# The Sacrifice
**The Sacrifice** (Swedish original title *Offret*) is a 1986 drama film written and directed by [Andrei Tarkovsky](https://www.edgepedia.org/andrei-tarkovsky), his seventh and final feature. A Swedish, French, and United Kingdom co-production led by the Swedish Film Institute with Argos Films, it follows a retired journalist who offers everything he has to God to prevent an outbreak of nuclear war.[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/401377/) • [2](https://www.filminstitutet.se/sv/fa-kunskap-om-film/ta-del-av-filmsamlingarna/filmer/offret/) Tarkovsky called the film "a parable" about the individual's responsibility toward world events as a whole.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/60092/the-sacrifice) • [2](https://www.filminstitutet.se/sv/fa-kunskap-om-film/ta-del-av-filmsamlingarna/filmer/offret/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title / year | *Offret*, 1986; international title *Sacrifice*[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/401377/) |
| Director and writer | Andrei Tarkovsky, his final feature[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/401377/) |
| Runtime and format | 149 minutes; 35 mm, 1.66:1, color[4](https://www.dfi.dk/en/viden-om-film/filmdatabasen/film/offeret) |
| Key crew | Cinematography Sven Nykvist; production design Anna Asp; editing Tarkovsky and Michal Leszczylowski; producer Anna-Lena Wibom[4](https://www.dfi.dk/en/viden-om-film/filmdatabasen/film/offeret) |
| Lead cast | Erland Josephson (Alexander), Susan Fleetwood (Adelaide), Allan Edwall (Otto), Gudrun Gisladottir (Maria), Valerie Mairesse (Julia), Sven Wollter (Victor)[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/60092/the-sacrifice) |
| Cannes 1986 | Grand Prix Spécial du Jury; Best Artistic Contribution for Sven Nykvist; FIPRESCI Prize; Prize of the Ecumenical Jury; Palme d'Or nominee[5](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/retrospective/1986/awards/) |
| Later honors | BAFTA Best Foreign Language Film (1988); Guldbagge for 1986's best film[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091670/awards/) • [2](https://www.filminstitutet.se/sv/fa-kunskap-om-film/ta-del-av-filmsamlingarna/filmer/offret/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Alexander, a journalist and former actor and philosopher, tells his young son how worried he is by the lack of spirituality in modern mankind. On the night of his birthday, as his family gathers at their house, news arrives that the Third World War has broken out. In despair, [Alexander](https://www.edgepedia.org/alexander) prays to God, offering everything he has if only the war does not happen at all.[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/401377/) The postman Otto advises him to seduce Maria, the family's maid, who is reputedly a witch; Alexander's pact carries consequences he must then honor, culminating in his burning of his house and possessions.[7](https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle%3A%3Apermalink=sacrifice-2026) The film closes with an image of the boy watering a dead tree, a symbol of hope in the future.[8](https://fresques.ina.fr/festival-de-cannes-fr/fiche-media/Cannes00238/palmares-du-festival-1986.html)
### Interpretation and standing
Commentators have read the film as a synthesis of Tarkovsky's recurring concerns: the poetic memory of *Mirror*, the spiritual reflection of *Andrei Rublev*, and the meditation on time in *Solaris*, converging in a final statement in which art and life merge.[9](https://cadenaser.com/aragon/2025/08/20/sacrificio-cierra-en-hecho-el-ciclo-de-cine-tarkovsky-bach-radio-jaca-ser-pirineos/) Tarkovsky himself explained his purpose in making it: "I wanted to show that man can restore his links by renewing his covenant with the source of his soul."[16](https://thesis.ncad.ie/T1004_Study%20of%20Three%20Films_NC00201278.pdf) A 4K restoration returned the film to cinemas for its fortieth anniversary.[17](https://kilntheatre.com/whats-on/the-sacrafice/)
## Production
Tarkovsky, an exile from the Soviet Union, shot the film in Sweden on the island of Gotland, in a Scandinavian landscape of changing skies, solitary trees, and gray seas that matches the story's meditative, near-apocalyptic tone.[2](https://www.filminstitutet.se/sv/fa-kunskap-om-film/ta-del-av-filmsamlingarna/filmer/offret/) • [9](https://cadenaser.com/aragon/2025/08/20/sacrificio-cierra-en-hecho-el-ciclo-de-cine-tarkovsky-bach-radio-jaca-ser-pirineos/) He worked with several close collaborators of [Ingmar Bergman](https://www.edgepedia.org/ingmar-bergman), most notably the cinematographer Sven Nykvist, Bergman's longtime director of photography, and the cast included the Bergman regular Erland Josephson.[10](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-sacrifice-1986) Roger Ebert, the [Chicago Sun-Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-sun-times) critic, observed that the film at moments looks uncannily like a work by Bergman, and judged the resemblance intentional: Tarkovsky was working with Bergman's materials and subjects on Bergman's home ground.[10](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-sacrifice-1986)
The music includes [Johann Sebastian Bach](https://www.edgepedia.org/johann-sebastian-bach)'s "Erbarme dich" from the *St Matthew Passion* at the opening and close, together with pieces by the shakuhachi player Watazumido Shuso.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/60092/the-sacrifice) • [11](https://www.nostalghia.com/TheTopics/Offret/Offret_Synopsis.html)
**The burning of the house.** The climactic scene, in which Alexander burns his house, was filmed twice. Tarkovsky insisted on shooting it with a single camera, but the camera failed partway through the take and the house burnt to the ground with the shot unfinished. The production built a new house, and on the second attempt the scene was recorded with two cameras at once as a precaution.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/60092/the-sacrifice) • [2](https://www.filminstitutet.se/sv/fa-kunskap-om-film/ta-del-av-filmsamlingarna/filmer/offret/) The film's editor Michal Leszczylowski later described the year he spent working with Tarkovsky, who fell ill shortly after shooting concluded, in a [Sight and Sound](https://www.edgepedia.org/sight-and-sound) account.[12](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/he-was-giant-work-michal-leszczylowski-editor-sacrifice-andrei-tarkovsky)
## Tarkovsky's illness and the film's dedication
Tarkovsky was diagnosed with lung cancer in December 1985, when the film was already in late editing, and he completed it from his sickbed before dying on 29 December 1986 in Paris.[2](https://www.filminstitutet.se/sv/fa-kunskap-om-film/ta-del-av-filmsamlingarna/filmer/offret/) • [13](https://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/filmhistoria/article/download/12368/15137/22373) Because the film's apocalyptic subject matter led many viewers to assume he knew he was dying while making it, the [Turner Classic Movies](https://www.edgepedia.org/turner-classic-movies) profile by James Steffen, a scholar of Russian cinema, stresses that *The Sacrifice* was not conceived as a last testament: Tarkovsky's health began to decline seriously only in November 1985, and he still had projects in mind, including *Hoffmaniana*, based on the writings of [E. T. A. Hoffmann](https://www.edgepedia.org/e-t-a-hoffmann), and an adaptation of *Hamlet*.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/60092/the-sacrifice)
The film is dedicated to Tarkovsky's son Andrei. Father and son had been separated by the Soviet authorities, and the son was permitted to leave the USSR only after his father's cancer diagnosis; he traveled to Cannes and accepted the festival award on his father's behalf.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/60092/the-sacrifice) • [14](https://cinemacanada.athabascau.ca/index.php/cinema/article/download/3232/3272.pdf)
## Awards
At the 1986 Cannes Film Festival the film received the Grand Prix Spécial du Jury, the prize for the best artistic contribution (awarded to Sven Nykvist for the cinematography), the FIPRESCI International Critics' Prize, and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, while being nominated for the [Palme d'Or](https://www.edgepedia.org/palme-dor), which went to [Roland Joffé](https://www.edgepedia.org/roland-joffe)'s *The Mission*.[5](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/retrospective/1986/awards/) • [15](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1986/05/20/top-cannes-honors-to-mission/660d981b-67f0-4d8c-b90b-af28d1f67a76/) The Swedish Film Institute records that no single film had previously received so many awards at one Cannes festival.[2](https://www.filminstitutet.se/sv/fa-kunskap-om-film/ta-del-av-filmsamlingarna/filmer/offret/) In Sweden the film won the Guldbagge for 1986's best film and was named best film of the year by the Swedish Film Critics Association; Erland Josephson won the 1987 Guldbagge for Best Actor, shared with his performance in *Amorosa*.[2](https://www.filminstitutet.se/sv/fa-kunskap-om-film/ta-del-av-filmsamlingarna/filmer/offret/) • [6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091670/awards/) In 1988 the [British Academy of Film and Television Arts](https://www.edgepedia.org/british-academy-of-film-and-television-arts) named it Best Foreign Language Film.[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091670/awards/)
## References
1. [The Sacrifice (Offret), Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/401377/)
2. [Offret, Svenska Filminstitutet (Swedish Film Database)](https://www.filminstitutet.se/sv/fa-kunskap-om-film/ta-del-av-filmsamlingarna/filmer/offret/)
3. [The Sacrifice, Turner Classic Movies, article by James Steffen](https://www.tcm.com/articles/60092/the-sacrifice)
4. [Offret, Danish Film Institute film database](https://www.dfi.dk/en/viden-om-film/filmdatabasen/film/offeret)
5. [1986 Awards, Festival de Cannes retrospective](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/retrospective/1986/awards/)
6. [The Sacrifice (1986) Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091670/awards/)
7. [The Sacrifice, BFI Southbank booking page](https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle%3A%3Apermalink=sacrifice-2026)
8. [Palmarès du festival 1986, INA Médiathèque](https://fresques.ina.fr/festival-de-cannes-fr/fiche-media/Cannes00238/palmares-du-festival-1986.html)
9. ['Sacrificio' cierra el Ciclo de Cine 'Tarkovsky / Bach', Cadena SER](https://cadenaser.com/aragon/2025/08/20/sacrificio-cierra-en-hecho-el-ciclo-de-cine-tarkovsky-bach-radio-jaca-ser-pirineos/)
10. [The Sacrifice movie review, RogerEbert.com, Roger Ebert, 21 November 1986](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-sacrifice-1986)
11. [Offret: Synopsis (Swedish), Nostalghia.com](https://www.nostalghia.com/TheTopics/Offret/Offret_Synopsis.html)
12. ["He was a giant for work": Michal Leszczylowski on Tarkovsky, Sight and Sound / BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/he-was-giant-work-michal-leszczylowski-editor-sacrifice-andrei-tarkovsky)
13. [Film-Historia article on The Sacrifice, Universitat de Barcelona](https://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/filmhistoria/article/download/12368/15137/22373)
14. [Pouvoir Intime and Cannes 1986, Cinémas journal, Athabasca University](https://cinemacanada.athabascau.ca/index.php/cinema/article/download/3232/3272.pdf)
15. [Top Cannes Honors to 'Mission', The Washington Post, 19 May 1986](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1986/05/20/top-cannes-honors-to-mission/660d981b-67f0-4d8c-b90b-af28d1f67a76/)
16. [A Study of Three Films: The Sacrifice, NCAD thesis](https://thesis.ncad.ie/T1004_Study%20of%20Three%20Films_NC00201278.pdf)
17. [The Sacrifice, Kiln Theatre screening page](https://kilntheatre.com/whats-on/the-sacrafice/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 1980s › Released 1986 to 1989*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license