Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. Cast: Erland Josephson, Susan Fleetwood, Valerie Mairesse, Allan Edwall, Gudrun Gisladottir, Sven Wollter.
Director, Writer: Andrei Tarkovsky
Erland Josephson, Susan Fleetwood, Valerie Mairesse, Allan Edwall, Gudrun Gisladottir, Sven Wollter, Filippa Franzen, Tommy Kjellqvist.
Alexander's birthday is interrupted by the news that World War III has just begun and humanity is on the brink of total annihilation. Although an atheist, Alexander will sacrifice his family, his home and even his infant son to God in order to save the world.
The birthday of Alexander, a journalist, writer, theatre and literary critic who lives with his family in a house in the middle of nowhere, is marked by the news that nuclear war is imminent. Overcome with fear, he prays for the first time in his life and promises God that he will sacrifice everything precious to him in order to save humanity from total destruction. When he wakes up the next day, he realises that everything is as it was before. God has accepted his sacrifice, and he fulfils his promise. He burns his house, leaves his family, deprives himself of his child and falls into silence and madness.
In Swedish and Icelandic with Greek subtitles.
