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Igor KondrashovTarkovsky, Pasolini, and The Cinema of PoetryThis article was originally written as an academic work on Tarkovsky and his relevance to Pasolini's concept of the "cinema of poetry". Pasolini's Cinema of Poetry Pasolini theorised that a new "cinema of poetry" was in the process of blossoming, evidenced in the work of established filmmakers like Jean-Luc Godard, Luis Buñuel and Michelangelo Antonioni, among others. He considered the "poetic" aspect of their work to be encapsulated in their unconventional approach to the structuring of narrative, their use of montage for purposes of symbolism and the utilisation of unorthodox camera technique to convey hitherto inarticulate visual images. The filmic output and theorising of Soviet filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky is perhaps the perfect epitome of Pasolini's concept of the "cinema of poetry". His films, inextricably linked to literature, are infused with a plethora of atypical stylistic devices which serve to retain the conceptual and metaphorical focus of the director, yet are oblique enough in their nature to enable the viewer to form a subjective impression. Tarkovsky and Pasolini: Parallels in theorising
(I) Cinema as poetryA multitude of parallels exists between the theorising of Pasolini and the practice and theory of Tarkovsky. Like Pasolini, Tarkovsky considered poetry to be the artistic manifestation of a particular awareness about the surrounding world, believing that certain concepts can only be accurately illustrated through poetry or its visual equivalent. Wary of using ham fisted clichés and crass symbolism, he postulated that the filmic image must convey truth, that in truth lies beauty and that films making unmediated, sincere observations on life possess within them an element of poetic expressiveness. He mentioned the existence of "poetic cinema" and, like Pasolini, described it to be a move towards the abstraction of cinematic form, citing Buñuel's ability to convey emotional significance through cinema as an apt example. Like Pasolini, he compared the aesthetics of cinema and literature at great length, recognising the ability of both to convey thematic content: literature using descriptive symbols and signs, film manifesting itself directly. 1 In fact, author Natasha Synessios further expands on this difference, claiming that Tarkovsky's films, "Mirror" (1974) in particular, express an aspect of life which is beyond the descriptive power of language and can only be conveyed through the cinematic image. 2Abstraction of MeaningTarkovsky's move towards the abstraction of narrative and meaning was prevalent in the majority of his artistic output. He theorised that genuine cinematic imagery can only be obtained when the filmmaker is beyond adherence to genre as a stylistic guideline, due to it being, much like linear narrative logic, too constrictive in its boundaries. In turn, this brought him to strive for the "ideal" artistic image in which the filmmaker's personal stylistic dispositions had to be withheld to avoid tainting the image with a subjective, forced meaning. Particularly fond of Japanese poetry, he often admired the common haiku's adherence to simple, pure realism, admiring its ability to observe life without imposing unnecessary detail. 3
Taking
Chekhov's predilection for removing the first page of his stories
as inspiration, Tarkovsky did much the same with his films, often
presenting the audience with seemingly disassociated fragments,
without a clue as to their context and meaning, thus allowing a given
viewer to impose his/her own insight. As a result, the actors in
"Mirror" play several roles, without the existence of clear
distinctions between the characters they represent at a given time
throughout the film. Thus Margarita Terekhova is both the narrator's
wife and his mother and Ignat Daniltsev is both the narrator himself
and the narrator's son. 4
Poetic MetaphorBeyond the poetic lie the poetic metaphor and the direct reference to poetry itself. Both are heavily present in Tarkovsky's films, serving to contribute to the films" lyrical beauty and emphasise the concepts being conveyed in the narrative. "Mirror" in particular contains several examples - Maria's experience in the shower room and visit to the rich doctor's house are both accounted for by the presence of rain and are symbolic of the emotional catharsis she is experiencing 5, a poetic metaphor referential of a literary classic like Shakespeare's "King Lear". In "Stalker"(1979), Hungarian critics Kovacs and Szilagyi suggest that "The Zone" represents the dark past of any human society, occasionally recalled by dissidents to keep public morality in check. Poetic metaphor is even prevalent in the film's costume design, the key protagonists" outfits emblematic of their personalities and their approach to the (spiritual) journey at hand.6 Indeed at a stretch of the imagination, "The Zone" could be taken as a metaphor for the journey of human civilisation through its own subconscious, attempting to rationalise its slavish adherence to science and art over God and nature by way of philosophical argument. Finally, "Andrei Rublev" (1966) was imbued with poetic symbolism by French theoretician Jacques Demeure, who considered the entire film to be allegorical of an artist's search for divine inspiration, whilst Barthelemy Amengual expanded the allegory to symbolise the striving of artistic freedom under the oppression of Stalinism. 7 Beyond Tarkovsky's appreciation of poetic cinema and the power of poetic metaphor is his appreciation of poetry itself and his desire to convey its importance and aesthetic beauty through his films. The stalker recites a poem by Arseni Tarkovsky, whilst his daughter reads a Fyodor Tyutchev poem in the closing moments of the film. Four of Arseni Tarkovsky's poems are recited over the course of "Mirror". Finally an Arseni Tarkovsky poem serves as the inspiration for the plot of "Nostalgia" (1983). Indeed the protagonist, Gorchakov, is a poet by profession.RhythmThe crux of Tarkovsky's respect for what he termed "poetic" cinema stemmed from what he considered the main formative element of a single cinematic work: the process of editing, where in a sincere artistic work segments dictate their own order and sequence themselves to an intrinsic pattern of flow and repetition. Changing between trademark long shots and quick montage his films develop a sense of varying rhythm, much like the rhythms present in poetry e.g. iambic pentameter. Exemplifying this, the scene with the peasant who has lost his wife in "Ivan's Childhood" (1962) consists of deliberately slow, long shots, much like the imperceptible slow motion tracking in the "Mirror" scene where Maria runs through the publishing house. 8 ColourRhythm is not the only poetic "device" employed by Tarkovsky. Another key expressive element is the use of colour, used to mediate one's mood and convey emotion. 9 Tarkovsky purposefully restricted the palette used in each film. Thus, in "Solaris" (1972), "Stalker" and "Mirror" the colours used are natural, the contrast emphasising the difference between nature and technology. 10 In fact, Tarkovsky even resorted to having grass and leaves painted in certain shots in an effort to emphasise his pantheistic view of nature. 11MusicMusic, much like colour, incites a subjective emotion by its presence, making the impression made by the filmic image multi-textured, synaesthetic, adding a further cognitive dimension hitherto absent. 12 Tightly controlled in his films, the score was either created to custom specification by composer Eduard Artemyev, or taken from established classical works by revered greats such as Bach and Pergolesi, stemming from Tarkovsky's belief that cinema itself is a young art form and needs to borrow from more established art forms to boost credibility. In "Mirror" the sound is often non-diegetic, the viewer subjected to field recordings of passing trains and the barking of dogs that have no physical representation on the screen, but exist to imbue the visual image with an atmosphere. 13 In "Stalker", like in "Nostalgia", the eerie throb of electronic rhythms creates an uneasy, ethereal ambience. 14Multiple SubjectivitiesMuch like Pasolini's discourse on cinema's ability to convey multiple subjectivities within a single image, Tarkovsky believed that the viewer's interpretation was most important as far as the process of creating art was concerned. Dismissive of established film critics as lacking the precision to correctly interpret, he theorised that the "strength" of a given image lied in its ability to convey an idiosyncratic fact, rather than be overly imbued with cack-handed symbolism. This desire to express oblique yet universal, truthful images came partly due to the duality of his sentiment toward the great Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein, respectful of the aesthetic devices he pioneered, but unhappy of Eisenstein's consistent imposing of subjective messages through editing and camera technique. He also shunned the practice of pleasing audiences, stating that such behaviour could only be described as deceitful. Often contradictory of his own theory, he cited Bakhtin's intellection of a single book being read by a thousand people being a thousand different books, thereby suggesting that cognition, whether applied to literature or cinema is subjective due to differences in imagination.But Tarkovsky was a practitioner as well as a theorist and his desire to convey multi-faceted yet focused concepts was inevitably reflected in his filmic output. His last film, "Sacrifice" (1986), is by his own admission a parable; whereas "Mirror" came to life as a direct result of individual interpretations of the abstract script by the actors involved, the notion of multiple subjectivities thereby manifested physically rather than mentally. 15 Indeed, all of the actors interviewed after filming agreed that dramatic motivation was not discussed for a single character in the film. 16
Tarkovsky
understood, however, that even with subjective interpretation a
conceptual focus must be kept to give the filmic work direction and
purpose. Thus, during the making of "Ivan's Childhood", he
stated that through the pages of the book on which the film was
based, the influence of the writer Bogomolov can be felt. "The
Zone" in "Stalker" meanwhile, was meant to be an oblique, vague
territory, and one that can be manifested mentally in a subjective
manner by every viewer. 17
Finally there is his trademark stylistic device, the long take, where
the camera tracks and zooms almost simultaneously, an imperceptible
tracking technique giving the viewer an almost primal cognitive
experience, making him/her an unwitting participant in the action
unfolding on screen. 18
(II) Non-linear Narrative LogicBoth in practice and theory, Tarkovsky's work runs in clear parallel with a key notion suggested by Pasolini - the move away from linear narrative logic and towards abstraction. In his book "Sculpting In Time: Reflections On The Cinema", Tarkovsky introduces his conceptual interpretation of what he terms "the logic of poetry in cinema", deeming it to be germane to the future capacity of cinema to become a sincere creative art form. Considering linear narrative logic to be akin to the rigidity of a geometry theorem, Tarkovsky theorised that the process of thought possesses the capacity to be abstract and therefore its conceptual expression on celluloid should reflect this fluidity of cognition and perception, rather than submit to an acceptable normative order. 19
For
Tarkovsky, the notion of poetry in cinema is characterised in the
combination of images by process of mental association, rather than
by conscious attempt to create lyrical, romantic imagery. "Ivan's
Childhood" is considered by many critics to be have been a "quantum
leap" in the evolution of soviet cinema due to its deft structuring
of narrative by way of associative links and subtle transition
between dream sequences and filmic reality. 20
"Mirror", Tarkovsky's most acclaimed film, is perhaps the most
appropriate example of his disapproval of linear sequentiality as a
narrative device. Structured with all the logic of a dream, temporal
continuity is abandoned as events from three distinct time periods
are shown in arbitrary order. In fact, at the time of editing the
film, Tarkovsky recalls restructuring the film as many as twenty
times before finally settling on a continuity that pleased him. 21
New characters are introduced at random, obscuring any semblance of
narrative continuity that remained. 22
ConclusionAlthough Tarkovsky's films appear to include the prerequisite elements of "cinema of poetry", he was wary of directors moving cinema away from itself 23. Indeed, Tarkovsky theorised that cinema itself should surpass notions of "poetry" within itself and be poetic in its own right, as an established, widely-practised standard, rather than the result of dramatic lyrical cliché. He strove towards an image pure in its representation of reality, like the haiku and its economical descriptiveness. This idealism earned him the respect of discerning film audiences world-wide as well as giving inspiration to countless emerging filmmakers. Ingmar Bergman summarises this achievement best, crediting Tarkovsky with the invention of a new cinematic language, capable of expressing life and emotion in their truest form. 24BibliographyVida T. Johnson & Graham Petrie, The Films Of A. Tarkovsky : A Visual Fugue , Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1994
Natasha
Synessios, Mirror , London, I.B. Tauris, 2001 1 A. Tarkovsky, Sculpting In Time : reflections on the cinema, (Austin: University Of Texas Press, 1987) 2 N. Synessios, Mirror , (London, I.B. Tauris, 2001) 3 A. Tarkovsky, Sculpting In Time 4 N. Synessios, Mirror 5 N. Synessios, ibid. 6 V.T. Johnson & G. Petrie, The Films Of A. Tarkovsky : A Visual Fugue , (Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1994) 7 V.T. Johnson & G. Petrie, The Films Of A. Tarkovsky : A Visual Fugue 8 A. Tarkovsky, Sculpting In Time 9 A. Tarkovsky, ibid. 10 V.T. Johnson & G. Petrie, The Films Of A. Tarkovsky : A Visual Fugue 11 N. Synessios, Mirror 12 A. Tarkovsky, Sculpting In Time 13 N. Synessios, Mirror 14 V.T. Johnson & G. Petrie, The Films Of A. Tarkovsky : A Visual Fugue 15 N. Synessios, Mirror 16 V.T. Johnson & G. Petrie, The Films Of A. Tarkovsky : A Visual Fugue 17 A. Tarkovsky, Sculpting In Time 18 N. Synessios, Mirror 19 A. Tarkovsky, Sculpting In Time 20 V.T. Johnson & G. Petrie, The Films Of A. Tarkovsky : A Visual Fugue 21 N. Synessios, Mirror 22 V.T. Johnson & G. Petrie, The Films Of A. Tarkovsky : A Visual Fugue 23 V.T. Johnson & G. Petrie, ibid. 24 V.T. Johnson & G. Petrie, ibid.
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