The Relationship Between Surrealism And The Omnipotence Of Cinema

Originally

«Surrealism was an avant-garde art movement in Paris from 1924 to 1941, consisting of a small group of writers, artists, and filmmakers, including André Breton (1896–1966), Salvador Dali (1904–1989), and Luis Buñuel (1900–1983). The movement used shocking, irrational, or absurd imagery and Freudian dream symbolism to challenge the traditional function of art to represent reality. Related to Dada cinema, Surrealist cinema is characterized by juxtapositions, the rejection of dramatic psychology, and a frequent use of shocking imagery.»(1)

In 1920s France was suffering from the Great Depression as well as many other countries. In the midst of the crisis in the economy the new art movement appeared and started to develop very quickly.

Surrealists deny the power of logic and consciousness as the main instruments of perception and move towards empirical and unconscious way of cognition of the world and the place of art in it.

In my opinion this idea was described perfectly by James M. Margin in his article

«Surrealism» and the Omnipotence of Cinema» (2007):

«... to overturn the world view of scientific positivism, exposing the dogmatic conceptions of vision and language, the supposed guarantors of truth and being, as arbitrary, deceptive tools of modernity’s oppressive ‘rational '” ideology. Locating the means by which to intuitively grasp reality within the powerful, uncharted drives of the unconscious, Surrealism attempts to integrate these primordial forces into our waking consciousness in hopes of transfiguring and enhancing the manner in which we perceive, communicate and respond to reality.» (2)

Surrealists are not concerned with conjuring up some magic world that can be defined as 'surreal '. Their interest is almost exclusively in exploring the conjunctions, the points of contact, between different realms of existence. Surrealism is always about

(5)

A.Tarkovsky had his unique visual style, which distinguished him from all other film

directors. According to the article by Maximilian Le Cain (2002):

«His visionary approach to cinematic time and space, as well as his commitment to cinema as poetry, mark his oeuvre as one of the defining

moments in the development of the modern art film.»(6)

The films which were made by Andrei Tarkovsky are characterized by very long takes,

slow pace and unexpected authored use of editing. He emphasized nature in his films as the symbol of power, mystery and life. However the visual style is not the only thing which makes this director so unique and distinctive. All of his works can be described as philosophical and metaphysical parable. The sense of time plays a big role in his films as

well. As Tarkovsky once said:

«Time, printed in its factual forms and manifestations: such is the

supreme idea of cinema as an art...On that I build my working

hypothesis, both practical and theoretical». (7)

All of this elements create the special unrepeatable atmosphere in his films, the unique

kind of universe with its own rules of existence. I think that Tarkovsky’s film Stalker is