The Sacrifice (1986) [French]

A complete set of 12 cards from what sadly proved to be the final film of master filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky: “The Sacrifice” (1986). Tarkovsky was diagnosed with an incurable cancer condition during the making of the film and he was taken by illness not long after the film was released – to much critical acclaim. Perhaps purposefully stopping short of showing the iconic “flaming house” image, this is a fine set with a wonderful colour palette accurately reflecting the on-screen imagery.

Somewhat frustratingly just one of the 12 images here is in portrait format, whereas the others are all the more typical landscape style. However, given the nature of the subject matter of that 12th and final card, I can fully appreciate why the marketing people at the time decided to include it – even though is jars with the formatting of the rest of the set. It’s a stunning image in it’s own right:

See also a partial batch of 4 black and white press photographs from the same film.