The Sacrifice (1986)

Australian Premiere - 4K Restoration

“…[W]hat you see in the frame is not limited to its visual depiction, but is a pointer to something stretching out beyond the frame to infinity; a pointer to life. Like the infinity of the image…a film is bigger than it is.” – Andrei Tarkovsky 

“Despite the lack of canonical consensus today as to which filmmakers should be counted as the true greats, one can make this claim about Tarkovsky because many active filmmakers today tell us as much.” – Nick James, Sight and Sound

To conclude the complete retrospective of Tarkovsky’s feature films, screening from March through to May at the Ritz, Lido and Classic Cinemas, Cinema Reborn presents the swansong of a cinematic master and winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes, a fitting culmination to the director’s poetic-philosophical meditations via the medium of film.

Set against the backdrop of impending nuclear catastrophe, disillusioned actor-turned-critic Alexander (Erland Josephson) makes a desperate pact with God to sacrifice everything in his life in order to save the world.

The Sacrifice offers a poignant exploration of faith and finitude in transcendent Tarkovskyian style, with a sublime final sequence that is among the most notorious and revered in the history of film. An ecstatic experience, not to be missed.

Introduced by Richard James Allen at Ritz Cinemas and by David Heslin at Lido Cinemas.

Rating

MA15+

Duration

142 min

Language

Swedish, English, French (English Subtitles)

Cast

Erland Josephson, Susan Fleetwood, Johan Allan Edwall

Director

Andrei Tarkovsky

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