Slow narration in Voyage in Time by Andrei Tarkovsky and Tonino Guerra (1983)

Abstract

The main purpose of this article is to rethink the documentary filmmaking of Andrei Tarkovsky and Tonino Guerra in the context of the new spiritual challenges of the modern era and to assess the potential of the audio-visual language of the travelogue Tempo di viaggio (Voyage in Time) () within the slow cinema discourse. This article focuses on the analysis of the ways to slow down the narrative in Voyage in Time. Apart from focusing on the significance of screen images, it aims to define the role of background audio content, including spiritual singing, which is used by the filmmakers in the prologue and epilogue to create a ‘circular frame’. The documentary narrative of Voyage in Time is transformed into a slow poetic film text in which the everyday rises to the level of the artistic, and the temporary to the level of the eternal.