Samuel Beckett – Waiting for Godot

Like Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, Samuel Beckett was an important exponent of existential nihilism, a philosophical theory, which negates the meaning of human existence and judges it to be futile and absurd. It also holds that there is no guidance to be found in any religious or philosophical system, in other words: “recognize your pointless condition, then learn to bear it.” In contrast to Sartre and Camus, Beckett’s worldview can be described as an infinite deal more nihilistic, which also features prominently in many of his works including his famous play Waiting for Godot.

In the middle of his career, between 1948 and 1949, Beckett wrote Waiting for Godot in French (original title: En attendant Godot) and later translated it into English, whereby the subtitle A tragiccomedy in two acts was added. Way back then the play was widely criticized for its unusual structure: only two acts, only two main characters and a very minimalistic setting. The play premiered 1953 in Paris and 1955 in London and both French and English critics sang from the same hymnal: “We’ve never seen anything like this” or “this play changed the rules of theatre”. They turned out to be right. Waiting for Godot has since become one of the best known plays of the 20^th and 21^st century and has fascinated audiences all over the world. 

Andrei Tarkovsky – Nostalghia

Nostalghia (1983) is one of the late films by Soviet writer and director Andrei Tarkovsky starring Oleg Yankovsky, Domiziana Giordano and Erland Josephson.

Its production differs quite a lot from Tarkovsky’s earlier works, not only because it is his first film directed outside the Soviet Union, but also because he could additionally draw on financial reserves provided by Italian State Television and a French film company near completion. Most of the scenes were shot in Italy using picturesque locations in northern Lazio and Tuscany with the latter also being the main place of setting within the storyline.

The plot revolves around the Russian writer Andrei Gorchakov and his travel to Italy. He aims to research the life of Russian composer Pavel Sosnovsky, who used to live in a villa in the Tuscan countryside and committed suicide shortly after his return to Russia. Accompanying him on this journey is Eugenia, his Italian interpreter, who makes no secret of being attracted to Gorchakov, but gets rejected.