Donatella Baglivo-Andrei Tarkovsky in Nostalghia (1984)

Donatella Baglivo's documentary filmed during filming of Nostalghia. Shot on the film's set, gives a fascinating insight into the making of Nostalghia and includes interviews with Tarkovsky, the cast and crew.




Highly cerebral, beautifully realized, and symbolically obscure, Nostalghia is a cinematic abstract of spiritual hunger. Indeed, Andrei's indefinite journey, the church supplicants, and Domenico's final incomprehensible act, manifest this innate longing.




Note the final scene where Andrei shields the precariously lit candle by opening his overcoat. It is a symbolic revelation of the soul–the struggle against the extinguishing of the spiritual flame–that inevitably redeems him.




But it is an ominous closure, as muted colors now suffuse the Italian streets, tainting them with the same melancholic longing that consumes him. Tarkovsky filmed Nostalghia in exile and dedicated the film to the memory of his mother. It is a threnodic film that mourns an irretrievable past and an uncertain future.




The final sequence of Nostalghia is one of the most captivating ever put on film. The viewer becomes completely swept away by Tarkovsky's world where the elements reign supreme—fire and water are everywhere.




The atmosphere Tarkovsky creates is one of constantly dripping water, unsettling mists, and dew seeping through the eternally damp walls. Coupled with these memorable visuals is a remarkable highlighting of sounds (a job admirably performed by Remo Ugolinelli) such as the echoing drip of water or the swirling of the drafts. (http://www.celtoslavica.de/chiaroscuro/films/nostalghia/nost.html)