Is Anybody Here A Tarkovsky Fan Who May Know 2 Lines Of Dialogue?
Odd post, but….I need the quote for the James Thorp book, so I'm tossing it out there
This is a strange thing to ask maybe but I wanted to place a quote from a Tarkovsky film that I greatly resonate with at the top of the James Thorp manuscript, and certainly have no time to go find it.
I’m at a stage now where I work until 3, 4 or even (in one case) 6 am and sleep in my clothes, to save time.
In order to justify a book you have to bring into it, absorb into it, a summation of all it should express in the context of its time. This one has many gates of information open and with waves continually crashing in. There comes a point where the vast puzzle starts to solve itself in your mind—how things must be sequenced in order for the book to be alive as opposed to dead. That’s my goal, in addition, of course, to all the facts being glowingly accurate.
In any case, here is my request which I doubt anybody will be able to answer, yet you all always amaze me.
I lament losing contact—a good 8 months ago or more—with a person here who was perhaps the creator of the Tarkovsky film, the new one? I lose these connections for reasons I do not “understand.” Could it be those holes in the sun interfering with our connectivity and short term memory?
What I Am In Search Of
There is a scene in Tarkovsky’s The Sacrifice where the two Swedish professors during the nuclear winter are discussing evil. From memory, it went something like this:
Professor 1: “What then, is evil?”
Professor 2: “Everything that is not necessary.”
I am absolutely neither a film knower, nor a Tarkovsky knower—I just never forgot that exquisite definition of “evil,” in that exchange. And now I wonder if anybody reading this by some fluke is enough of a Tarkovsky buff to tell me what the script’s wording was, exactly.
I want it to be the opening quote of the whole book.
Thank you for bearing with me.
I believe today is the final day.
I love that you put this out there and asked the community that seeks to support you for help. (And I'm completely unsurprised that they came through.) Your substack is a beautiful place. If you ever have any doubt about the importance of your work, look to your readers and the community you've cultivated here. This little microcosm of humanity is such a hopeful spark!
Celia, start watching at 21:00 with subtitles on—ah, Tarkovsky!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzVkwyJIL88