The professor could be just another pompous professor, a more likeable cousin to Uncle Vanya's Serebriakov, who used to teach things intelligent people have known for a long time and imbeciles will never understand anyway.
The postman could be just another eccentric postman who quotes Nietzsche and tells bizarre stories.
The woman could be just another tormented wife who carries a question deep nside, that she never dares to formulate: 'I loved one man. Why did I marry another?'
The servant could be just another strange girl, allegedly a benevolent witch whose powers' no one thinks to call upon.
And the announcement on television could be just another false alarm...
But Andrei Tarkovsky brings this singular genius into play, shedding a stark yet compassionate light on these' people and events, in the tradition of the Russian greats (including Chekhov, Dostoevski or Moussorgsky). It is a light that illuminates the simplest movements of life - the offering of a gift, a walk along the bay, the reflection of a naked body in a mirror.
These acts rip through the banal curtain of time, allowing the characters to catch a glimpse of something as overwhelming to them as a seer's prophetic words or a statue's awakening to life were to the heroes of our classic Western dramas.