Une journée d’Andrei Arsenevitch

Documentary master Marker made his homage to the well-known Russian film-maker Andrei Tarkovsky for the prestigious French television series Cinéma de notre temps. It has turned into a fairly simple documentary essay, that was put together from footage made by Tarkovsky while he was shooting his last feature The Sacrifice in Sweden, shots of Tarkovsky while he lay fatally ill in Paris and many beautiful fragments from his seven features and youth work. Marker was eminently successful in illustrating the underlying themes in Tarkovsky’s life and work: his preoccupation with painting and the arts in general, the relationship of Russian people with the earth, the elementary use of air, earth, water and fire and the underlying autobiographical moments. The cautious documentary provides an excellent insight into the beautiful oeuvre of his wayward cineaste.