Tarkovsky was drawn to prophesies. Once he said that he had participated in a seance and had ushered up the spirit of [Boris] Pasternak. He asked Pasternak:
“How many films will I make?”
“Seven,” was his answer.
“So few?” asked Tarkovsky.
“Seven, but all good ones!” said the spirit of the great poet.
In 1970 Tarkovsky was working on his third movie, Solaris. In the end he made seven movies: Ivan’s Childhood, Andrey Rublov, Solaris, The Mirror, Stalker, Nostalgia, The Sacrifice.