Still from Mirror (dir. Andrei Tarkovsky, 1975)
„Why do I so frequently include a levitation scene, a body rising up? Simply because the scene has a great power. This way things can be created that are more cinematic, more photogenic. When I imagine a person suspended in mid-air, it pleases me... I find myself filled with emotion. If some fool asks me why in my last film people float up in the air, I would say: «It’s magic». If the same question came from someone with a more acute intelligence & poetic sensibility, I would respond that for these characters love was not the same thing as it was for the author of Betty Blue. For me love is the supreme manifestation of mutual understanding, and this cannot be represented by the sexual act. Everybody says that if there is no «love» in a film, it is because of censorship. In reality it is not «love» that’s shown on screen but the sexual act. The sexual act is for everyone, for every couple, something unique. When it is put into films, it’s the opposite.” (Andrei Tarkovsky - Sculpting in Time: Reflections on the Cinema)
Andrei Tarkovsky & Margarita Terekhova on the set of Mirror (dir. Andrei Tarkovsky, 1975)