1986–1988, 88 min., b/w
LSDF, Film Makers' Union

scenario: A.Sokurov
camera: A. Burov, A. Naydenov
sound: A. Pugachev, V. Persov, Ì. Podtakui
editors: L. Feiginova, T. Belousova, A. Zhikhareva, L. Semenova, L. Volkova

Moscow Elegy is a part of Elegy series, created by our team at the Leningrad State Documentary Productions, LSDF. The films in this series have an “elegiac mood” in common — “Moscow Elegy” was originally intended to mark the 50th anniversary of Tarkovsky. But disagreements within the Soviet Professional Union of Cinematographers about the style and content of the film forced us to suspend production for a long time.

The film is a subjective perception of the personality of the great film–maker and his destiny in the context of History. Let me add that our task was to create a special human approach towards the memory and the personality of Tarkovsky. We attempted to treat the footage in a tender and caring way, with kindness. We were not trying to embrace all aspects of Tarkovsky's life and work. We are speaking only about what he has left in his Motherland, and what was going on during those years in the West, where he had had to work.

Alexander Sokurov

Who knows what Home is? The “My dear Russia” that Shalyapin is longing for in his letters, or the “bottles, jars, rags, all this precious, essential garbage” that Tonino Guerra is here speaking to Andrei Tarkovsky about — in the second Sokurov Elegy, following the first, on Shalyapin? While making his film on Shalyapin in 1984, Sokurov thought and spoke about Tarkovsky, who had just left Russia, and suffered over this rupture.

A Russian artist, no matter where his fate takes him, will always remain a part of his country. He remains a part of his homeland, no matter what takes place there. Thus “Moscow Elegy” is the next natural step in a cycle of films about the destinies of artists. Historical changes are treated by Sokurov as the tragic locations on the journeys of personal destinies.

Alexandra Tuchniskaya

Translated by Alexei Jankowski with assistance from Benjamin Halligan