Mosfilm restored two parts of the film “Passion for Andrei”
Photo: frame of the film.
This is the original version of the director of the famous painting, which in the final version was named Andrey Rublev.
Chips, dirt on the film, the so-called “grain” and scratches in close-ups are the disease of almost all Soviet paints. Due to the poor condition of the source material, the restorers faced a difficult task, which they coped with. And now the updated Rublev is available for viewing on the Mosfilm YouTube channel.
The history of the creation of this picture and its path to the audience was long. In the early 1960s, actor Vasily Livanov set out to make a film about the great Russian icon painter of the 15th century. And play an important role in it. The fact is that the future Honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire (for the role of Sherlock Holmes) graduated from the Moscow Art School at the USSR Academy of Arts, drew beautifully and in his youth he spent a long time. in the Tretyakov Gallery, where there is a room of Andrei Rublev. True, Tarkovsky later writes that in the room where Rublev’s famous “Trinity” hangs, it was almost always dark, because museum visitors rarely looked there. But Livanov looked …
He shared his idea of making a film about Andrei Rublev with Andrei Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky and Andrei Tarkovsky. And they also caught fire. They began to write the script, which required the study of historical materials and took almost two years.
After long preparatory work from April 26, 1965, the film was finally put into production (actual shooting took place between October 1964 and July 1966).
It was not Livanov who was approved for the main role, but Stanislav Lyubshin. But at rehearsals, Tarkovsky had a hard time with Lyubshin. And he chose Anatoly Solonitsyn, an unknown actor at that time from Sverdlovsk. The artistic council of the Mosfilm studio did not accept this choice at first. But Tarkovsky insisted:
“Solonitsyn is a special actor, and I think we will not find another Andrei like him. He is not only talented, but also wise. Tarkovsky even consulted with experts in ancient Russian art. And they, looking at Solonitsyn’s samples, said: it seems!
The artist got so used to the role that during the shooting he was silent for four months, so that by the episode of the removal of Andrei Rublev’s vow of silence, his voice sounded hoarse.
Other actors also caused a serious discussion in the artistic council: “Only Kononov should be brought to Foma, this is good. For a fool, I would prefer Tarkovskaya, although Urgant is an excellent actress. The role of the fool, for which Andrei Rublev commits murder and takes a vow of silence, was played by Tarkovsky’s first wife, actress and director, Irma Rausch, who later received the Crystal Star award from the French Film Academy.
The search for an actor for the role of the son of a foundry master, Boriska, took a long time, until they finally settled on the candidacy of Nikolai Burlyaev, a student of the Shchukin Theater School. It may seem strange to some that Tarkovsky did not immediately think of Burlyaev; after all, 15-year-old Nikolai brilliantly played the main role in his film Ivan’s Childhood. But the fact is that initially the role of Boriska was not conceived for him. It was designed for a talented young man from the cinematographic circle – the poet Sergei Chudakov. But while the work was being done, preparations for the film were underway, Chudakov was not at Boriska’s age.
Klyuchar Patrikey, played by Yuri Nikulin, was a real historical person. During the invasion of the Tatars, he hid valuables from the church and did not reveal the secret even under torture.
Rolan Bykov played a jester. The artist refused the help of the choreographer during the jester dance rehearsals. And the dance, ditties and music for them came up with Bykov.
After numerous corrections, which were insisted on by members of the artistic council of Mosfilm and the Goskino management, in December 1966 the premiere of the film “Andrei Rublev” took place. Reaction to this film has been mixed, from enthusiastic to strongly negative. Critics reproached the authors of the picture for the length and distortion of the story, although the director did not set himself the task of accurately recreating the era.
In the USSR, the picture, after cuts and re-editing, appeared on the screens in 1971, and only in 1987 its restored version was released in wide distribution.
Today “Andrei Rublev” is recognized as one of the main works of Andrei Tarkovsky. The film is included in the top 100 films in the history of world cinema.
