Stalker (1979)

Director:

Andrei Tarkovsky

Writers:

Arkadiy Strugatskiy (novel) &
Boris Strugatskiy (novel) ...
(more)

Release Date:

17 April 1980 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Fantasy | Mystery | Sci-Fi

Plot:

A guide leads two men through an area known as the Zone to find a room that grants wishes.

Plot Keywords:

Stalker | Hope | Scientist | Barbed Wire | Alien

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Alisa Freyndlikh	...	Zhena Stalkera
Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy	...	Stalker
Anatoliy Solonitsyn	...	Pisatel
Nikolay Grinko	...	Professor
Natasha Abramova	...	Marta, doch Stalkera
Faime Jurno	...	Sobesednitsa Pisatelya (as F. Yurna)
E. Kostin	...	Lyuger, khozyain kafe
R. Rendi	...	Patrulnyy politseyskiy
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sergey Yakovlev	...	Professor (voice) (uncredited)
Vladimir Zamanskiy	...	Sobesednik Professora po telefonu (voice) (uncredited)

Directed by
Andrei Tarkovsky

Writing credits
Arkadiy Strugatskiy		(novel "Piknik na obochine") &
Boris Strugatskiy		(novel "Piknik na obochine")
Arkadiy Strugatskiy		(screenplay) &
Boris Strugatskiy		(screenplay)
Andrei Tarkovsky		(screenplay) uncredited

Produced by
Aleksandra Demidova	....	producer
Willie Geller	....	line producer (1977)

Original Music by
Eduard Artemev

Cinematography by
Aleksandr Knyazhinsky
Georgi Rerberg		(1977)
Leonid Kalashnikov		(uncredited)

Film Editing by
Lyudmila Feiginova

Production Design by
Aleksandr Bojm		(1977)
Andrei Tarkovsky

Art Direction by
Shavkat Abdusalamov		(uncredited)

Set Decoration by
Rashit Safiullin

Costume Design by
Nelli Fomina		(as Nina Fomina)

Makeup Department
Vitali Lvov	....	key makeup artist (as V. Lvov)

Production Management
Tamara Aleksandrovskaya	....	assistant production manager (as T. Aleksandrovskaya)
Vladimir Mosenkov	....	assistant production manager (as V. Mosenkov)
Vera Vdovina	....	assistant production manager (as V. Vdovina)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Arayk Agoronyan	....	trainee assistant director (as A. Agoronian)
Maria Chugunova	....	assistant director (as M. Chugunova)
Larisa Tarkovskaya	....	assistant director
Evgeniy Tsymbal	....	assistant director

Art Department
A. Merkulov	....	construction coordinator
Evgeniy Tsymbal	....	property assistant
Jean-Michel Folon	....	poster designer: France (uncredited)

Sound Department
Vladimir Sharun	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Nonna Fudim	....	camera operator
Lev Kazmin	....	electrician
Vadim Murashko	....	still photographer (as V. Murashko)
Sergei Naugolnykh	....	camera operator (as S. Naugolnykh)
Grigori Verkhovsky	....	assistant camera
Sergei Zajtsev	....	assistant camera

Editorial Department
Tatiana Alekseyeva	....	assistant editor
Tatiana Maslennikova	....	color grader

Music Department
Emin Khachaturyan	....	conductor
Raisa Lukina	....	music editor

Other crew
Olegar Fedoro	....	body double: Aleksandr Kajdanovsky
Konstantin Lopushansky	....	production assistant
Anatoli Stepanov	....	script supervisor
Mickey Cottrell	....	publicist (uncredited)
Oskar-Martin Vedru	....	location manager: railroad-specific scenes (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Kinostudiya ''Mosfilm'' (as Mosfilm)

Distributors

• Alta Films (1984) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Media Transactions (1982) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Seagull Films (2006) (USA) (theatrical)
• VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb (1981) (East Germany) (theatrical)
• Another World Entertainment (2008) (Denmark) (DVD)
• Asociace Ceských Filmových Klubu (ACFK) (Czech Republic)
• Contemporary Films (1990) (UK) (all media)
• Continental Home Vídeo (Brazil) (DVD)
• Empresa Hispanoamericana de Video (EHV) (Argentina) (video)
• General Video (2006) (Italy) (DVD)
• Kino Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• RUSCICO (2004) (worldwide) (DVD)
• Sovexportfilm (Argentina)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

163 min | 155 min (2002 DVD)

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Color:

Color (Sovcolor) | Black and White | Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:12 | Hong Kong:I | Singapore:PG | Italy:T | Iceland:L | UK:A (1980) | UK:PG (1991) | Australia:M | Australia:PG (DVD rating) | South Korea:15 | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Dolgopa, Russia

Company:

Kinostudiya ''Mosfilm''

Trivia:

The insignia on the police officers' helmet features two letters: AT, the initials of the director, Andrei Tarkovsky.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Stalker's Wife:[sub-titled from Russian] Why did you take my watch?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Zhara (2006)

Soundtrack:

Meditations

The most Humanist Film in Existence

Andrei Tarkovsky is a rarity among filmmakers in that he creates films that resemble elaborate (and always smartly written, beautifully shot and superbly acted) puzzles. The pieces are always scattered, and Tarkovsky relies on his viewer to bring the final element of the puzzle along with him. SOLARIS explores the boundaries of consciousness and the sense of grief (and it uses the titular planet as a metaphor for God). ANDREI ROUBLEV is a multi-layered voyage into religious belief. STALKER, however, is far more spiritual and existential than both of them.

A teacher and a scientist wish to go to a restricted patch of nature - the mythical conscious "Zone" - to make their wishes come true. To enter the area and survive its numerous danger, they hire a man sensible to the Zone's thoughts and actions, a Stalker. What they find there turns out to be very different from what they expected, as they come to discover who they truly are.

There's only so much you can say without getting drowned in details that would appear heavy-handed on paper but flow seamlessly on screen. Quite often, Tarkovsky reduces his characters to silence, letting their movements and eyes convey their thoughts and feelings and letting the viewer bring his own thoughts and beliefs to the film. One of STALKER's many treats is that it invites you to get carried away into your own thoughts, flowing with the images as it provides new questions to ponder... In that sense, the film is very much like a philosophical poem: a very simple surface covering innumerable layers of meaning. Yet the images Tarkovsky provides - whether filming landscapes or wide-shots or simply peering into his actors' extraordinary faces - make this almost hypnotic.

STALKER is a treasure: an invitation to go on a mental ride with a poet and philosopher. A film that makes you wonder more about yourself yet without making you anxious. The few existing films like STALKER are the reason why cinema is called "art"!