elevate emotions, I remember so vividly the claps for the NHS.(Fig 19) Every Thursday, people all over the UK would pause whatever they were doing, look outside their windows or balconies and clap in recognition for frontline workers. Similarly to the magic behind many scenes in ‘Stalker’, those were moments when I felt a much needed, deep sense of community across London to help alleviate my personal struggles during that moment.
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The natural soundscape in this scene is in high contrast with the hypnotic electronic music, with its pulsating rhythms, the one I heard once the protagonists entered the Zone for the first time. It reminds me that Tarkovsky moved me from one end of the spectrum, from a dream-like sonic interlude with melodic beats, to a kaleidoscope of natural soundscape. Critics have regarded Eduard Artemyev’s distinctive soundtrack35 to have stood the test of time, because the drone of flute which is filtered through a synth is simply unmistakable. (although trying to express it through a wordy description can barely convey the experience of witnessing it on screen…). Tarkovsky’s inclination to make the mundane feel unexpected is supported by the way in which sound and image weave together to constitute a spectral atmosphere, managing to create something more powerful than the most complex sound effects possible on set. Hence, he employs sound to allow his film to travel smoothly through multiple and equally weighted layers of experience. These layers flow simultaneously through one another without the rigid hierarchy that separates most filmic worlds into the usual canons of “reality” vs. “fantasy” or “fiction”.36 As a result, it feels like Tarkovsky is almost constructing a meta-reality.
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The ‘Meatgrinder’ tunnel, leading to the mythical Sand Room, sets the emotional climax for one of our main protagonists, the difficult and skeptical Writer. This is probably the most tension-driven scene in ‘Stalker’ – at least thus far. As a film amateur, I always thought that ‘mise-en-scene’ is just the visual and physical placement of elements in a scene. I never thought of it that way, but I recently read that Michel Chion distinguishes sound as another aspect of it:33 in this particular scene, the diegetic sound of the echoes, loud footsteps on dirt and puddles, which sets the eerie mood, accompanied by the camera’s close track of Writer’s worried reactions and movements constitutes a powerful sensorial experience.34
At the beginning of his career, the director didn’t consider appropriate the use of music in his films, because he believed the true value of the cinematic experience is generated through the long shot, solely paired with natural soundscape. Nevertheless, in his last films, particularly in Stalker, he uncovered the full potential of using sound’s capability for ambiguity and abstraction. In the memorable scene in the Zone, where we see Stalker dreaming, with his head lying on the grass, Tarkovsky tests sound’s ability to function not only literally (i.e. attached to an object), but also abstractly – independent of any identifiable source. In ‘Stalker’, sound manages to move beyond its traditional role as secondary support for the image, often managing to uplift the visual experience, and finally surpassing its ability to convey other types of meaning. In the way he uses the sound, Tarkovsky manages to generate a whole new level of symbolic connotation – on the one hand, through the synergy of narrative and formal elements, both visual and aural, and, on the other, through the audience’s efforts to establish coherence among these elements (efforts which represent nothing more than the depictions of the internal struggles akin to those experienced by the characters37).
bwQ5OVloIcL7zsPw > [accessed 27th January 2020] [36] Andrea Truppin, And Then There Was Sound: The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky < http://filmsound. org/owesvensson/truppin.htm > [accessed 3rd February 2021]
Fig.19 Communities thankful for NHS and key workers
45 |
This scene is ten minutes long; ten minutes of only Writer, hesitating to enter, then proceeding in fear, the camera closing up on his prominent head, back and forth, showing him either from the back or from the front, pointing at his worried expression. Critics said that Antonioni liked long takes, but Tarkovsky took this a stage further – and this scene is a very good example of that. ‘If the regular length of a shot is increased, one becomes bored, but if you keep on making it longer, it piques your interest, and if you make it even longer, a new quality emerges, a special intensity of attention.’ This is Tarkovsky’s aesthetic in a nutshell.38
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“What is the essence of a director’s work? We could define it as sculpting in time. Just as a sculptor takes a lump of marble, and inwardly conscious of the features of his finished piece, removes everything that is not part of it – so the film-maker, from “a lump of time” made up of an enormous, solid cluster of living facts, cuts off and discards whatever he does not need.”41
As Writer proceeds through the tunnel, Tarkovsky builds tension by focusing solely on our hero’s ordeal through this miasmic industrial tunnel instead of placing me, the viewer, in a generated fantasy space or a violent environment.
Time and temporality
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[38] Dyer, p.12. [39] Ibid., p.86.
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Time was a paramount concept in Tarkovsky’s approach to filmmaking; he was growing up at the same time when the methods of cinematography, from narrative and storytelling to montage structure, were being questioned for the first time. He wrote that when the cinema was born “man received a matrix of ‘real time’ into his hands.”39 His most praiseworthy publication, “Sculpting in Time: Reflections on the cinema”(Fig.20) is eponymous to his style of film-making and constitutes an in-depth description of his most notable films. The book’s main argument about the nature of cinema is summarized in the following statement: “The dominant, all-powerful factor of the film image is rhythm, expressing the course of time within the frame.”40
[40] Andrei Tarkovsky, Sculpting in Time, pp. 7–14. [41] Turovskaya, p.xxi.
Fig.20 Andrei Tarkovsky, ‘Sculpting in Time’ book cover
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For Tarkovsky, duration is an impersonal, objective measurement of time – i.e. the clock. On the other hand, time is personal. It is subjective and it triggers memory. Tarkovsky believed that, without time, memory could not exist. He was interested in the inner moral qualities, which he argued are inherent in time itself. Thus, our human conscience is dependent on time for its existence.47 Furthermore, our memory makes us vulnerable and subject to pain, for it “sows in us a deep sense of dissatisfaction”.48 To forget the pressures, loss and pain of 2020 will be a difficult task, since the majority of us have been directly or indirectly affected by COVID-19. And the weight of time which has pressed on us by having to stay at home, isolated from our communities and forced to face our personal issues has left some dark marks on our collective consciousness; arguably, this raises the pandemic to the status of a collective trauma, which will remain imprinted in history. Such is the work of time.
This insight generates a variety of consequences – firstly, Tarkovsky imagines that audiences are going to the cinema “for time: for time lost or spent or not yet had”44; this is a clear reference to the idea that time dilates, generating a distorted perception which the audience has on the passage of time itself. I can relate to this so strongly, as I have been in constant search of lost time throughout lockdown: time itself has dilated beyond any laws of physics over the course of the past year.
48 |
So it is known that anyone watching an Andrei Tarkovsky film, whether enraptured or bored, feels the weight of time – for he allows his films to take slow, deep breaths, ultimately eroding all sense of time.
Towards a wider allegorization
[42] Turovskaya, p.xxi.
[47] Andrei Tarkovsky, Sculpting in Time, p.58.
[43] Ibid., p.xxi.
[48] Ibid., p.58.
[44] Andrei Tarkovsky, Sculpting
[49] A Ewan Wilson, Tarkovsky’s
in Time, p.119.
Stalker: Deep as a Mirror <
[45] Gilles Deleuze, Cinema 2:
https://the-artifice.com/
The Time-Image (Minneapolis:
tarkovskys-stalker-deep/ >
University of Minnesota Press,
[accessed 5th April 2021]
1989), p.68. [46] Ibid., p.70.
[50] Vida T. Johnson, p.152.
The ‘Meatgrinder’ tunnel scene is probably the most relevant to punctuate the fact that tension is increasing, as I am waiting every second for something dreadful to happen; yet, it simply doesn’t. We’ve been together long enough now, you and me, trying to dissect the meaning of this film; at this point, we are both aware that inexplicably strange things are supposed to happen in the Zone, but the sense of real danger, once our three protagonists have entered the barrier, is curiously absent. Strangely enough for a science-fiction film, ‘Stalker’ contains no visual elements which indicate future time, alien presence or a parallel world; there is only a slight suggestion that there may be a dystopian society within the film - the security which surrounds the Zone.49 Much like the coronavirus, which we cannot perceive with the naked eye, the danger is present, yet unseen. This inevitably makes me wonder, as we have already spoken about a certain process of allegorization that, perhaps, what matters here is not the physical peril, but the fact that Stalker respects and understands the powers of the Zone, compared to Professor and Writer.50
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Cinema does not just present images, but it surrounds them with a world. For Gilles Deleuze, the long take becomes a way of embodying time, while the subject and context of the film are the time-image itself.45 What if I were to take, for instance, the concept of ‘timelessness’ not as a means to stop time, but a way to freeze it, detach from it in order to be able to manipulate it? It would be great that, as a viewer, instead of being part of the cinematic world, I could just step out and look at time as if it were an object in my hands – a crystal, with multiple facets, allowing me to interpret and look at it from different perspectives.46 Yet these different perspectives would still be subjective, according to who would be analyzing them. Thus, it is important to distinguish between “time” (subjective) and “duration” (objective) to take this further in Tarkovsky’s philosophy of cinema.
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Tarkovsky uses a compelling analogy between the filmmaker and the sculptor, claiming that both are bound to respect the nature of their physical material of choice. There is an evocative neo-platonic conception of Michelangelo’s perception of sculpture - that the key to form-finding “already exists within the marble”.42 From his perspective as a filmmaker, Tarkovsky argues that his material cannot be forced into a predetermined structure; just like a sculptor, he has to understand the temporal rhythm which already exists and “work with it rather than against it.”43
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Fig.21 Writer in the Sand Room, film stills
As Writer proceeds forward, he enters the main room of the ‘Meatgrinder’: a vastly sand-covered space with an overhead light highlighting the outlines of the sand dunes and piles on the ground. Tarkovsky reaches a whole new level of ambiguity and surrealism whilst setting up this Room in a painterly composition (this scene remotely reminds me of a Caspar David Friderich painting, “Monk by Sea”).51 (Fig.22) Furthermore, the Zone is never shown shifting; instead, I as the viewer, am invited to participate in the Zone’s metamorphosis and mutability. The Sandroom is a metaphor laden with symbolism: this desert-like space with undulating dunes takes the form of what can be traced as a terrifying vision of human consciousness – duplicitous, shifting and doomed to entropy.52
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All of a sudden, Writer, the proud Writer I have known before starts to deliver a bitter monologue on his human condition, confessing man’s futility to change the world, his frustration towards his work as a writer and, ultimately, the vulnerability of his ego. Distraught and thrashed, Writer stares directly at the camera as it slowly closes in, and reveals his humiliation for admitting his weaknesses as an artist and individual. (Fig.21) There is a clear connection between this scene and the one when Stalker, attempting to console the Writer, told him how lucky he was, for he would get to live a hundred years; Writer, in vanity, asked “Why not forever?”. Thus, the opposition between the two illustrates the selflessness and consideration of Stalker in contrast to the deconstruction of man, articulated through Writer’s discourse.53
[51] Zayas. [52] Christopher Machell, Criterion Review: Stalker < https://cine-vue.com/2017/07/ criterion-review-stalker.html> [accessed 16th April 2021] [53] Zayas.
Fig.22 Caspar David Friederich, The Monk by the Sea
51 |
The Sacrifice
Fig.23 Tarkovsky, the cast and crew on set in Estonia [54] Mark, Le Fanu, Stalker – Meaning and Making < https://
posts/4739-stalker-meaningand-making> [accessed 31st
To die for one’s art, that is the ultimate form of sacrifice. Making others die for your art, on the other hand… feels utterly egotistical. I am not sure how to feel, for I haven’t reached that level of depression just yet. Or maybe I do not believe enough in my craft? I guess I am soon to discover.
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www.criterion.com/current/
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Speaking of the churn of death, what I find fascinating is that this film, in all its entirety, from picking the locations of shooting to editing and production, was so demanding that it may have cost the life of its director and its crew on set – as it was filmed a few kilometres outside of Tallinn, Estonia, where the Chernobyl radiation debris was still active on site. Rerberg’s original footage, which was stored with the editor, Lyudmila Feyginova, caught fire in 1988. Many people who used to work on that set claim today that, in spite of what Tarkovsky thought, it was extraordinarily beautiful. Many locations in which the film was shot were in close proximity to physically dangerous materials and the director and producers hadn’t given much thought to safety, completely disregarding the health of the cast and crew. Nowadays, many people close to Tarkovsky’s legacy claim that the cancer which killed him and possibly others, began over the course of the extremely difficult months when ‘Stalker’ was shot.54 After all, the director himself wrote that “True artistic inspiration is always a torment for the artist, almost to the point of endangering his life”.55
March 2021] [55] Andrei Tarkovsky, Sculpting in Time, p.33.
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It seems like the purpose of our journey is about to be fulfilled, as we have reached the Room. I wish I could enter, but I cannot. How about you, would you dare to enter?
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CHAPTER 3.0
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The Eternal Now
“I love your eyes, my dear
But there is a charm that is greater
still
When my love’s eyes are lowered When all is fired by passion’s kiss And through the downcast lashes
Fig. 54 |24 Monkey reading Fyodor Tyuchev’s poem, film still
I see the
55 | dull flame of desire”
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Their splendid sparkling fire When suddenly you raise them so To cast a swift embracing glance Like lightning flashing in the sky
3rd May 2020
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Flowers are blooming and the weather is getting warmer by the day. I am still here - same room, same movie. My small window is partly covered by green tree foliage. Suddenly, I hear the sound of a train; eerie and foreboding of where Tarkovsky is about to take me next. I always thought that railway tracks evoke a sense of nostalgia. Every place I have lived in the UK so far has been located close to one – my flat would get shaken every time a train whooshed by. Yet this time, the shaking in the final scene of ‘Stalker’ feels like a beacon of hope, despite all grief and sorrow. Watching this scene is truly uplifting; I feel a deep sense of elation. For the first time since the beginning of the film, I am feeling at peace, not pressed under the weight of anguish; instead, completely anchored in the present moment.
Fig.26 The child looking towards the three glasses, film still
< https://open.spotify.com/
Fig.25 Window view, spring 2020
track/477O8tot5EEHg3CUxx2FG3?si=bdFQhkUeR2qZ9JllQGVnyQ [accessed 27th January 2021] * Bjork got the lyrics to her song “The Dull Flame of Desire” on the album Volta from the English translation of this poem, acknowledging Stalker as the
56 |
source
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[56] Bjork, Dull Flame of Desire,
The final scene, a one-take shot, begins in colour, with Monkey, Stalker’s daughter in close-up reading a book, with her head wrapped in a scarf.(Fig.24) Writing about this scene almost does it injustice, for its mind-numbing beauty is indescribable. Dandelion fluffs gracefully drifting through the air grab my attention, as if Tarkovsky, through a metaphor, sets the tone for something extraordinary. As the camera slowly tracks back, it reveals a table with three glasses on it: a thick one smeared with milk, one half-full glass of tea and a jar-like one housing a broken eggshell, among other unidentifiable objects. The girl puts down the book and, as the camera points to her head perpendicularly, she starts to recite Fyodor Tyuchev*’s love poem, “Dull flame of desire” in voiceover.56 (p.57) Her somber reading of the poem is another sign that something of magical proportions is impending, as this slowly hints at her newly gained powers, implying a precocious understanding of the verses. As the poem draws to a close, the camera, slowly tracking back, stops, too, framing the composition with even more intense, vibrant colours: a well-lit window and a few green bottles on the ledge.
57 |
Monkey looks out the window, then rests her head on the table (unclear whether it was out of boredom or ennui), profoundly staring at the nearest of the three glasses – suddenly, it begins to move sporadically away from her, stopping halfway on the table.(Fig.26) The dog whimpers off screen, as the second and the third glasses start to move as well; the latter slides off and on the floor, but does not shatter. The child’s face remains still on the table and suddenly, the scene climaxes through the sound of the train passing by, rattling the windows and making the table vibrate chaotically. The overall rhythm of the scene is punctuated by the sound of the foghorn in the distance. The girl’s blank, expressionless face, although blinking, stares as the camera moves closer to her head one last time, while the fluff continues to fall even more rapidly, almost like snow; through this motion, Tarkovsky subtly places emphasis on who the child truly is and how she feels about herself, rather than on her newly-gained supernatural powers.57Suddenly, we hear a fragment of a distorted version of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy – Ninth Symphony”, intertwined with the sound of the train in the background – until the music completely vanishes and the only thing to be heard is the rumbling of the train before the screen completely fades into blackness. The song in the background sheds a new light onto the ambiguity and ambivalence of the ending, rendering a triumph of the ideals expressed by the music.58
Could it be that Stalker, much like an eternal apostle seeking Christ, returning home in spiritual defeat, back to his Wife and his sick daughter60, was arduously and selflessly wishing for his child’s good health and wellbeing and, in return, the Zone granted her some inexplicable telekinetic powers? Recent criticism, particularly in France, had the tendency to move away from any sort of political interpretations of the film to those which stress moral and spiritual dimensions.61 The film’s enigmatic final shot is so unique and has proven to be read in so many different ways that it is impossible to continue the conversation without showing a little trust to the director.
[57] Zayas.
[60] Vida T. Johnson, p. 113.
[58] Vida T. Johnson, pp.143-144.
[61] Ibid., p.143.
[59] Ibid., pp.150-151.
[62] Ibid., p.150.
While it is extremely debatable whether the ending is a demonstration of Monkey’s miracle or not, it is clear that Tarkovsky gives us a double-sided possibility of transcendence and hope through her so-called telekinetic powers. Much like the vaccine that the whole world is expecting at this turning point in the pandemic, the child’s miracle is quite mundane in itself; however, the intensity, gravity and beauty with which it is presented offers a convincing alternative to the pain, ugliness and misery of the world outside the Zone, as we know it, thus forcing the audience to reflect deeper on the promise of the Room itself.62 And so is the hope promised by the vaccine to put an end to this crisis.
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As stated in Chapter 1, the endings of Tarkovsky’s films have a few things in common: on the one hand, attempting to offer reconciliation and, on the other, being essentially open-ended, allowing the viewer to project a variety of possible interpretations and meanings, which cannot be rationally or objectively explained, thus requiring a leap of faith on the audience’s part.59
‘Stalker’ does not cease to create its very own ambivalences between the beginning and the end: the scene illustrated above, describing Monkey’s moving of the glasses, is a majestic wrap-up of what has been a journey through the dangers of the Zone, whether it may or may not have been an allegory for life (or in this case, lockdown). What do I learn from this scene, after witnessing the three protagonists make their way through the Zone, sharing their desires and anxieties, hopes and fears? I have read many interpretations of this ending and I am still not fully convinced where I stand. Tarkovsky has left me in a state of suspension.
59 |
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I thought about the analogy between Monkey’s mutation at the end as a reaction to the current social distancing measures – the fact that we cannot touch or be close to each other - therefore we might need to manipulate objects mentally, through telekinesis. That would be quite a useful feature to have nowadays, should this worldwide situation continue to last longer. How I miss hugging my friends, sharing the same drink, even minesweeping leftover drinks off a bar. Not to mention greeting somebody with a handshake or kissing a random stranger on a night out – so many coincidences make me wonder: could it be that Tarkovsky truly prefigured 2020? I guess you could say the same for any dystopian sci-fi film or novel. But there is a great deal of cross-pollination between the ambiguity of the ending and the state we are finding ourselves in – not literally about (social) distancing, but rather about how we are going to adapt and traverse COVID-19, thinking about alien and invisible possibilities to come. Therefore, I would not interpret this scene inside the confines of morality, but as a sign of new perspectives, unknown possibilities, limits to be discovered, and altogether, change.
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Fig. 27 Andrei Tarkovsky and Monkey (Natasha Abramova) on set
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Fig. 28 Stalker (Aleksandr Kaidanovsky) in the Zone, film still
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And now...?
Through this dissertation I did not intend to solve the mysteries of ‘Stalker’ or provide solutions on how to approach life in a post-COVID-19 world; I did not claim the pandemic itself was a problem. I should note that, way before the inception of COVID-19, the world was already undergoing a process of global mutation, as the socio-political changes we were going through were as meaningful as the ones from early modernity.64 Rather, I wanted to open the floor to new conversations which could emerge from a close reading of this film – not only what is happening topically, but how it is happening and what it implies. I argue that we can learn many things from this historic film about our present condition; after all, that is the beauty of film.
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Nevertheless, at the other end of the spectrum, we have witnessed a worldwide lack of unity and cooperation. Our politicians have failed our trust so many times throughout the years that we have put an end to our confidence in public authorities, science and the media. As such, to proceed further we need a global plan; as such, choosing between global solidarity and nationalist isolation will probably be one way to put an end to this crisis.67
[63] ADS4, Legal Fictions video essay < https://vimeo. com/463656562 > [accessed 27th January 2021] [64] Paul B. Preciado, Learning
[66] Charles Eisenstein, The Coronation < https:// charleseisenstein.org/essays/ the-coronation/ > [accessed 29th December 2020]
from the Virus < https://www.
[67] Yuval Noah Harari, The World
artforum.com/print/202005/
After Coronavirus < https://www.
paul-b-preciado-82823>
ft.com/content/19d90308-
[accessed 12th January 2021]
6858-11ea-a3c9-1fe6fedcca75 >
[65] Andrei Tarkovsky, Sculpting in Time, p.134.
[accessed 2nd April 2021]
Although ‘Stalker’ is far from having been conceived with a deadly virus and a world pandemic in mind, it somehow manages to stay relevant through the allegorization which the director manages to construct, thus enabling the film’s characters and subject matter to transpose to a variety of situations, ultimately echoing the slow burning anxiety of lockdown and man’s final need for redemption. I would even dare to go as far as argue that this is probably the kind of film which, in the distant future, will be seen as relatable since time immemorial – for mankind will always be confronted with the same overarching existential questions, despite the changing context of our lives.
ANDREEA ILIESCU | 245953
In a world directed by Tarkovsky, the life we walk through is a Zone, sprinkled with hazards and perils, but also offering the chance for redemption. With the Zone, ‘Stalker’ presents the audience with a distorted view of place, full with rewards, but also filled with obstacles. The director explained that “The Zone doesn’t symbolise anything, any more than anything else does in my films: the zone is a Zone, it’s life, and as he makes his way across it, a man may break down or he may come through.”65
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How will humanity then emerge from the pandemic? Much like our protagonists, seeking a new beginning, the pandemic presented itself as rebirth; COVID-19 revealed itself as a metaphorical intervention which broke the hold of normality. In spite of what we have learned thus far, we have witnessed that it is actually possible to put an entire economic system on hold. Halting air travel would have been regarded as outrageous before last year. The same goes for the extreme changes which our social, political and production behaviours have suffered. As the pandemic uncovered in front of our eyes, we have seen that society’s issues originate in human disagreement. Consequently, it has become evident that when humankind is united for a common cause, phenomenally rapid change is possible.66
How do we make sense of a time like this? A time of intense economic, social and political disruption. A time defined by months of extreme abnormality and suffering. Of catastrophe, lockdown and contradiction. A time that, in short, felt impossible just about twelve months ago. The consequences of broken social structures, poor planning and reductionist methods are obvious; and we need to make sure that we do not return to the same dysfunctional norms after the front has been declared clear. Yet perhaps attempting to make sense of a time like this actually becomes part of the problem – implying we find ways to rationalize what felt like impossibilities into possibilities; to deny the ways in which our naivety regarding what is actually possible created the problem in the first place.63
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There will certainly be enormous pressure to forget the year 2020 , similarly to how, for some, myself included, there will be enormous pressure to forget the lessons learned from a film like ‘Stalker’. Yet, we will surely remember this – if history is writing itself, what are we to take forward from it? The new structure of being – will perhaps imply a shift in our value systems. Thus, by valuing the right things at the right time will make its way into our everyday routines. For me, the past year has meant a tremendous shift in my habits, priorities and outlook on the world. I have learned to value health more than ever, as I was taking it for granted. To value hygiene. To value the sense of touch; in fact, all my senses and generally the fact that I am fully able-bodied. Value my privilege, as a white straight female living in a developed country. In fact, value privilege in all its dimensions and facets. Value the people around me, whom I care for and who reciprocally care for me. Value the idea of ‘care’, as it reached a whole new meaning – “practice self care”, “take care”, ”look after yourself” have become the mantras of the year 2020. Value going out and breathing fresh air, in the absence of a face mask. Value time off. Value public space. Value being able to travel, even if it’s only for 21 days per annum. Value being present.
We are soon to find out, because life will play itself out and the big wheel will keep on turning. Like in ‘Stalker’, some things loop. The beginning is at the end. What does the film then say about our understanding of spatial presence to come? Just like life, the film is, ultimately, nothing more than what you make of it.
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I do not call for some utopian future, but rather pose the new value system as a catalyst to break down ideas about what a post-COVID-19 world might or might not look like. Now that the rope has broken, do we attempt to tie its ends back together, or do we rather push to undo its dangling braids even further, to see what we might manage to weave from them for the future?68
[68] Charles Eisenstein, The Coronation < https:// charleseisenstein.org/essays/ the-coronation/ > [accessed 29th December 2020]
Fig. 29 Andrei Tarkovsky on set 67 |
Bibliography
NON-PRINT
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Torello, Josep and Duran, Jaime, Michel Chion in Audio-Vision and a practical approach to a scene from Andrei Tarkovsky’s Nostalghia, < https://www.researchgate.net/publication/297879092_Michel_Chion_in_Audio-Vision_and_a_practical_approach_to_a_scene_from_Andrei_Tarkovsky’s_Nostalghia_Josep_Torello_and_Jaume_Duran> [ accessed 10th January 2021] Truppin, Andrea, And Then There Was Sound: The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky < http://filmsound.org/owesvensson/ truppin.htm > [accessed 3rd February 2021] Weeks, Lynton, As Time Goes by, What makes a move timeless? < https://www.npr.org/sections/theprotojournalist/2014/01/22/264521244/as-time-goes-by-what-makes-a-movie-timeless?t=1609776101950 > [accessed 5th January 2021] Wilson, Evan, Tarkovsky’s ‘Stalker’: Deep as a Mirror < https://the-artifice.com/tarkovskys-stalker-deep/ > [ accessed 5th April 2021] Zayas, Fran, The 10 Best Scenes in Andrei Tarkovsky Films < http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2017/the-10-best-scenes-in-andrei-tarkovsky-films/ > [accessed 1st April 2021]
EXTENDED READING Barthes, Roland, Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography (Vintage Classics, 2020). Davey, Moyra, Index Cards: Selected Essays (Massachusetts: New Directions, 2020).
FILMOGRAPHY ADS4 - Legal Fictions video essay < https://vimeo.com/463656562 > [accessed 27th January 2021] ANDREEA ILIESCU | 245953
Stalker, dir. By Andrei Tarkovsky (1979).
AUDIO Bjork, The Dull Flame of Desire < https://open.spotify.com/track/477O8tot5EEHg3CUxx2FG3?si=bdFQhkUeR2qZ9JllQGVnyQ > [accessed 27th January 2021] Artemyev, Edward, Meditation (Stalker Soundtrack) < https://open.spotify.com/track/4V5UW31kW26I3dYdxfZnNl?si=lFujldbwQ5OVloIcL7zsPw > [accessed 27th January 2020]
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