Question by Josh J: Are there particular films of Tarkovsky which utilize ‘Sculpting in Time’?
Hey all!
I have a midterm coming up and I chose to write about Tarkovsky’s ‘Sculpting in Time’ technique for his films. Everything is due in a week, I was wondering if there were any particular film or films of his which greatly utilize this method?
Answers and Views:
Answer by shadowyfigure
The Mirror (Zerkalo) is absolutely your best choice. The film centers on recollections of the past intermingled with present time, creating a sensation of past as present/future, continuously merging. The atmosphere of the film (like a dream or vague memory), soundscapes, scenes involving childhood memories, the poems read throughout the film, even newsreel footage, contribute to the main question of where in time reality -really- is, and also whose reality (the individual or all of humanity) it is to begin with…
Here’s a nice quote from Tarkovsky’s book entitled Sculpting in Time:
“Time is said to be irreversible. And this is true enough in the sense that ‘you can’t bring back the past’, as they say. But what exactly is this ‘past’? Is it what has passed? And what does ‘passed’ mean for a person when for each of us the past is the bearer of all that is constant in the reality of the present, of each current moment? In a certain sense the past is far more real, or at any rate more stable, more resilient than the present. The present slips and vanishes like sand between fingers, acquiring material weight only in its recollection. King Solomon’s rings bore the inscription, ‘All will pass’; by contrast, I want to draw attention to how time in its moral implication is in fact turned back. Time cannot vanish without a trace for it is a subjective, spiritual category; and the time we have lived settles in our soul as an experience placed within time.”
Hope this helps.
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