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The Sacrifice

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The Sacrifice

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Also known as Sacrifice, Le Sacrifice

1986 film by Andrei Tarkovsky

Film · TMDB

7.7

Alexander, a journalist, philosopher and retired actor, celebrates a birthday with friends and family when it is announced that nuclear war has begun.

Released: 1986-05-09149 minDir: Andrei TarkovskyDramaBox office: $1.1M

Cast

  • Erland Josephson as Alexander
  • Susan Fleetwood as Adelaide
  • Allan Edwall as Otto
  • Guðrún Gísladóttir as Maria
  • Sven Wollter as Victor
  • Valérie Mairesse as Julia

Themes

  • nuclear war
  • philosopher
  • world war iii
  • philosophical
  • reflective
  • father son relationship
  • enchant

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Ratings

IMDb

7.9/10

34,672 votes

Rotten Tomatoes

88%

Metacritic

85/100

Year
1986
Runtime
149 min
Genres
Drama
Rated
PG
Awards
Won 1 BAFTA Award9 wins & 3 nominations total

via OMDb · IMDb

Key facts

Swedish
Offret
Directed by
Andrei Tarkovsky
Written by
Andrei Tarkovsky
Produced by
Anna-Lena Wibom
Starring
Erland Josephson , Susan Fleetwood , Allan Edwall , Guðrún S. Gísladóttir, Sven Wollter , Valérie Mairesse , Filippa Franzen, Tommy Kjellqvist
Cinematography
Sven Nykvist
Edited by
Andrei Tarkovsky, Michal Leszczylowski
Music by
Johann Sebastian Bach , Watazumido-Shuso
Distributed by
Sandrew
Release dates
9 May 1986 ( 1986-05-09 ) (Sweden) 14 May 1986 ( 1986-05-14 ) (France) 9 January 1987 ( 1987-01-09 ) (London)
Running time
142 minutes
Countries
Sweden United Kingdom France
Languages
Swedish, English, French
Box office
$300,653 (USA)

via Wikipedia infobox

~11 min read

Encyclopedic overview

The Sacrifice (Swedish: Offret) is a 1986 drama film written and directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. Starring Erland Josephson, the film was produced by the Swedish Film Institute. Many of the crew were alumni of Ingmar Bergman's films, including cinematographer Sven Nykvist. The Sacrifice centers on a middle-aged intellectual who attempts to bargain with God to stop an impending nuclear holocaust. The film combines pagan and Christian religious themes; Tarkovsky called it a "parable".

The Sacrifice was Tarkovsky's third film as a Soviet expatriate, after Nostalghia and the documentary Voyage in Time, and he died shortly after its completion. He was diagnosed with cancer after filming concluded, and by 1986, was unable to attend its presentation at the Cannes Film Festival due to his illness. Like 1972's Solaris by Tarkovsky, The Sacrifice also won the Grand Prix at the Cannes.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “The Sacrifice” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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