Nostalghia

1983 Director Andrei Tarkovsky

This is Tarkovsky first film made outside of the Soviet Union just before his defection to the west.

A Russian poet , accompanied by guide and translator, is traveling through Italy researching the life of an 18th century Russian composer. In a ancient spa town, he meets the lunatic Domenico, who years earlier had imprisoned his own family in a barn to save them from the evils of the world. As the guide seeks to tempt him into infidelity, he, seeing some deep truth in Domenico's act, becomes drawn to the lunatic. In a series of dreams, the poet's nostalgia for his homeland and his longing for his wife, his ambivalent feelings for his guide and her Italy, and his sense of kinship with Domenico become intertwined.

With long lingering pans and zooms, this is typical Tarkovsky cinema. His surreal landscapes are meticuously composed and executed. Many of the techniques first seen in Stalker are honed to perfection in the gentle paced exploration of one man's quest for the unobtainable. This is a highly enjoyable visual feast.