Domenico is an old man. He shuffles through the streets and through the vacant building where he resides. Domenico was a scholar until he locked his family in their house for seven years to protect them from the end of the world; an end which never came. The police freed them and Domenico spent time in a mental institution. When it was shut down, he was left to shuffle through the world with his dog, Zoe. ���You know I���m scared of being alone,��� he whispers to her.

Domenico is infamous in the village for having locked his family away for seven years in order to protect them from the outside world. He is a fascinating subject for Andrei and the audience because he represents nostalgia taken to its extreme���a nostalgia which, in order to protect its object, elects to drown it in amber. Having rendered his family dead to society by cutting them off from the outside world, Domenico lights himself on fire to the tune of Beethoven���s "Symphony No. 9���Ode to Joy" in the film's haunting penultimate scene. His self-immolation recalls his first interaction with Eugenia, whom he asks, ���I don���t smoke, but could I have a cigarette?��� She replies, naturally enough, ���Of course, seeing as you don���t smoke,��� and lights it for him. For Tarkovsky, cinema was never about the rush of the drag. Rather, he desired nothing more, nor less, than desire itself.

On Tarkovsky's Nostalghia. Source unknown