Iubirea în familie, la Andrei Tarkovski (I)
Love in the Family, in the Work of Andrei Tarkovsky (I)

Summary/Abstract: Following a research path inspired by Father Pavel Florensky, this analysis of Tarkovsky’s work refers to storge—the “natural” love, “tender, warm, and safe love of the parents toward their children, of the husband toward his wife, of the citizen toward his country”. After a brief reference to self-love, this text discusses the way family relations are built in the life and work of the great Russian director. From this perspective, Tarkovsky’s movies illustrate a part of his own family’s history: extraordinary love stories, featuring a mystifying beauty, blended with dramatic breakups and the associated sufferings. In these movies, family is more often than not seen from the perspective of a child – the child in the movie or the persona of Andrei Tarkovsky as a child. Synthesizing multiple biographical sources, the text tells the story of the harsh childhood of Andrei Tarkovsky and his sister Marina, during the war. The author creates a list of children characters in Tarkovsky’s movies and notes their constant presence: The Steamroller and the Violin – his fi rst movie – opens with a child character, while The Sacrifi ce – his last movie – ends with a child and is dedicated to a child: his own son Andriosha; in every movie children play an important role and offer the scenarios a certain continuity and coherence. Andrei Tarkovsky sees childhood as a constant component of a man irrespective of his age. His work awakens memories of the sensations we used to have during our own childhoods. On the other side, it is easy to notice how most of the children characters in his movies are in delicate situations, such as in an orphanage. Next, tightly connected to the subject of childhood, the text approaches the subject of parental home in Andrei Tarkovsky’s work. The parental home is a recurrent presence in his movies. His own parental home appears almost obsessively throughout his entire work and is often pictured in a nostalgic manner. Other houses that the director was attached to at some point in his life or that had a particular signifi cance to him are often emphasized.

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