The Sacrifice

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Set on a remote Swedish island, Tarkovsky’s final film is heavily laden with religious themes and symbolism, and uses the concerns of the era (mid-1980s) as the framework against which to set a tale of one individual’s relationship to his family and his belief system.

Alexander, former actor turned journalist, is celebrating his birthday at home in the company of his family and a few friends. Their conversation hints at disappointment with Alexander’s career trajectory and his shortcomings as a husband, but the discourse is cut short when the start of a nuclear war is announced on the radio, and the group must confront their fears for the future.

Alexander contemplates the devastation that is about to be unleashed, and in a moment of weakness spurred by concern for his young son, turns to religion and a god in whom he did not previously believe. In prayer he offers everything he holds dear in return for averting the looming disaster. In the dream sequence that comprises the middle part of the film, his friend Otto advises Alexander that if he ‘lays with’ his servant Maria, then they will all be saved. Alexander doesn’t need asking twice, and eagerly sets off for Maria’s abode…

In the morning, Alexander awakes to a peaceful landscape bathed in sunshine and returns home to set about making good his promise to give up family, friends, and home. In the closing shots his family looks on in horror as their home is burnt down, and the men in white coats arrive to spirit him away.

At nearly two and a half hours, the film moves along at a leisurely pace; a more ruthless editing process might have trimmed an hour from this masterpiece. Nevertheless it’s well worth seeing for its clear exposition of the dangers of striking a bargain with a malevolent deity laid plain in the final scenes, as Alexander loses his family, friends, his home and ultimately himself.

Essential viewing.

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