So how many of you think Tarkovsky was murdered?

It should still really be more discussed these days. I know in the early 90’s in Russia it was briefly a big deal when some evidence emerged, but today it just feels like an afterthought. I find it sad.

Tarkovsky is among cinema’s greatest filmmakers, if not perhaps the best.

Damn you KGB.

Who knows? I think it’s more likely that he, Tarkovskaya, Solonitsyn were all inadvertantly exposed to some sort of toxin while making Stalker

“We were shooting near Tallinn in the area around the small river Piliteh with a half-functioning hydroelectric station,” says Vladimir Sharun. “Up the river was a chemical plant and it poured out poisonous liquids downstream. There is even this shot in Stalker: snow falling in the summer and white foam floating down the river. In fact it was some horrible poison. Many women in our crew got allergic reactions on their faces. Tarkovsky died from cancer of the right bronchial tube. And Tolya Solonitsyn too. That it was all connected to the location shooting for Stalker became clear to me when Larissa Tarkovskaya died from the same illness in Paris”

I was aware of the Stalker attribution, but what is the evidence for KGB having murdered him, Daniel?

A culture of paranoia has always existed in russia around their security services ,the omnipotence granted the KGB/FSB by dissidents is quite amusing.

@ kenji,

Back in the early ’90s, there were some former KGB agents who alleged that Chebrikov ordered him assassinated because they felt his films had become “Anti-Soviet.” Certainly not out of the realm oof possibility given the more recent Litvinenko poisoning and the like, but . . .

Yes, but didn’t Tarkovsky leave the USSR after Stalker? What would be the point in having him murdered? Also he died in 1986 at the beginning of the end of the Soviet era.

Yes, but, on the other hand, they got to Chebrikov outside of Russia and that was well after the end of the Soviet era.

well, i keep an open mind, but how was he physically anyway, and how was the alleged assassination carried out, or was it intended assassination that wasn’t needed after all?

The murder conspiracy is rather absurd, Daniel. But Matt is likely right that him and various of his collaborators from “Stalker” dying of cancer must have had to do with toxification due to the exposure to poisonous liquids. The circumstances are also being explained in the recent documentary “Rerberg and Tarkovsky: The Reverse Side of Stalker”.

I think he was killed. Stanley Kubrick was also killed…

Tarkovsky was a heavy smoker and died of lung cancer. He was diagnosed and knew he was dying of it when filming The Sacrifice. It is absurd to think he was ‘murdered’, even though he had exiled himself from the Soviet Union for the last few years of his life. Kieślowski also died at the same age (54). I believe he was also a smoker, but don’t know the cause of his death. Unfortunately, smoking shortens many a life, especially in areas and times where it is commonplace. For these two creative filmmakers, it was a major loss. No sense trying to make up conspiracy theories about it, though.

Edit: OK, I see this is going to become yet another of those inane and pointless threads on MUBI. Sorry I posted here.

I am not sure which I would rather die from:

a) KGB

b) cigarettes

c) chemical foam on a poisoned river flowing through a barren set piece.

all kind of depressing.

I heard it was the butler with the kitchen knife in the drawing room….

^^ ha ha ha

@ Bob

Even with Tarkovsky being a smoker, three people who were on the set extensively dying of what I believe was the same type of cancer within a short span of time would be odd. That’s why I tend to think that the theory that there was some sort of carcinogen that they were (inadvertantly) exposed to during the shoot has some merit.

@ Matt Parks, yes, several former KGB agents came forward saying they had been ordered by Chebrikov to eliminate Tarkovsky because his films were anti-Soviet propaganda. There were other memos found as well but it’s been a while since I first read them.

Tarkovsky being assassinated is really not as absurd as many here clearly think it to be. Things like this still happen regularly.

Well it may not be absurd, certainly some intention may have existed (i doubt he was causing enough trouble to merit that but who knows how minds work?), but isn’t the cause of death still more likely from smoking +/or Stalker carcinogen? What evidence is there of his dying from other causes, or are you saying the KGB caused cancer, or that cancer wasn’t the true case?

I’m not sure how much stock I would place in KGB memos. I sure they had a file on Tarkovsky, but was there a “Kill Tarkovsky” memo on file? And I’m not sure ex-KGB are the most reliable witnesses. Fans like for the artists to be martyrs, but . . .

Also, did the former KGB agents say they had actually carried out the orders? Alleged motive and intention are not enough, real evidence is needed

no no no – it said Kill BILL: vol 1

Two plus two, I think getting killed by the KGB would be pretty cool. I choose A.

Wouldn’t it be cooler to outsmart and not be killed by the KGB?

I think von Trier did it.

^ good bet…

He was literally bored to death while screening one of his own films.

I wouldn’t put it out of the realm of possibility, in the tradition of Pasolini even, followed up by Kubrick for “Eyes Wide Shut”. Who knows? Whosoever tells the truth shall die being the Draconian edict.

followed up by Kubrick for “Eyes Wide Shut”.

What does that mean? Is there some Kubrick was murdered theory?

@ Tannhowser

Yes, there is quite a bit of speculation that he was murdered for revealing the secret doings of an elite that is not unlike the folks and their activities during the whole “masked ball” sequence.

I just recently heard about this Kubrick business as well.

Just in case you really value your time, I should tell you now that these aforementioned theories most commonly center around the Illuminati.