About

Andrei Tarkovsky described his final film as a poetic parable about 'the absence in our culture of a space dedicated to spiritual life'. Alexander (Erland Josephson) is an actor who has retired and withdrawn to live on an isolated island with his wife Adelaide (Susan Fleetwood) and his six-year-old son, the focus of his hopes for the future. After planting a tree with his son, he welcomes guests on his birthday. In the middle of the celebrations, the sky suddenly darkens and the television news announces a nuclear catastrophe. Alexander makes a covenant with God to sacrifice everything and never speak again if the disaster can be averted. His final film, Tarkovsky was in hospital undergoing cancer treatment while completing the editing of The Sacrifice and died soon after the film's release.