Greatest Films of All Time 2022: 43=

Stalker

Three figures traverse the restricted ‘Zone’ in search of wish fulfilment in Tarkovsky’s philosophical sci-fi journey.

  • Director

    Andrei Tarkovsky

  • With

    Aleksandr Kaidanovsky, Anatoly Solonitsin Nikolai Grinko

  • USSR 1979. 162min

  • Digital

  • Certificate

    PG

  • English subtitles

In this dystopian road movie, three figures traverse the ‘Zone’, searching for a room in which their innermost desires may be granted. Tarkovsky eschews hard sci-fi to sculpt a philosophical exploration of hubris and civilisational anxiety with languorous takes and ambiguous psycho-geography. Adapted from the Strugatsky brothers’ novel Roadside Picnic, Stalker can be seen as a remarkably prescient allegory of ecological catastrophe, although any definitive readings ultimately remain elusive.

Jelena Milosavljevic

Also screening at BFI Southbank.

Part of our Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time season.

Also available on BFI Player