Color of Pomegranates
Original Title
Sayat Nova- Director: Sergei Parajanov
- Writer: Sayat Nova; Sergei Parajanov
CGiii Comment
No dialogue, no camera movement - homoerotic subtext runs through many of the tableaux.
Paradjanov spent several years in jail in the Soviet Union accused of homosexuality and a few other misdemeanours.
The imagery is astounding - many video artists have been inspired by this film - others have simply ripped it off.
It's visual poetry at its best and least accessible.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
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.
Cast & Characters
Sofiko Chiaureli as Poet as a Youth / Poet's Love / Poet's Muse / Mime / Angel of Resurrection;
Melkon Aleksanyan as Poet as a child;
Vilen Galstyan as Poet in the cloister;
Giorgi Gegechkori as Poet as an old man;
Spartak Bagashvili as Poet's father;
Medea Djaparidze as Poet's mother;
Hovhannes Minasyan as Prince;
Onik Minasyan as Prince;
Yuri Amiryan; I. Babayan;
Medea Bibileishvili; T. Dvali;
Aleksandr Dzhanshiyev as Monk;
Guranda Gabunia;
Zh. Gharibyan