The Color of Pomegranates (1968)
"Sayat Nova" (original title)

One of the greatest masterpieces of the 20th century, Sergei Parajanov's "Color of the Pomegranate," a biography of the Armenian troubadour Sayat Nova (King of Song) reveals the poet's life... See full summary »

Director:

Sergei Parajanov

Writers:

Sayat Nova (poems), Sergei Parajanov

Stars:

Sofiko Chiaureli, Melkon Alekyan, Vilen Galstyan

Cast

Credited cast:
Sofiko Chiaureli	...	Poet as a Youth / Poet's Love / Poet's Muse / Mime / Angel of Resurrection
Melkon Alekyan	...	Poet as a child (as M. Alekyan)
Vilen Galstyan	...	Poet in the cloister
Giorgi Gegechkori	...	Poet as an old man
Spartak Bagashvili	...	Poet's father
Medea Japaridze	...	Poet's mother
Hovhannes Minasyan	...	Prince
Onik Minasyan	...	Prince
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yuri Amiryan
I. Babayan
Medea Bibileishvili
T. Dvali
Aleksandr Dzhanshiyev	...	Monk
Guranda Gabunia
Zh. Gharibyan

Storyline

One of the greatest masterpieces of the 20th century, Sergei Parajanov's "Color of the Pomegranate," a biography of the Armenian troubadour Sayat Nova (King of Song) reveals the poet's life more through his poetry than a conventional narration of important events in Sayat Nova's life. We see the poet grow up, fall in love, enter a monastery and die, but these incidents are depicted in the context of what are images from Sergei Parajanov's imagination and Sayat Nova's poems, poems that are seen and rarely heard. Sofiko Chiaureli plays 6 roles, both male and female, and Sergei Parajanov writes, directs, edits, choreographs, works on costumes, design and decor and virtually every aspect of this revolutionary work void of any dialog or camera movement.

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Plot Keywords:

poet | armenian | pomegranate | monastery | poetry | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Music

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Armenian Azerbaijani

Release Date:

27 January 1982 (France)

Also Known As:

Red Pomegranate

Filming Locations:

Armenia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Armenfilm Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

79 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sergei Parajanov's 1968 masterpiece "Sayat Nova" was censored, re-cut, renamed (The Color of Pomegranates) and banned; its 1969 behind-the-scenes documentary (Paradjanov: The Color of Armenian Land) was banned and the footage reappeared 20 years later in Mikhail Vartanov's influential documentary Parajanov: The Last Spring, which demistifies the unique film language of "Sayat Nova." Parajanov's "Sayat Nova" appeared on the Top 10 and Top 100 lists in Cahiers du Cinema, Sight and Sound, Movieline and Time Out. Mikhail Vartanov famously wrote: "Probably, besides the film language suggested by Griffith and Eisenstein, the world cinema has not discovered anything revolutionary new until 'The Color of Pomegranates' not counting the generally unaccepted language of the 'Andalusian Dog' by Bunuel." Michelangelo Antonioni later added that the film "strikes with its perfection of beauty."

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Connections

Featured in Erased Faces II (2006)

User Reviews

Rooted in tradition but also revolutionary in every respect

I came to know Paradjanov with Shadows of our Forgotten Ancestors, a movie that completely established him as one of the great directors of the 20th century. He is not as well known as Tarkovsky, his friend and the one who inspired him to become a master and this is really a shame. Paradjanov may not be the easiest director to imitate and he may not inspire in the manner of other directors but this happens because he developed a language that is completely unique. In his first real masterpiece SOOFA Paradjanov proved he was a master of technique combining in an original manner the long take with sophisticated editing techniques coming from Eisenstein. With this he proved himself a complete film maker, somehow in the sense of Orson Welles, in that he didn't favor any one technique against all others but decided for the technique best suited for the esthetic purposes of the take. In SOOFA Paradjanov proved he could also use color, b&w and sepia effects and a whole range of sound effects. Should I add that all these modern techniques are used to tell the story of a forgotten world, and with this occasion the director infuses the image with rich symbolism and a thick soundtrack that uses the beautiful folklore of Ukraine? Sayat Nova is a movie that takes the viewer to a totally different level. As far as cinema goes I can only relate it to some ideas from the early surrealist movies of Bunuel and maybe to Eisenstein in Ivan Groznyy. The movie resembles the stream of consciousness technique from literature and it is wrong to assume that there is no story underlying the images. The difference from mainstream storytelling is that the plot is codified in a different manner. This should not however distract us from watching a beautiful movie with a great story told in an original manner through almost moving paintings with a stilled camera and no dialogue. The story of the Ashough that is troubadour, Sayat Nova is told from an interior perspective corresponding more to his emotions than to their external manifestation. The life of the troubadour from early childhood when he discovers family life, books, hypocrisy and superficiality, the woman body etc. moves on to adolescence and youth. This gives Paradjanov the opportunity to film one of the most transcendent love stories ever put on screen. Watch carefully from the inter-title "We were searching for ourselves in each other". The poet than retires to a monastery in search of relief from suffering only to find more suffering at the death of his mentor. After this he leaves the monastery for the world but his life could never be anything else than a series of misfortunes filled with suffering. His death is shown simply but it doesn't fail to impress. An authoritative and mysterious figure tells him to sing twice and afterwards he commands him to die. This turns the poet into some kind of martyr and it is no doubt that Paradjanov himself, who was one of the most persecuted Soviet artists must have felt a tight communion with the life of the poet and his inability to find anything but suffering in "this beautiful and healthy life".

The movie is also a good introduction for those unfamiliar with the Caucasus and its rich and millenary cultural tradition. Armenia was the first country to ever adopt Christianity followed by Georgia and it thrived economically and culturally in the Middle Ages when Europe was still finding its way to the light.