Andrei Tarkovsky’s Andrei Rublev
Russ 23300 (CMLT
22800, CMST 26600, ISHU 23301, RLST 28200)
|
|
Professor
Robert Bird Fall
2003 Office:
Foster 409, 2-8931 |
Andrei Tarkovsky’s Andrei Rublev
Russ 23300 (CMLT
22800, CMST 26600, ISHU 23301, RLST 28200)
|
|
Professor
Robert Bird Fall
2003 Office:
Foster 409, 2-8931 |
|
This course is devoted to a single film, and our main task will be to gain a full appreciation of the film as a world in itself. In order to do so, however, we will have to open up new perspectives on Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian cultural history, philosophical aesthetics, and the nature of modern cinema. Specific questions include: 1. The production and reception
of Tarkovsky’s film in the context of Soviet history and society. 2. The historical and
religious background. 3. The application of the
Orthodox aesthetics of the icon to film (especially the influence of Pavel
Florensky). 4. Tarkovsky’s
relationship to other filmmakers, especially Eisenstein. 5. The horizon of
interpretation in Tarkovsky’s film: its classification in terms of genre,
spirituality, aesthetics. Films
to be screened: Andrei
Rublev,
by Andrei Tarkovsky (1966/1969) 205 minutes. Ivan’s Childhood, by Andrei Tarkovsky
(1961) Mirror, by Andrei Tarkovsky
(1974) Ivan the
Terrible, pt. 2
by Sergei Eisenstein (1946/1958) Earth by Alexander Dovzhenko
(1930) The Passion
of Joan of Arc,
by Carl Dreyer (1928) Diary of a
Country Priest,
by Robert Bresson (1951) or The Trial
of Joan of Arc (1962) Books available for purchase at
Seminary Co-op: Required: Andrei Tarkovsky, Sculpting in Time (University of Texas
Press, 1984) ISBN 0292776241 Paul Schrader, Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson,
Dreyer (DaCapo Press, 1972) ISBN 0306803356 Pavel Florensky, Iconostasis (Crestwood, NY: St
Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1996); ISBN 0881411175 Recommended: On Chalk: Poems by Nikolai Gumilev,
Andrei Voznesensky “I’m in Shushenskoe” (1958), Arseny Tarkovsky Pavel Florensky, The Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra and Russia,
trans. R. Bird Andrei Tarkovsky, “On
Andrei Rublev,” trans. R. Bird Andrei Tarkovsky, “The
Passion according to Andrei,” trans. R. Bird Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, “A
Film about Rublev,” trans. R. Bird. Fedor Buslaev, “General
Concepts about Russian Icon-Painting,” trans. R. Bird On Electronic Reserve: Maya Turovskaya, “Andrey
Rublyov,” Tarkovsky: Cinema as Poetry,
trans. Natasha Ward, ed. and with an Introduction by Ian Christie (London,
Boston: Faber and Faber, 1989) 36-50. Vida Johnson and Graham
Petrie, “Andrei Roublev” and “Tarkovsky”, from The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky: A Visual Fugue (Indiana, 1994). Michel
Ciment, Luda & Jean Schnitzer, “L’artiste dans l’ancienne Russie et dans
l’URSS nouvelle: Entretien avec Andrei Tarkovsky,” Positif 109 (October
1969) 1-13. Sergei Eisenstein,
“Dramaturgy of Film Form,”Selected
Works. Volume I. Writings, 1922-1934 (London, Bloomington, 1988) 161-180. Sergei Eisenstein,
“Montage 1938,” Selected Works. Volume
II. Towards a Theory of Montage, eds. Richard Taylor and Michael Glenny
(London, 1994) 296-326. Roland Barthes, “The Third
Meaning,” Image—Music—Text (New
York, 1977) 50-68. Mark Le Fanu, “Andrei
Roublev,” The Cinema of Andrei Tarkovsky (London: BFI, 1987). 33-52, 144-6. Angela Dalle Vacche,
“Andrei Tarkovsky’s Andrei Rublev:
Cinema as the Restoration of Icon Painting,” Cinema and Painting: How Art Is Used in Film (London: Athlone,
1996) 135-60. Pavel Florensky, “Reverse
Perspective,” Beyond Vision: Essays on
the Perception of Art (2003) 201-272 (201-3, 218-51, 260-72). Andrea Truppin, “And Then
There Was Sound: The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky,” Sound Theory/Sound Practice (London, 1992) 235-48. Sergei
Eisenstein, “P-R-K-F-V.“ Slavoj Zizek, “The Thing
from Inner Space,” Sexuation, ed.
Renata Salecl. (Durham and London, 1990) 216-59. Carl Theodor Dreyer, “A
Little on Film Style,” Cinema vol.
6 no. 2 (1971) 8, 10, 12, 14. David Bordwell, “Le
Passion de Jeanne d’Arc,” The Films of
Carl-Theodor Dreyer (Berkeley, 1981) 66-92. Paul Schrader, “Robert
Bresson, Possibly,” Robert Bresson,
ed. James Quandt (Toronto, 1998) 485-97. “Andrei
Tarkovsky [on Bresson],” Robert Bresson,
ed. James Quandt (Toronto, 1998) 580-82. On-line sources: http://www.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com Assignments 1)
Two 1-2 pp. essays, each in reaction to one of our readings in relation to Andrei Rublev. 10% each. One due no
later than 4 November. 2)
One 2-3 pp. review of a non-Tarkovsky film, relating it to themes in Andrei Rublev. 20%. 3)
A minimum 6 pp. paper on a topic directly related to course screenings,
readings, and/or discussion. Examples include further investigation of
Tarkovsky’s use of religion, religious aesthetics, or his relationship to
another director. The topic must be declared by class time in Week 7 (11
November). Papers are due on the day of the scheduled final exam. 40%. OR Collaboration
on an Andrei Rublev website, incorporating images, texts, and analyses from
various periods and languages. Details to be worked out as a group. Class
participation and attendance: 20%
I
will post on Chalk suggested paper
topics and a bibliography. Week
1: Andrei Tarkovsky and the making of Andrei Rublev Class
9/30: Introduction to Tarkovsky, the icon, and spirituality in Russian art;
viewing of The Killers. Screening
10/1 & 10/4: Andrei Rublev Reading
assignment for 10/7: Electronic
reserve: Turovskaya, “Andrei Rublev”; Johnson and Petrie (optional). Chalk:
Solzhenitsyn, “A Film about Rublev”; “The Passion according to Andrei”. Tarkovsky
on Rublev; Florensky, “The Trinity St. Sergius Lavra” Week
2: History, theology, myth Class
10/7: Discussion of the film: characters, plot, style. View Eisenstein’s Alexander Nevsky. Screening
10/8 and 10/11: Eisenstein, Ivan the
Terrible, pt.2 Reading
assignment for 10/14: Eisenstein selections; Barthes, “The Third Meaning”; Le
Fanu; Tarkovsky, Sculpting in Time, 57-80. Recommended:
Yuri Tsivian, Ivan the Terrible (BFI
Classics); or Prof. Tsivian’s audio commentary to the Criterion Collection
DVD of Ivan the Terrible pt. 2. [10/12 at Doc Films: Ivan the Terrible pts. 1 & 2.] Week
3: Tarkovsky and Eisenstein Class
10/14: Andrei Rublev vs. Ivan the Terrible. View: Steamroller and Violin. Screening
10/15 & 10/18: Ivan’s Childhood Reading
assignment for 10/21: Tarkovsky, Sculpting
in Time, 15-56; Schrader, 3-13. Week
4: The Moving Icon Class
10/21: The development of Tarkovsky’s cinematic style and aesthetics. Screening
10/22 & 10/25: Mirror Reading
assignment for 10/28: Tarkovsky, Sculpting
in Time, 82-241; Florensky, Iconostasis;
Florensky, “Reverse Perspective”; Andrea Dalle Vacche;. Recommended
reading: Natasha Synessios. Mirror.
New York: I. B. Tauris, 2001. (On reserve.) Week
5: Textures of Time [10/27 7pm: Ashik Kerib by Sergei Paradjanov at DOC Films.] Class
10/28: Movies and metaphysics; the film as icon? Screening
10/29 & 11/1: Earth by
Alexandre (Oleksandr) Dovzhenko Reading
assignment for 11/4: Review Sculpting
in Time; work on papers. Week
6: Poetic Cinema? Class
11/4: Cinematic poetry? Poetic cinema? Screening
11/5 & 11/8: Andrei Rublev Reading
assignment for 11/11: Truppin, “And Then There Was Sound”; Eisenstein,
“PRKFV”; Zizek, “The Thing from Inner Space”. [11/9 7pm at Doc Films: Ivan’s Childhood/My Name is Ivan.] Week
7: Synaesthesia or Anaesthesia? Re- and De-constructing Tarkovsky Class
11/11: New approaches to Tarkovsky. Screening
11/12 & 11/15: The Passion of Joan
of Arc Reading
assignment for 11/18: Schrader, The
Transcendental Style in Cinema,111-69; David Bordwell, “Le Passion de
Jeanne d’Arc”. [11/16 7pm at Doc Films: Andrei Rublev.] Week
8: Tarkovsky and Dreyer Class
11/18: Andrei Rublev vs. The Passion of
Joan of Arc Screening
11/19 & 11/22: The Diary of a
Country Priest Reading
assignment for 11/25: Bazin; Schrader, 59-107. Week
9: Tarkovsky and Bresson Class
11/25: Andrei Rublev vs. The Diary of a
Country Priest Screening
11/26: Andrei Rublev Reading
assignment for 12/2: Tarkovsky, 164-200. [11/30 at Doc Films: Alexander Sokurov’s
The Russian Ark.] Week
10: Conclusion Class
12/2: Screening
(possible): Bresson, The Trial of Joan
of Arc or Andrei Rublev |