Andrei Rublev () is a 1966 Soviet epic biographical historical drama film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky who co-wrote it with Andrei Konchalovsky. The film was re-edited from the 1966 film titled The Passion According to Andrei by Tarkovsky which was censored during the first decade of the Brezhnev era in the Soviet Union. The film is loosely based on the life of Andrei Rublev, a 15th-century Russian icon painter. The film features Anatoly Solonitsyn, Nikolai Grinko, Ivan Lapikov, , Nikolai Burlyayev and Tarkovsky's wife Irma Raush. Savva Yamshchikov, a famous Russian restorer and art historian, was a scientific consultant for the film.
Andrei Rublev is set against the background of Russia in the early 15th century. Although the film is only loosely based on Rublev's life, it seeks to depict a realistic portrait of medieval Russia. Tarkovsky sought to create a film that shows the artist as "a world-historic figure" and "Christianity as an axiom of Russia's historical identity" during a turbulent period of Russian history. In addition to treating the artist as "a world-historic figure," Tarkovsky also sought to detail and investigate the intersection between faith and artistry. In his book Sculpting in Time, Tarkovsky writes: "It is a mistake to talk about the artist 'looking for' his subject. In fact the subject grows within him like a fruit, and begins to demand expression. It is like childbirth... The poet has nothing to be proud of: he is not master of the situation, but a servant. Creative work is his only possible form of existence, and his every work is like a deed he has no power to annul. For him to be aware that a sequence of such deeds is due and right, that it lies in the very nature of things, he has to have faith in the idea, for only faith interlocks the system of images." In Andrei Rublev, Tarkovsky depicts the philosophy that faith is necessary for art, thereby commenting on the deserved role of faith in the secular, atheist society he was in at the time of the film's creation.
Due to the film's themes, including artistic freedom, religion, political ambiguity, and autodidacticism, it was not released domestically in the Soviet Union under the doctrine of state atheism until years after it was completed, except for a single 1966 screening in Moscow. A version of the film was shown at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the FIPRESCI prize. In 1971, a censored version of the film was released in the Soviet Union. The film was further cut for commercial reasons upon its U.S. release through Columbia Pictures in 1973. As a result, several versions of the film exist.
Although issues with censorship obscured and truncated the film for many years following its release, the film was soon recognised by many western critics and film directors as a highly original and accomplished work. Even more since being restored to its original version, Andrei Rublev has come to be regarded as one of the greatest films of all time, and has often been ranked highly in both the Sight & Sound critics' and directors' polls.
Plot
Andrei Rublev has a prologue and an epilogue only loosely related to the main film. The main film is divided into eight episodes dealing, directly or symbolically, with transitional moments in the life of the great icon painter. The background is 15th-century Russia, a turbulent period characterised by fighting between rival princes and the Mongol invasions.
Prologue A hot air balloon is tethered to the spire of a church next to a river, with a man named Yefim suspended from it in a harness. Despite interference from an ignorant mob who arrive from the river, the balloon is successfully released. Yefim is overwhelmed and delighted by the view from above and the sensation of flying, but he cannot prevent a crash-landing shortly after. He is the first of several creative characters, representing the daring escapist, whose hopes are easily crushed. After the crash, a horse is seen rolling on its back by a pond.
I. The Jester (Summer 1400) Andrei, Daniil and Kirill are wandering monks and religious icon painters, looking for work. The three represent different creative characters.
Andrei is the observer, a humanist who searches for the good in people and wants his art to inspire and not frighten. Daniil is withdrawn and resigned, bent less on creativity than on self-realisation. Kirill lacks talent as a painter, yet still strives to achieve prominence. He is jealous, self-righteous, very intelligent and perceptive.
The three have just left the Andronikov Monastery, where they have lived for many years, heading to Moscow. During a heavy rain shower they seek shelter in a barn, where a group of villagers is being entertained by a jester. The jester, or skomorokh, is a bitterly sarcastic enemy of the state, the Boyars, and the Church, who earns a living with his scathing and obscene social commentary. He lightly mocks the monks as they come in.
Kirill voices his disapproval of jesters and leaves unnoticed. Shortly after, a group of soldiers arrive and arrest the skomorokh, knocking him unconscious and smashing his musical instrument. During a momentary break in the rain, Kirill returns and induces his fellow monks to leave.
II. Theophanes the Greek (Summer–Winter–Spring–Summer 1405–1406) Kirill arrives at the workshop of master painter Theophanes the Greek, who is working on a new icon of Jesus Christ. Theophanes is portrayed as a complex character: humanistic and God-fearing in his views yet somewhat cynical and disillusioned with other people, regarding his art more as a craft and a chore.
His young apprentices have all run away to the town square, where a wrongly convicted criminal is about to be tortured and executed. Kirill talks to Theophanes, who is impressed by the monk's understanding and erudition and invites him to work as his apprentice on the decoration of the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Moscow. Kirill eventually accepts, on the condition that Theophanes will personally tender the offer in the Andronikov Monastery, in front of all the fraternity and Andrei Rublev. Andrei has become renowned for his icon painting in the outside world, an admiration shared by Kirill and Theophanes.
A messenger from Theophanes subsequently arrives at the Andronikov Monastery, but hires Andrei instead of Kirill. Daniil refuses to accompany Andrei and reproaches him for accepting Theophanes' offer without considering his fellows, but soon repents of his temper and tearfully wishes Andrei well when the younger monk comes to say goodbye to his friend. Kirill is jealous of Andrei and, in a fit of anger, decides to leave the monastery for the secular world, throwing accusations of greed in the face of his fellow monks, who also dismiss him. Kirill's dog tries to follow him into the countryside, but he savagely beats it with his walking stick and leaves it for dead.
III. The Passion (1406)
Andrei leaves for Moscow with his young apprentice Foma. While walking in the woods, Andrei and Foma have a conversation about Foma's flaws, in particular lying.
While Foma has talent as an artist, he is less interested in the deeper meaning of his work and more concerned with the practical aspects of the job, like perfecting his use of unstable azure pigment. They encounter Theophanes in the forest, and the old master sends Foma away, unimpressed by his attitude to art. As he leaves, the apprentice finds a dead swan and fantasises about having a bird's-eye view.
In the forest, Andrei and Theophanes argue about religion, while Foma cleans his master's paint brushes. Theophanes argues that the ignorance of the Russian people is due to stupidity, while Andrei says that he does not understand how he can be a painter and maintain such views. This section contains a Passion Play, or a reenactment of Christ's Crucifixion, on a snow-covered hillside which plays out as Andrei recounts the events of Christ's death and expresses his belief that the men who crucified him were obeying God's will and loved him.
IV. The Holiday (1408) Camping for the night on a riverbank, Andrei and Foma are collecting firewood for their travelling party when Andrei hears the distant sounds of celebration further upstream in the woods. Going to investigate, he comes upon a large group of naked pagans who are conducting a lit-torch ritual for Kupala Night. Andrei, intrigued and excited by the behaviour of the pagans, is caught spying on a couple making love. He is imprisoned, his arms tied to a crossbeam in a mockery of Jesus' crucifixion, and threatened with drowning in the morning.
A woman named Marfa, dressed only in a fur coat, approaches Andrei, who responds with hostility. After lamenting that her people are persecuted for their beliefs, she drops her coat, kisses Andrei and frees him. Andrei runs away and gets lost in the dense woods, only finding his group the next morning. As they leave on their boats, they see a group of soldiers pursuing several of the pagans, including Marfa. Her lover is captured, but she escapes into the river, swimming right by Andrei's boat. He and his fellow monks look away in shame.
V. The Last Judgment (Summer 1408) Andrei and Daniil are working on the decoration of a church in Vladimir, but the project has stalled for two months. Andrei confides to Daniil that the task disgusts him and that he is unable to paint a subject such as the Last Judgement, as he does not want to terrify people into submission. He comes to the conclusion that he has lost the ease of mind that an artist needs for his work. A messenger, Patrikei (Yuri Nikulin), arrives with word from the Bishop, who is furious, to say they have until autumn to finish the job. Foma, impatient and wanting to work, leaves Andrei's group and takes an offer to paint in a smaller, less prestigious church.
Elsewhere, stone carvers and decorators of Andrei's party have finished adorning the mansion of the Grand Prince. To their indignation, the Prince is dissatisfied with their work and tries to make them do it again. The artisans refuse, and leave promising that their new client, the Prince's brother, will have a more splendid house than the one they have just finished. In the forest they are waylaid and blinded by the Grand Prince's henchmen, leaving them incapable of practising their craft.
Back at the church, Andrei is dismayed by the news of the attack on the artisans and angrily throws paint on one of the walls. Sergei (Vladimir Titov), a young apprentice who escaped the assault unharmed, reads a random section of the Bible aloud, at Daniil's request, concerning women. A young woman, Durochka (Irma Raush), whose name identifies her as a holy fool, or Yurodivy, wanders in to take shelter from the rain and is upset by the sight of the paint on the wall. Her feeble-mindedness and innocence inspires in Andrei the idea to paint a feast.
VI. The Raid (Autumn 1408) While the Grand Prince is away in Lithuania, his power-hungry younger brother forms an allegiance with a group of Tatars and raids Vladimir. The invasion of the combined armed forces results in great carnage and the burning of the city. One scene shows a horse falling from a flight of stairs.
Foma escapes the chaos in the city and goes into the nearby countryside, but as he is crossing a river he is killed by an arrow. The Tatars force their way into the barricaded church, now fully decorated with Andrei's paintings, where the majority of the citizens have taken refuge. Showing no mercy, the Tatars massacre the people and burn all the painted wooden altarpieces. Andrei, who is also in the church, saves Durochka from being raped by a Russian soldier by killing him with an axe. The bishop's messenger Patrikei is also present; he is tortured, but refuses to reveal the location of the city's gold. Eventually the Tatars kill him by pouring hot liquid metal from a melted crucifix into his mouth.