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Rated Nostalgia 5/10

I like Tarkovsky. We all know he's an influential director. And knowing that everyone puts him on a pedestal, this will be hard to write. Stalker and Nostalgia are the only 2 movies I've seen of him and they're both visually stunning. But there's something that stops me from loving this one so much like all the other reviews I see here. I will focus on femininity on this review since its a very important theme in the movie. There are two pillars of femininity in the movie. Motherhood and free but lost young women in search of happiness. He paints motherhood as this holy sacrificial role and our lost young chaotic love deprived girl is Eugenia. Eugenia in the scene with Madonna of childbirth doesn't want to kneel, as if she's scared or naive to the concept of motherhood. She's not ready yet obviously, but it's more than that, it's almost as if she has to be ready for it. It's almost as if Andrei wants us to appreciate how special motherhood is and how its the duty of all young lost women to kneel to Madonna of childbirth. Much later in the movie, there's a scene where Andrei and Eugenia are kind of arguing and Andrei is being stubborn with her and at some point she gets frustrated and leaves. After Andrei is done with his quest and turns back to his room, Eugenia is there with a night gown ready to let out all her frustration. She tells him how she's frustrated with him, but not only him. She can't find love. Then all of a sudden she shows him her left breast in frustration to get his attention and finally make him value her sexually, even though she knows that they wouldn't be together sexually since he's so loyal to his family in Moscow. They continue their fight outside the room and when she's going back to the room, he slaps her ..ass? Eugenia eventually goes back to Rome and finds this provider macho partner who will fulfill all her needs. She's finally ready to have a child. She's finally kneeling to Madonna of Childbirth. Another young lost girl completing her role. I am talking about this not to woke shame an 20th century Russian director. I am talking about this because it's interesting to me. Nostalgia is a very personal movie and you can tell even in scenes like these that Andrei is an antifeminist. I couldn't help myself but to dissect his mentality after watching it. I found this on IMDB: Interviewer : Andrei, what do you think about women? Are they only men's companions or something more? Andrei Tarkovsky : A woman, for me, must remain a woman. I don't understand her when she pretends to be anything different or special; no longer a woman, but almost a man. Women call this 'equality'. A woman's beauty, her being unique, lies in her essence; which is not different - but only opposed to that of man. To preserve this essence is her main task. No, a woman is not just man's companion, she is something more. I don't find a woman appealing when she is deprived of her prerogatives; including weakness and femininity - her being the incarnation of love in this world. I have great respect for women, whom I have known often to be stronger and better than men; so long as they remain women. It's just annoying for something good to be ruined by intellectual men clinging on to the very thing that made them so much more successful than the rest, patriarchy. And yes I can still appreciate his talent but honestly its tiring to feel this way. I just hoped men of this caliber would treat the theme of femininity in a more progressive way.

#movie

Published 2024-11-07 00:00 UTC · bridged from Atmosphere