The Cinematheque

“[An] existential masterpiece … Stalker is a movie to be watched as many times as physically possible, to be picked apart, discussed, argued over, written about, to inspire music, books, poetry, other movies, teachers, philosophers, historians, governments, even the way an individual might choose to live their life. It really is that astounding.”

David Jenkins, Little White Lies

Tarkovsky’s immersive, deeply mysterious masterpiece has been likened to ​“The Wizard of Oz adapted by a disciple of Dostoevsky and Kafka” (Philip French, The Guardian). In a post-apocalyptic police state, two men—a writer and a scientist—engage the special skills of a Stalker to guide them through the forbidden Zone, a damp, fecund, overgrown wasteland where the rules of nature no longer apply. At the Zone’s centre is the Room, a place where the deepest desires of one’s heart are said to come true. Their extraordinary journey will test the limits of the way each of the three protagonists makes sense of the world. The film is distinguished by a remarkable sense of tactility, composed of striking sepia images, and offers layer upon layer of meaning. Stalker is a haunting and unforgettable work from a director whose too-few films are quite unlike anything else in cinema.

In Russian with English subtitles

“Mesmerizing … Not an easy film, but almost certainly a great one.”

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader