I would like to add another function that nature has in TarkovskyвЂ™s aesthetics: to provide a place of respite for characters who have or are experiencing a moment(s) of emotional pain. Tarkovsky uses these natural rhythms to express his own, that of his characters and the temporal shape of the film (23-24). Each of the natural events and elements (water, wind, fire, snow) have their own sustained rhythm. Even though the fires, downpours and gusts of wind are staged, re-shot or recreated there still remains the spontaneous element of вЂњnatureвЂ™s timeвЂќ within the filmic time. The movement of time, its flux and quality, flows from the life-process that is recorded in the shot. Tarkovsky relies on nature and natural phenomena to underscore and often dictate the time-pressure (rhythm) of a shot. Hence the appearance of life-processes in TarkovskyвЂ™s mise-en-scГ©ne form a powerful visual tapestry that goes beyond theme or imagery to form and aesthetics. In an earlier essay I explained this dependence on nature as being integral to his over-all aesthetics of вЂtime pressureвЂ™ or вЂtime thrustвЂ™: I have long thought about TarkovskyвЂ™s love of nature, and its place in his art, ever since I became acquainted with his work in the early 1980s.

Even though Tarkovsky was notoriously reluctant to admit any such symbolism in his work (or more accurately, offer to reduce the potential of an image by assigning a specific meaning), there is little doubt that nature held a profound impact on his art.

Many critics have asked him what the natural elements may mean or indeed why they are featured so greatly in his films, rain, water, wind, snow, fire, and natural spaces, such as rural areas, mountains, rivers, fords, trees, forests, and sky. It is common knowledge among Tarkovsky scholars and fans that an important element of Andrei TarkovskyвЂ™s film aesthetics is his unique and highly controlled use of nature.

Nature as вЂњComfort ZoneвЂќ in the Films of Andrei TarkovskyД«y Donato Totaro Volume 14, Issue 12 / December 2010 18 minutes (4324 words)

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