Quite possibly my favourite film. Quite why I'm not always sure -- perhaps this is really a rather pretentious film ? Perhaps one in which a long time is spent without engaging the audience ? One with perhaps the most unlikely postman one might meet outside of a Bergman film set ? But, from the moment the camera opens lovingly on the icon, to the closing as the ambulance drives away, I find myself captivated, and drawn back to watch again. As with Tarkovsky's other films, certain images linger long in the memory:"little man" watering the ikebana, the levitating witch, the crashing milk jug, the roar of the jets. For those of us cursed with a lifetime of weekly wage slavery this is a fine restorative film for the spirit.