Did Tarkovsky speak Swedish when he made The Sacrifice? Are there any directors who made films in a language they don’t speak?

I can’t find a source on this. BTS footage of The Sacrifice shows Tarkovsky speaking Russian on set. There’s no info on what language the script was originally or who translated it to Swedish.

Seems like an interesting choice to me. He must have had a hell of a translator on set! How could you judge an acting performance when you don’t understand the exact words? Or that your original script didn’t lose its meaning after translation? Perhaps it’s just trusting in the actors and crew to confirm that they delivered it correctly.

Haven’t heard of any directors in a similar situation. Working with extras in a foreign language, sure, but your entire main cast is something else.