Nostalgia

Andrei Tarkovsky’s semi-autobiographical meditation on the emotions that draw us home is one of his most understated masterworks. Russian writer Andrei Gorchakov travels to Italy to research the life of a composer. He is assisted by Eugenia, an interpreter who understands him literally though not emotionally. While there, they encounter Domenico, a local outcast with a curious history and a compelling mission. Tarkovsky noted that in Russian the word ‘nostalghia’ expresses ‘the love for your homeland and the melancholy that arises from being far away’. Although the foundation of the film is this ache felt by living a life in exile, Nostalgia is also an existential exploration of work, purpose, faith and the nature of human relations. Defined by the filmmaker’s signature slow, majestic camera movement, the richly textured atmospheres result in a contemplative work of pure cinema, which becomes fully realised in the transcendental climactic sequence.

Kimberley Sheehan, Lead Programmer