The seduction of the Other: dynamics of desire in <i>Nostalghia</i> by Andrej Tarkovskij

Abstract

This study is aimed at investigating the dynamics of desire, also linked to the theme of the gaze, as it can be found in the film Nostalghia (1983) by Andrej Tarkovskij. First of all, the study will analyze the desire of Gorčakov, the main character, to see his remote Russia and its slow focus, thanks to the encounter with the 'crazy' marginalized Domenico, on the will to bring a candlelight from one side to the other of an ancient thermal pool. Through an approach mainly related to thematic criticism (halfway between cinema and literature) we will try to demonstrate the interrelationships, from the point of view of seduction and analysis of fetish objects, between the desire of the protagonist and that of Domenico. Using also some means of social critique offered by Michel Foucault, we shall obtain results never previously analyzed by critical studies on Tarkovskij and Nostalghia.

Keywords

• Desiderio
• Nostalgia
• Follia
• Ritorno
• Seduzione