Title of error

See Help

Andrei Rublev

Andrei Tarkovsky’s tour de force about Russia’s famous medieval painter won the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes.

Biopic 1966 183 mins

Director: Andrei Tarkovsky

Subscribe to watch

Overview

Tarkovsky’s second feature takes us to 15th century Russia where Rublev, a monk and gifted artist, is looking for work. Revered as Russia’s most famous medieval painter, the film focuses on his struggle with society and with his faith, as he witnesses pagan merrymaking, brutal warmongering raids and the volatile whims of a Grand Duke.

Filmed almost entirely in black-and-white, the film’s ending, coming after an epic and turbulent journey through history, delivers a deeply moving cloudburst of colour. Set in medieval Russia but made during the 1960s in the Soviet Union, the film fell foul of the authorities and nationalists who accused it of being ‘anti-historical’, and they demanded a series of cuts and suppressed its release for several years. The version you see here is Tarkovsky’s. Ranked joint 67th in the 2022 Sight and Sound Great Films of All Time poll.

Director

Andrei Tarkovsky

Featuring

Anatoli Solonitsyn , Ivan Lapikov , Nikolai Grinko , Nikolai Sergeyev and Irina Tarkovskaya

Genres

Biopic

Certificate

strong violence, threat

Country

USSR

Language

Russian with English subtitles

Accessibility

Subscribe to watch

The People vs. Larry Flynt The People vs. Larry Flynt

Biopic 1996 130 mins Director: Milos Forman

Milos Forman’s provocative biopic starring Woody Harrelson as a notorious pornographer turned unlikely hero and champion of free speech.

Subscribe to watch

Caligula: The Ultimate Cut Caligula: The Ultimate Cut

Period drama 2023 178 mins Director: Tinto Brass

Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren star in one of the most controversial films in cinema history, presented here in an entirely new cut compiled from the original rushes.

Subscribe to watch

Tchaikovsky's Wife Tchaikovsky's Wife

Drama 2022 144 mins Director: Kirill Serebrennikov

Award-winning director Kirill Serebrennikov (Petrov's Flu) charts the tumultuous relationship between the 19th-century composer and his wife, in this poignant and powerful biopic.