The Sunday Morning Movie Presents: Andrei Rublev (1966) Run Time: 3H 2M plus bonus documentary

Greetings gentle readers and welcome to another installment of the Sunday Morning Movie. Today it’s a monumental work from the genius of Andrei Tarkovsky: Andrei Rublev.

and next week’s film, Yeleen:

Reviews of Andrei Rublev:

Reel Reviews says:

For anyone who can overcome the barriers presented by Tarkovsky’s style and approach, there is much to appreciate. Andrei Rublev is a biography only in the sense that the main character once walked the Earth – a famous Russian painter who lived and worked during the 1400s. Not much is known about the historical person behind the name – certainly not enough to form a rigorously factual telling of his life. Tarkovsky doesn’t try. Instead, he meticulously recreates the world in which Andrei lived and uses it as an opportunity to explore the possible influences on the man’s art. This is the main theme: about how, for an artist, experience informs output. Andrei Rublev also touches on the importance of religion and religious iconography in the formation of Russia as a nation. There’s also a strong message about the viciousness of human beings across class barriers. Peasants are perceived by the Grand Duke as disposable commodities that he is free to do with as he wishes.

Letterboxd says:

Despite being only the second feature film from the master Andrei Tarkovsky, who made numerous titles that stand amongst the greatest movies of all time, such as Solaris, Stalker, Mirror, and more, Andrei Rublev is undoubtedly his most stunning cinematic achievement, a masterwork of such outrageous groundbreaking scope and unparalleled beauty, and an incredible level of philosophical, theological, and moral depth. It is no exaggeration to say it is an equal to Dreyer’s tour de force of spiritual power The Passion of Joan of Arc, making it undoubtedly one of the best films ever made, and additionally being one of the best cinematic experiences of my life, alongside other works like The Passion of Joan of Arc, Satantango, Come and See, and Grave of the Fireflies. The achievement of reaching beyond Tarkovsky’s own films that seemed insurmountable like Stalker is a remarkable feat, and shows itself as one of the greatest landmarks in Soviet cinema.

Andrei Rublev is a rebellious statement against flawed human nature, yet wholly understanding of it. The state-atheist Soviet Union restricted and censored the screenings and presentation of this film for supposed criticisms of the USSR, the portrayal of Russian history in a grim pessimistic manner, the very clear religious Christian Orthodoxy of the film, the graphic violence, and the blatantly anti-materialistic worldview it promotes. Andrei Rublev turned the concept of appeals to the senses and material desire completely over its head by being fully enraptured by the immaterial and metaphysical, which contrasted with the anti-art and anti-religious message of the USSR. Despite being made from a time of religious persecution, artistic censorship, and denial of freedom of expression, Andrei Rublev, after the fall of the Soviet Union, reemerged into the conscious sphere of Western art, and is now hailed as one of the finest works of cinema ever made. The various forms of art, most notably cinema and music, remained censored and hyper-regulated out of fear to revolt against or hold question to Communist ideology. Great classical composers like Sergei Prokofiev, Igor Stravinsky or Dmitri Shostakovich, who blessed the world with astounding symphonies, piano and violin sonatas, ballets and operas, had their art in constant censorship, and it reached to the point where they were in persistent threat of imprisonment or even death by the Stalinist regime. The cinematic arts were no exception to this rule, and many films, whether for reasons of religious messaging, surrealism, and extreme violence, remained highly restricted, censored or banned, with examples such as The Ascent, Agony, and Come and See. The filmography of Andrei Tarkovsky, cinema’s greatest director, was no exception to this censorship due to its religious nature and surrealist, atypical presentation, hence his masterpieces like Stalker, Mirror, and ultimately his most controversial magnum opus Andrei Rublev, were rejected and detested by Soviet authorities due to the anti-worldly, deeply Christian ideology that it is so rooted in.

Slant says:

Tarkovsky balances his wide panoramas of human atrocity and nature at its most unsettling with intimate shots of Andrei that make the monk look as much like a religious martyr as the figures he paints. Andrei is also regularly framed within windows and door frames that replicate the borders of many paintings. Tarkovsky also uses this framing effect to emphasize the way that Andrei uses his art as much to retreat from the world as to give glory to God.

Andrei Rublev cemented a theme that would remain a constant throughout Tarkovksy’s filmography: that of superficial shows of faith, whether spiritual, religious, or existential in nature, being challenged until they transform into something that doesn’t exist in a vacuum, something that reckons with a world larger than any individual’s knowledge. As such, Andrei’s eventual return to his work is treated not only as a display of the man learning to cope with his trauma, but as a spiritual awakening. In the lengthy montage of the real-life Rublev’s actual paintings that closes Andrei Rublev, the art that we glimpse echoes Tarkovsky’s framing of Andrei throughout the film. Yet where Tarkovsky’s images of Andrei himself feel claustrophobic, the filmmaker shows how the paintings that Andrei produced reached beyond the borders of their frames and to the beauty of the world around him, wherever it may lie.

My take:

I cannot say enough good things about this film. It wrestles with deep philosophical and theological issues and at the same time is a journey backwards in time to the savage lands of medieval Russia. From the politics of the mightiest to the everyday lives of the powerless peasants, Tarkovsky explored it all. The movie’s greatest strength is that it lets the story tell itself. Set aside an afternoon to watch it. It’s one of the best movies ever made and worthy of a coveted ⭐⭐⭐’s. You should watch this movie several times in your life.

Director: Andrei Tarkovsky

Writers: Andrei Konchalovsky, Andrei Tarkovsky

Plot (Spoilers!):

Andrei Rublev is a young, talented icon painter. He has spent his entire life at a monastery. He is offered a job in Moscow with a master painter. He and his assistant, along with a jealous colleague of his, decide to take the offer and leave the monastery.

There are many dangers that threaten. The land is wild, untamed. The Grand Duke of Moscow has blinded and killed artists who displeased him with their work. Invading armies sack towns and slay scores of villagers.

Andrei must come to terms with a world in which death and despair reign. He struggles with these realities and his own sins, which drive him to abandon both speaking and his art. However, watching the work of another artist, a bell-maker, inspires him and he realizes his art brings joy and demands his efforts.

Bonus:

The Exile and Death of Andrei Tarkovsky (1988)