Andrej Rubljov

(Andrej Rubljov aka Strasti po Andreju | Andrei Rublev)




by Andrej Tarkovskij

USSR 1966





(click to enlarge)



Director:
 Andrej Tarkovskij
Producer:
 Tamara Ogorodnikova
Production Companies:
 Mosfil’m
Screenplay:
 Andrej Mikhalkov-Končalovskij, Andrej Tarkovskij
Cinematographer:
 Vadim Jusov (b/w and Sovcolor, SovScope 2.35:1)
Editor:
 Ljudmila Fejginova, T. Egoryčeva, O. Ševkunenko
Music Score:
 Vjačeslav Ovčinnikov
Sound:
 Inna Zelencova
Art Director:
 Evgenij Černjaev, Ippolit Novoderjožkin, Sergej Voronkov
Costume Design:
 Maja Abar-Baranovskaja, Lidija Novi
Cast:
 Anatolij Solonicyn (Rubljov), Ivan Lapikow (Kirill), Nikolaj Grin'ko (Daniil Chornyj), Nikolaj Sergeev (Feofan Grek), Irma Rausch (Duročka), Jurij Nikulin (Patrik)
Runtime:
 184 min = 5025 m (cut version)
185 min = 5075 m (third cut with even less violence)
192 min = 5250 m (second cut with less violence)
206 min = 5642 m (director's cut)
Premiere:
 February 1969 (USSR); May 1969 (Cannes Film Festival); 1988 (director's cut, USSR)
Awards:
 Cannes Film Festival 1969 FIPRESCI Award: Andrej Tarkovskij
French Syndicate of Cinema Critics 1971 Critics Award Best Foreign Film




"Andrei Rublev is a rare hybrid: a brilliant spectacle that is also an intensely personal exploration of the feelings of an artist in conflict with his society."
— Pacific Film Archive

"... a visual and cerebral journey: a thematically adaptive interpretation of Rublev's life, a conduit into the bleak existence of medieval Russia, a meditation on the search for the spiritual and artistic light."
— Acquarello, Strictly Film School

"Contre la conviction contemporaine que tout est politique ou économique ..., Tarkovsky, en plein totalitarisme, réaffirme ... la réalité plénière du spirituel comme dimension spécifique de l'homme."
— France Farago, Études cinématographiques (no. 135-138/1983)




Reviews at DVDBeaver.com here and here

Film Reviews | DVD Reviews





Criterion NTSC Region 0 vs RusCiCO-Artificial Eye UK PAL Region 0
Distribution:
 The Criterion Collection #34
Region 0 (North America)
Director's Cut		 Artificial Eye / RusCiCo
Region 0 UK
Runtime:
 205:41 min 174:41 min (+ 4% PAL Speedup = 182 min)
Video:
 2.37:1/4:3 Letterboxed Widescreen
Average bitrate: 4.51 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
Much less definition and poorer gray scale, but no anamorphic distortion. The colour sequence has more accurate colour tones (see frame 4)		 2.03:1/16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen
Average bitrate: 6.76 mb/s (Side A), 6.74 mb/s (Side B)
PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
The transfer distorts the anamorphic picture horizontally (from SovScope 2.35:1 down to 2.03:1), see esp. frame 4
Audio:
 Russkij Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono
Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono		 Russkij Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Français (voiceover) Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Subtitles:
 English Russkij, English, Deutsch, Français, Español, Português, Italiano, Nederlands, Svenska, Arabic, Hebrew, Mandarin, Japanese
Features:
 • Audio Commentary by Vlada Petric, professor of film at Harvard University
• Rare film interviews with Andrei Tarkovsky (18:19 min)
• Timeline: Key events in Russian history, the lives and works of Andrei Rublev and Andrei Tarkovsky
• Color Bars
• 6-Page Booklet with Liner Essay by J. Hoberman		 Film on Disc 1+2 (81:16+93:25 min)

Disc 1:
•Etude 1: Fragment from “Ivan Groznyj II” (01:45 min)
• Etude 2: “Theophanes the Greek” (06:55 min)
• Etude 3: “The Rublev memorial”
• Etude 4: Modern pagan rites (02:36 min)
• Etude 5: "Union of Militant Atheists" (destruction of Orthodox icons and architecture under the Soviets) (06:25 min)
• Interview with A. Komov (02:46 min)
• Interview with Andrei Tarkovsky's sister, Marina Tarkovskaya (02:00 min)
• Teasers of Ruscico's future releases: Soljaris (03:19 min), Zerkalo (02:38 min), Stalker (03:30 min), Vojna i mir (04:09 min), Komissar (01:32 min)
• Filmographies of principal actors, director, cameraman, composer, script writer
• Photoalbum with 10 images from the shooting ground

Disc 2:
• Featurette: Making the film (05:17 min) •
• Etude 1: “Mongoly” (08:41 min)
• Etude 2: Montage of frescoes (05:10 min)
• Etude 3: "Bells" in Russian cathedrals (03:36 min)
• Interview with the actor Yuri Nazarov (04:27 min)
• Teasers of Ruscico's future releases: Siberiada (02:21 min), Svoj sredi čuzhich (02:32 min), Brillantovaja ruka (02:48 min)
• Filmographies of principal actors, director, camerman, composer, script writer
• Photoalbum with 10 images from the shooting ground
DVD Release Date: 26 January 1999
Keep Case
Chapters: 53
DVD Encoding: NTSC Region 0
SS-DL/DVD-9 		DVD Release Date: 21 January 2002
Keep Case
Chapters: 6+4
DVD Encoding: PAL Region 0 (UK)
2x SS-SL/DVD-5



Frame 1: Menu
(Criterion left, RusCiCo right)


Frame 2
(Criterion top, RusCiCo bottom)


Frame 3
(Criterion top, RusCiCo bottom)


Frame 4
(Criterion top, RusCiCo bottom)


Frame 5
(Criterion top, RusCiCo bottom)


Average Bitrate Region 1:
4.51 mb/s


Average Bitrate Region 2:
6.76 mb/s

Disclaimer by

This is a strictly non-professional and non-commercial DVD review. Don't expect industry reference work!

All ChiaroScuro captures are taken under MacOS X.2 using VideoLAN and Snapz ProX. For further methodological remarks see DVDBeaver (click on "Methodology"): "We are not a lab and are doing a good a job as our time and energy permits. Thank you for understanding."





Last update: 20 Sep 2002