Andrey Rublyov (1966)

Director:

Andrei Tarkovsky

Writers:

Andrei Konchalovsky (writer)
Andrei Tarkovsky (writer)

Release Date:

1973 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History | War

Plot:

Andreiv Rublev charts the life of the great icon painter through a turbulent period of 15th Century Russian history...

Plot Keywords:

Prince | Invasion | Russian | Icon | Tatar

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

Anatoli Solonitsyn	...	Andrei Rublyov
Ivan Lapikov	...	Kirill
Nikolai Grinko	...	Danil Chorny
Nikolai Sergeyev	...	Theophanes the Greek
Irma Raush	...	Idiot girl (Durochka)
Nikolay Burlyaev	...	Boriska
Yuri Nazarov	...	The Grand Prince / The Lesser Prince
Yuri Nikulin	...	Monk Patrikey
Rolan Bykov	...	The jester
Nikolai Grabbe	...	Stepan
Mikhail Kononov	...	Foma
Stepan Krylov	...	Head Bell-founder
Irina Miroshnichenko	...	Mary Magdalene
Bolot Bejshenaliyev	...	Tatar Khan
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
K. Aleksandrov
S. Bardin
E. Borisovsky
I. Bykov
Igor Donskoy	...	Christ
Nikolai Glazkov	...	Efim
Vladimir Guskov		(as Vova Guskov)
Nikolai Kutuzov		(as N. Kutuzov)
I. Loskoy
B. Matysik
Anatoli Obukhov
Tamara Ogorodnikova	...	Mother of Jesus
Dmitri Orlovsky	...	Old Stonemason
G. Pokorsky
P. Radolitskaya
Muratbek Ryskulov		(as M. Ryskulov)
G. Sachevsko
Nelly Snegina	...	Marfa (as N. Snegina)
Aleksandr Titov
Vladimir Titov		(as Volodya Titov)
Slava Tsarev
A. Umuraliyev
Vasili Vasilyev		(as Vasya Vasilyev)
Vladimir Volkov
Zinaida Vorkul
N. Vykov

Also Known As:

Андрей Рублёв (Soviet Union: Russian title)
Andrei Rublev (USA)
Strasti po Andreyu (Soviet Union: Russian title) (working title)
The Passion According to Saint Andrew (Europe: English title) (literal English translation of Russian working title)

Runtime:

Soviet Union:165 min (re-edited version) | Soviet Union:186 min (re-edited version) | UK:183 min (2004 re-release) | 205 min (original length) | UK:145 min (UK version)

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian | Italian | Tatar

Color:

Color (Sovcolor) | Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Portugal:M/12 | Australia:PG | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:12 | UK:12 (re-rating) (1991) | UK:15 (re-rating) (2004) | UK:AA (original rating) | Hong Kong:IIA | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Andronnikov Monastery, Moscow, Russia

Company:

Mosfilm

Trivia:

Anatoli Solonitsyn succeeded by coming to Mosfilm himself and offering to play the title role.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: After Rublev comments that nothing is more terrible than snow falling in a temple, some of it lands on Durochka's hair and is clearly a white feather.

Quotes:

Kirill: Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth and the thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth. Walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes but know that for all these God will bring thee into judgment. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth before the difficult days come and the years draw nigh when thou shalt say "I have no pleasure in them." Remember thy creator before the silver cord be loosed...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Le temps du loup (2003)

Bloody Tarkovsky!

He has ruined cinema for me and this is one of the masterpieces that did it. Everytime you see one of his film's you proclaim: "That's the best picture ever made!" Which can't be true as that was the last Tarkovsky film you saw. I've seen this one many times at the cinema and is the best three hours of celluloid you're likely to see apart from Solaris, which is Tarkovsky anyway.

Tarkovsky wanted to make art that would change people's lives and in this he succeeded. Although his life was troubled and his projects clawed into life randomly from the grip of his film studio bosses, when viewed as a whole they seem to be all part of some great plan that was meant to reach fruition right from the start. He believed that ultimately it is best to do things that deepen one's inner life rather than impoverish it. That may explain why you leave most Hollywood films feeling soiled. There are too many great scenes and moments in this astonishing and monumental work to mention so I won't. Suffice it to say it would have been fascinating to have seen what Tarkovsky would have made had he lived and returned from exile to his homeland. Recent events in Russia and the Balkans make this film even more vital and pertinent today.

The trouble is Tarkovsky's films have such extraordinary purity and spiritual depth that no other films seem able to satisfy one in the same way. They seem flat, lifeless and unable to compete. Why watch the let's-pretend-grown ups like Tarantino when you can watch a real grown up? So like I said, Bloody Tarkovsky. He has ruined cinema for me.