Cinematic Holy grail

“I’m He whose life and spirit was torment,” bemoans the brand new poet-narrator about prologue to a single of the very visually brilliant masterpieces regarding flick previously is observed to your display. Composed and you can brought by Sergei Parajanov (9th January 1924–twentieth July 1990), Colour off Pomegranates was a poetic biography of eponymous 18th-century Armenian minstrel and bard fatflirt stronka, Sayat Nova, the fresh new “Queen out-of Music”, recounting this new level out of their lifestyle while the writer, lover and you will priest.

Thanks to some superb tableaux determined by the lit miniatures, we’re drenched inside a great rubescent pageant regarding mime and you will path a bit rather than things educated prior to otherwise, in reality, as the. Moreover, as following the film’s launch when you look at the 1969, Sergei Parajanov invested over three-years in the a beneficial Soviet jail getting detected subversive proclivities if you find yourself simultaneously suffering brand new indignity off enjoying their artistry re also-modified and you can offered a limited discharge plan, it’s all the more amazing that people was privy to its recently remastered magnificence anyway.

Fair you to definitely, thou art in my opinion A golden cup, which have liquid occupied away from immortality. I sit myself down, that more than me may slide thy trace, sweet; Thou ways a gold-padded tent to safeguard me personally about temperature. Basic listen to my personal blame, and you may, in the event the thou wilt, then slay that it erring son; Thou hast all-power; for me thou artwork new Sultan therefore the Khan. -Sayat Nova, ‘Like Song’

“A book should be adored and you may appreciated, to possess a text is actually lives and you will soul. In the event that there had been zero created word, new unaware perform signal the nation. See a text loudly for all to listen, to own we can’t all understand.” Meaning that the movie kicks off its exquisite portrayal of your internal are off a sensitive and you may soulful poet on their travels with the aesthetic phrase and you may religious mind-trust. Segmented for the sections-Youngsters, Youngsters, Prince’s Judge (where Sayat Nova drops crazy about an effective tsarina), The fresh Monastery, The Fantasy, Retirement, New Angel from Demise and Demise-Along with away from Pomegranates is a visual and rational concert tour de push.

Furthermore, because the a devotee of your videos out of Andrei Tarkovsky, the fresh new Armenian director pays his personal honor into the depiction of dreamlike photographs infused on dramaturgy off colour, acoustically overlaid that have ambient reverberations as well as the ululations away from conventional East Eu folk track, to provide so you can you an effective cornucopia of your own cultural arts.

Thy sides is like an excellent cypress-tree, sugar thy language, inside calm; Thy lip are sweets, and thy skin for example Frankish silk smooth. Thy teeth is pearls and you can expensive diamonds, this new doorways of dulcet shades; Thine eyes is gold-enamelled cups adorned having precious rocks; Thou art a rare and you will valuable jewel, most wonderful observe; An excellent ruby steeped regarding Install Bedakhsh, my like, thou art in my experience. -Sayat Nova, ‘Love Song’

Sergei Parajanov selected their muse, the celebrity Sofiko Chiaureli, to relax and play both the a portion of the poet, Sayat Nova, and tsarina, Anna. The new juxtaposition away from male and female reputation depicted from the same singer brings a keen arresting reflective balance, in which they are literally when you look at the tune with the flow of any other’s heart (as well as hinting at director’s very own homosexuality). The sequences where in actuality the poet process of law the young empress, first in colors off coral blue and then inside greatest vermillion, need certainly to score as the most fashionably sexy into the movie background.

Sergei Parajanov: The color from Pomegranates

Due to the fact monks chant a keen evocative plainsong, brand new partners consummate its interests during the an abandoned mausoleum, new ever-exposure out-of dying creating the backdrop on the illicit tryst, having paramours they’re able to only ever feel, to not ever getting inserted inside the holy wedding on opportunity to beget progeny of one’s own-Sayat Nova’s center is led to another location mission together with cloister is where their highway is actually condemned, the manufacture of poetry as usurped because of the contemplation off prayer.