Andrei Tarkovsky, Stalker, 1979

“Popular folklore would have us believe that deep in the underworld there are ruthless men who fear nothing. This story should debunk that myth.”

Andrei Tarkovsky, Stalker, 1979

“Let them be helpless like children, because weakness is a great thing, and strength is nothing. When a man is just born, he is weak and flexible. When he dies, he is hard and insensitive. When a tree is growing, it’s tender and pliant. But when it’s dry and hard, it dies. Hardness and strength are death’s companions. Pliancy and weakness are expressions of the freshness of being. Because what has hardened will never win.”

Trois couleurs: Bleu, Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1993

“Now I have only one thing left to do: nothing. I don’t want any belongings,
any memories. No friends, no love. Those are all traps.”

Andrei Tarkovsky, Stalker, 1979

We can express our feelings regarding the world around us either by poetic or by descriptive means. I prefer to express myself metaphorically. Let me stress: metaphorically, not symbolically. A symbol contains within itself a definite meaning, certain intellectual formula, while metaphor is an image. An image possessing the same distinguishing features as the world it represents. An image — as opposed to a symbol — is indefinite in meaning. One cannot speak of the infinite world by applying tools that are definite and finite. We can analyse the formula that constitutes a symbol, while metaphor is a being-within-itself, it’s a monomial. It falls apart at any attempt of touching it.

Andrei Tarkovsky, Nostalghia, 1983

Andrei Tarkovsky, Ivan’s Childhood, 1962

Andrei Tarkovsky, Stalker, 1979