How Andrei Tarkovsky's unequal marriage became his salvation

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

They were so different that it was impossible to imagine them together. Nevertheless, Andrei Tarkovsky and Larisa Kizilova lived together for 16 years, until the last day of the director. Tarkovsky's entourage did not accept his second wife, she was sometimes even frankly ridiculed. But the director himself, despite all his many hobbies and loves, invariably returned to Larisa. And even physically he could not exist without her.

Hurricane named Larissa

Their acquaintance took place during the filming of the film "Andrei Rublev", where Larisa Kizilova was an assistant. This role did not satisfy her, she undoubtedly wanted more. It seemed that she was least suited to the role of the wife of a genius. And she was able to become an absolutely irreplaceable person for him.

Going to her main goal, Larisa did not pay any attention to such trifles as the director's wife, who, by the way, starred in "Andrei Rublev", or to ridicule from the film crew. She adored Tarkovsky and was ready for any sacrifice to be near him.

In the hotel room, under the very nose of the administrator, she cooked some mind-blowing borscht for Tarkovsky, setting the electric stove right in the closet. Of course, she was not visible, but the aromas were walking along the corridors such that there was no doubt: the director's dinner was already ready. In short breaks between filming, he was handed a bag of sandwiches, which Larisa also prepared.

When Larisa Kizilova and Andrei Tarkovsky, in the company of two friends, went to a restaurant, the girl literally turned everyone around with her dances. Hardly anyone could call her graceful, rather, she was a living embodiment of women from Kustodiev's paintings, but there was some kind of special “sweetness” in her, which conquered Tarkovsky as a result. However, we must not forget about her phenomenally tasty food and ability to create coziness even within a single hotel room. There was still a lot of time until the end of filming, and the director could no longer imagine how he did without Larisa before. As soon as she left on business in Moscow, he literally became physically ill.

The director of the picture, Tamara Ogorodnikova, had to immediately ask the assistant to return, because the filming would simply stop without her. Larisa, on the other hand, very quickly realized her need for the director and only increased her importance in his eyes. When he was with his wife in a restaurant, she could appear in the hall surrounded by men and enjoy the way her lover burns with jealousy. And yet he left his first wife. Four years after the end of the filming of "Andrei Rublev" Larisa Kizilova became the wife of Andrei Tarkovsky.

Different people

They were incredibly different even outwardly, and their tastes and manners were radically different. Tarkovsky was intelligent and restrained, Kizilova was emotional, assertive and very active. They were all considered not a couple, they were surprised, they partly sympathized with the director, they frankly did not love his wife. It seemed to everyone that she did not at all correspond to the status of the director's wife. She was from a Ryazan village and could not, no matter how hard she tried, to become a secular lioness. But she turned out to be a wonderful wife of a genius.

He frankly said: "If it weren't for Larochka, I would be gone for a long time."The wife freed Andrei Tarkovsky from any household worries and problems so that he could calmly engage in creativity. She became a real keeper of his family hearth, organizer of all affairs, administrator, assistant and mother of his son Andrey.

In any place, wherever the Tarkovskys lived, cleanliness, comfort and warmth reigned. Tarkovsky's friends saw in this signs of philistinism and vulgarity, but at the same time they did not refuse the delicious fragrant pies that Larisa regaled. Tarkovsky admired the sacrifice with which she served him. He even spoke with amazement to his acquaintances that Larissa could easily kill for him. This ability of her to sacrifice everything to her husband literally fascinated Tarkovsky. True, without interfering at all with this being carried away by other women and changing the one without whom he could not live.

She knew about all his passions and even met with them. Natalya Bondarchuk, with whom Andrei Tarkovsky had an affair during the filming of Solaris, she told how difficult the director is in ordinary life, how difficult his character is. And the young girl can hardly bear it all. However, Larisa did not forget to mention her friend, whom she personally gave money to so that she would get rid of pregnancy. She was expecting a child, of course, from Tarkovsky.

Stronger than the calamity of the earth

Despite the diametrical opposition in views, tastes and characters, their union turned out, contrary to all forecasts, to be indestructible. Thanks to Larisa. She was able to create such conditions for Tarkovsky that he simply did not want to go anywhere. To get carried away - yes, to leave - no.

There, in the outside world, there were difficult filming, misunderstandings of the management or conflicts with officials. But at home he was simply idolized. The wife literally enveloped him with her love and care, creating the illusion of complete protection from the outside world for her husband. However, this was not far from the truth. She was ready to protect him under any circumstances. But she could no longer protect herself from a terrible disease.

Andrei Tarkovsky died of cancer in December 1986, Larisa Tarkovskaya survived her husband for eleven years and rested next to him in the Russian cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois near Paris.

In 1972, Andrei Tarkovsky's film Solaris was released, in which Natalia Bondarchuk played the main role. This work was significant not only in her professional biography, because behind the scenes feelings remained that led her to a dead end and forever divided life into "before" and "after" …