The Sacrifice

For other uses, see Sacrifice (disambiguation).

The Sacrifice
British film poster
Directed by	Andrei Tarkovskij
Produced by	Anna-Lena Wibom
Written by	Andrei Tarkovsky
Starring	Erland Josephson Susan Fleetwood Allan Edwall Guðrún S. Gísladóttir Sven Wollter Valérie Mairesse Filippa Franzen Tommy Kjellqvist
Music by	Johann Sebastian Bach Watazumido-Shuso
Cinematography	Sven Nykvist
Editing by	Andrei Tarkovsky Michał Leszczyłowski
Distributed by	Sandrew (Swedish theatrical)
Release date(s)	May 9, 1986 (1986-05-09) (Sweden) November 1986 (1986-11) (United States)
Running time	149 minutes
Country	Sweden United Kingdom France
Language	Swedish English French

The Sacrifice (Swedish: Offret) is a 1986 film, and the final film by Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky, who died shortly after completing it.

Synopsis

Alexander, an aging atheist actor/psychologist/writer with a younger actress wife, a teenage daughter, and a young son (who is referred to as "Little Man") experiences the opening throes of the end of the world by a nuclear holocaust. In despair the protagonist vows to God to sacrifice all he loves ("I'll give Thee all I have, I'll give up my family, whom I love, I'll destroy my home and give up Little Man") if only this good act of fate may be undone, and to this end he sleeps with a local woman whom he believes to be a witch.

When he wakes up the next morning everything seems "normal", but whether Alexander dreamt the whole episode is never made explicit. Nevertheless, Alexander sets forth to give up all he loves and possesses, burning his house and being driven off to an institution.

Cast

• Erland Josephson as Alexander
• Susan Fleetwood as Adelaide
• Allan Edwall as Otto
• Guðrún S. Gísladóttir as Maria
• Sven Wollter as Victor
• Valérie Mairesse as Julia
• Filippa Franzén as Marta
• Tommy Kjellqvist as Gossen (Little Man)
• Per Källman, Tommy Nordahl as ambulance drivers

Music

• Johann Sebastian Bach
  "Matthäus-Passion" Erbarme Dich
  Wolfgang Gönnenwein (conductor) / Julia Hamari (alto)
  EMI-Electrola GmbH LC 0233

• Watazumido-Shuso, Hotchiku flöjt (海童道祖　法竹)"
  "Shingetsu"　(心月)
  "Nezasa No Shirabe" (根笹調)
  "Dai-Bosatsu"　(大菩薩)
  The Everest Records Group 3289

• "Locklåtar från Dalarna och Härjedalen"
  Elin Lisslass, Karin Edvards Johansson, Tjugmyr Maria Larsson, o.a.
  SR Records RELP 5017

Style

The camera work is slow and contains all the hallmarks of Tarkovsky and Nykvist. The film's soundtrack includes three distinct pieces: the passionate aria Erbarme dich from Johann Sebastian Bach's Mattheus Passion, soothing Japanese flute music played by Watazumi Doso Roshi, and eerie traditional chants from the Swedish forests (in the old days farm girls used to call home the livestock from their forest pastures in this way). The film also contains several long closeups of Leonardo da Vinci's Adoration of the Magi.

The film uses long takes more than Tarkovsky's previous films. The opening, post-credits shot (a tracking shot of Alexander, Little Man, and Otto talking and walking) lasts nine minutes and twenty-six seconds, and is the longest take in all of Tarkovsky's work. Shots lasting between six and eight minutes are commonplace in the film, and there are only 115 shots in the entire film.

Most of the film takes place inside or around a house that was specially built for the production. The climactic scene at the end of the film is a long tracking shot in which Alexander burns his house and his possessions. It was done in a single, six minute, fifty second take, often misstated as Tarkovsky's longest shot. The shot was very difficult to achieve. Initially, there was only one camera used, despite Sven Nykvist's protest. While shooting the burning house, the camera jammed, ruining the footage. (This disaster is documented in documentary entitled Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky and the documentary One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich.) The scene had to be reshot, requiring a quick and very costly reconstruction of the house in two weeks. This time two cameras were set up on tracks, running parallel to each other. The footage in the final version of the film is the second take, which lasts for several minutes and ends abruptly because the camera had run through an entire reel in capturing the single shot. The cast and crew broke down in tears after the take was completed.

Relationship with Bergman

The film reflects Tarkovsky's respect for the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. It was set in Sweden on the island of Gotland, close to Fårö where many of Bergman's films had been shot (he wanted to do it on Fårö but was denied access by the military), and was photographed by Bergman's favourite cinematographer Sven Nykvist. The cast included one of Bergman's most well known actors, Erland Josephson, and the film's production designer was Anna Asp, who had won an Academy Award for the sumptuous décor of Bergman's Fanny and Alexander. Additionally, one of Bergman's sons, Daniel Bergman, worked as a camera assistant.

Awards

The film won the Grand Prix and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival.

External links

• The Sacrifice at the Internet Movie Database
• The Sacrifice at the Swedish Film Database
• DVDBeaver comparison of 5 different DVD editions of the film
• The Sacrifice at nostalghia.com

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Birdy	Grand Prix Spécial du Jury, Cannes 1986	Succeeded by Repentance