The Omens: Tarkovsky, <i>Sacrifice</i>, Cancer

In this elegiac essay on Andrei Tarkovsky’s last year, which traces his reluctant acceptance of cancer’s  inexorable advance and inevitable victory, Robert Bird interweaves fragments from the director’s life, writings, and films to offer a moving meditation on the poetics of dying. In so doing, Bir...

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Main Author: Robert Bird
Format: Article
Language:ces
Published: Natascha Drubek 2020-09-01
Series:Apparatus. Film, Media and Digital Cultures of Central and Eastern Europe
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.apparatusjournal.net/index.php/apparatus/article/view/225
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author Robert Bird
author_facet Robert Bird
author_sort Robert Bird
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description In this elegiac essay on Andrei Tarkovsky’s last year, which traces his reluctant acceptance of cancer’s  inexorable advance and inevitable victory, Robert Bird interweaves fragments from the director’s life, writings, and films to offer a moving meditation on the poetics of dying. In so doing, Bird gently challenges the mystical notion that Tarkovsky’s final film Sacrifice somehow prophesies its creator’s death; rather, Bird suggests that Sacrifice should be seen as a brilliant distillation of the themes that dominated Tarkovsky’s oeuvre and as a fitting culmination to his life in art. The essay is illustrated with previously unpublished snapshots of Tarkovsky during his final year taken by his friend and collaborator Irina Brown.  Editor’s Note: Sadly, Robert Bird died of cancer on September 7, 2020 before this essay, which he intended as his testament, could be published.  In tribute to Bird’s life and legacy, we are releasing it in advance of the rest of Apparatus, no. 10. 
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spelling doaj.art-39a8038750514c7ab53c55c4579cf2ec2022-12-22T00:19:01ZcesNatascha DrubekApparatus. Film, Media and Digital Cultures of Central and Eastern Europe2365-77582020-09-011010.17892/app.2020.00010.225The Omens: Tarkovsky, <i>Sacrifice</i>, CancerRobert Bird In this elegiac essay on Andrei Tarkovsky’s last year, which traces his reluctant acceptance of cancer’s  inexorable advance and inevitable victory, Robert Bird interweaves fragments from the director’s life, writings, and films to offer a moving meditation on the poetics of dying. In so doing, Bird gently challenges the mystical notion that Tarkovsky’s final film Sacrifice somehow prophesies its creator’s death; rather, Bird suggests that Sacrifice should be seen as a brilliant distillation of the themes that dominated Tarkovsky’s oeuvre and as a fitting culmination to his life in art. The essay is illustrated with previously unpublished snapshots of Tarkovsky during his final year taken by his friend and collaborator Irina Brown.  Editor’s Note: Sadly, Robert Bird died of cancer on September 7, 2020 before this essay, which he intended as his testament, could be published.  In tribute to Bird’s life and legacy, we are releasing it in advance of the rest of Apparatus, no. 10.  https://www.apparatusjournal.net/index.php/apparatus/article/view/225Andrei TarkovskyIrina BrownSoviet UnionParisfilmSacrifice
spellingShingle Robert Bird
The Omens: Tarkovsky, <i>Sacrifice</i>, Cancer
Apparatus. Film, Media and Digital Cultures of Central and Eastern Europe
Andrei Tarkovsky
Irina Brown
Soviet Union
Paris
film
Sacrifice
title The Omens: Tarkovsky, <i>Sacrifice</i>, Cancer
title_full The Omens: Tarkovsky, <i>Sacrifice</i>, Cancer
title_fullStr The Omens: Tarkovsky, <i>Sacrifice</i>, Cancer
title_full_unstemmed The Omens: Tarkovsky, <i>Sacrifice</i>, Cancer
title_short The Omens: Tarkovsky, <i>Sacrifice</i>, Cancer
title_sort omens tarkovsky i sacrifice i cancer
topic Andrei Tarkovsky
Irina Brown
Soviet Union
Paris
film
Sacrifice
url https://www.apparatusjournal.net/index.php/apparatus/article/view/225
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