Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky (Regi Andrej Tarkovskij)

The inscription on King Solomon's ring read: "All is vanity":

I would assert that in the human mind all is imprinted and preserved:

Ethically speaking, time is reversible:

For man, time can't just disappear without a trace-

- because it's subjective, belongs in the category of spirituality:

The times we live through are stored in our soul as layers of experience-

bound by time:

In some ways, the past is much more real-

- or at least more stable and constant than the present:

The present is ever elusive and disappears like sand through fingers-

- and only achieves material weight in memory:

Once upon a time, long ago-

- an old monk lived in an orthodox monastery:

His name was Pamve:

And once, he planted a barren tree on a mountainside, just like this:

Then he told his young pupil, a monk called Ivan Kolov-

- that he should water the tree each day until it came to life:

The monastery scene happens here: You tell the boy the story here...

You talk about the system: Then you say: look how beautiful it is-

- like an ikebana, only bigger than in Japan:

Then there's a cry from Otto...

You can't get rid of me so easily, Alexander!

Beautiful, isn't it?

It's like in Japan... ikebana:

I've been invited to your place tonight to celebrate your birthday:

it's a great honour for me!

And then, when he asks about God, you tell him nothing:

You don't want to talk about it:

You walk in this direction...

- What's your relationship to God? - None: What do you mean?

You get on the bike...

: and begin cycling around him:

And you walk...

...and you cycle around:

You walk: Do you follow?

Walk just the way you like:

Cinema is the only art that operates with the concept of time:

Not because of its developing in time, because so does music-

- and theatre and ballet and other art forms:

I mean time in the literal sense:

After all, what is a take?

From when we say: "action!"

To when we end by saying "cut", what is happening?

It is the fixing of reality, the fixing of time:

The conservation of time-

for us to keep forever:

No other art form can fix time except cinema:

So film is a mosaic of time:

...all three have dialogue:

So what is the essence of the artistic work in film?

With certain reservations, you could call it sculpting in time:

Just like the sculptor takes a block of marble and with a feel for-

- how the future piece will look, carves away all that is superfluous:

The film maker also carves away all that's superfluous from a time block-

- from an enormous and solid mass of living facts:

In the finished product, he only leaves the necessary elements:

That which will stand out as the components of the cinematic image:

We dolly a little faster:

The walls are...

Come here:

This is what they were like in Gotland:

Does he want it darker?

No, I don't think so:

Doesn't he like it?

It's beautiful in its own right...

I don't like the colour: it's red:

- The sofa or the cushions? - Both:

The biggest obstacle in dealing with the set designer and cinematographer-

- is to make them, as well as every other member of the crew-

- into collaborators and shapers of the idea behind the film:

it is fundamental that they are not passive, indifferent to the work-

- but instead participate as creative artists-

- who share the director's feelings and thoughts:

Beige?

...In this colour, for example?

It would be good: There'd be contrast:

Right: So we could have the same for the chairs and the sofa:

The glass is very beautiful:

There could be reflections from over there, too - everywhere:

What do you think? Do you like it?

I think it's good, but we should blacken it a bit:

- No, no, no! - Yes: Just a bit:

We have to make a decision on principle:

The background will be dark:

And the walls will be dark; it'll be better:

Can we move this mirror if we have to? It's very beautiful - so simple:

He was very involved in the set design:

He chose the exteriors himself, plus the interiors and the furniture...

The assistant director normally takes care of all that-

- at least in Moscow: Here, there's no such job:

I was assistant director for all his earlier films:

He was pedantic about detail-

- the colour of a dress, or hair or make-up...

He was involved in everything: And the results show on the screen:

All this might seem petty, but it isn't-

- because everything contributes to the feeling in a film:

it wasn't that he didn't trust people or didn't want their help-

- he just believed that what he could do himself, he should do:

I'd like to quote from his diary...

...from March 25, 1985:

"Never trouble anyone else with what you can do yourself:."

That was typical of Andrei: Both at work and in private:

We could be placed diagonally, too: As we like:

There's not much window there:

Maybe over here instead:

This is good!

We could move the table... to the centre of the picture:

it'll be melancholic:

it's good, this interior with the old furniture and the lamps...

it provokes a sort of nostalgic feeling...

We can do it however we like:

So you prefer this angle? Because there are dark walls and 2 windows?

This or the one from the middle:

- But dark walls? - Yes:

The lights dimmed more and more, but it didn't grow darker:

As if the age of light, the unnatural delayer of darkness-

was almost in reach:

The darkness that should have fallen long ago, but still had not set in:

Alexander sat in an armchair by one of the living room windows-

- thumbing through a thick monograph of old Russian icons:

The pages rustled: Gold and ivory-

- purple-coloured and fire-like creases in garments, rock-ledges in ochre-

- glimmers of a fantastical, never existing architecture were observed:

Look in the camera:

That's good, Erland: I just wanted to see something:

...too much at an angle:

Could it be like this?

But it'll be hard for him:

Hold it like that:

The curtains should be fluttering:

So, film is fundamentally an observation about the facts of life-

through time:

Contemplation that corresponds with the patterns of life and laws of time:

Observation means making choices:

After all, we only leave behind the right components of the image:

But the image doesn't become truly cinematic until it not only lives in time-

but when time also lives in it:

I used to feel that way, but when the boy was born everything changed:

Not all at once, of course, but little by little-

- as he grew: I'm very attached to him:

They have to be able to walk behind the picture, Kicki:

...so the actors can walk here:

We could put a weight here and two supports:

When the father stands up...

...you'll begin from here:

Then you straighten up... turn... and walk...

Should she do that with her hair? - Do like that with your hair:

But there were people living then, and not so badly at that:

And after that line you add: "What are the words?"

- "I am so sick for freedom..." - Yes!

You are trying to recall something:

We want to suggest that these are not your thoughts:

You turn around and walk...

"I am so sick for freedom, that if anyone should forbid me access"-

- "to some corner of the indies, I should live"-

"distinctly less comfortably:".

"As long as I find earth or air open elsewhere"-

- "I shall not lurk in any place where I have to hide:".

This is how we'll do it: Adelaide stands...

Searching as a process, is to the finished product-

- as the walk through the woods in search of mushrooms-

- is to what has already been found and collected in the mushroom basket:

Only the full mushroom basket is like the finished work of art:

The content of the basket is real and unconditional-

- while walking through the woods remains a question of loving walks-

and fresh air:

I want Sven and Andrei to decide how to set up the dolly-

- by the water because the guys want to start building the rails:

Shall we pump water from the pool over there?

The difficulties in connection with a film's concept has very little-

- to do with the original inspiration for it:

The problem is keeping your conception intact and uncorrupted-

- as a source of inspiration and symbol for the finished product:

The risk is that the conception degenerates in the rush during filming-

- and that the film is mutilated during the process of its own realization:

The film's path from conception to finished copy is fraught with danger:

it's not just technical problems, but also the number of people-

who are involved in the process:

The hotel will go crazy if they have to give us lunch:

So much to do! I hope these won't be in shot tomorrow...

Try to get them to shoot from the inside looking out...

We're gonna need farmers and cows...

it's no exaggeration to say that the director runs the risk of transforming-

- into just a witness who watches while the writer writes-

- the set designer designs the sets, the actors act-

and the editor edits the movie:

That is actually what happens in extremely commercialized productions:

I just have to check the exposure...

We could as easily shoot this scene outside the Film institute!

152 when he goes in, and 165 later...

First there are big letters saying: 'Katinka Farrago presents'-

- and then it says: 'Tarkovsky' and then it just starts!

You can move mountains when people who work together to realise a vision-

- in spite of different personalities, temperaments and ages are united-

- into one single collective inspired by a common passion:

if you can build a genuinely creative atmosphere among the crew-

- it won't matter who's the originator of one idea or the other-

- about how to realize the movie: Who thought of how to achieve a close-up-

- or a panning shot, who suggested a certain lighting-

or a certain camera angle: