The Colour of Pomegranates (Sayat Nova)

Hailed as one of the most important films in cinema history by the likes of Andrei Tarkovsky, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Jean-Luc Godard and Michelangelo Antonioni, The Colour of Poemgranates is most definitely a masterpiece, even if incomplete. Originally titled Sayat Nova, the film was supposed to be a biography of 18th century troubadour Sayat Nova with a clearer narrative structure and connections to the bard-poet's life, who became a priest and a martyr. Soviet censorship demanded the removal of all direct references, which unexpectedly had the effect to heighten the innovative effect of Parajanov's film.

'Pomegranates' tries to evocate the story of the character through a visual language deeply embedded in the verses of troubadour poetry. Soaked in symbolism and metaphor, each frame presents a composition of people holding objects and poses charged with hermetic meaning. The additional dominance of religious iconography is void of its spiritual significance, rather motivated by a sort of deep manierism. To decode every single symbol, gesture and metaphor would require a whole book, and the outcome of such a study would prove Parajanov's deep understanding of armenian culture.

That is the innovation of importance of The Colour of Pomegranates: its devotion to an aesthetic dimension, detached of any self-evident, deeper meaning. It is also a  sense of beauty that, despite its presentation as universally appealing, can appear unappeitizing. Parajanov's masterpiece is a film with none other intention than the longing for visual beauty, if we take aside its evocation of armenian folklore and 18th century troubadourism. This opens to a further consideration: can a film devoid of any meaning, any storytelling, be a film of depth? Is the appeal we have for this film motivated by the lack of understanding of its poetic structure? Perhaps that a film can inspire such a question already exemplifies that, in fact, such a work can arouse some form of reflection.

It is no doubt that The Colour of Pomegranates is one of the most important pieces of worldwide cinema, but it is a film that is hermetic to a point that the mystery that it evocates can be either a source of attraction or of distancing. It is also a film that is much influenced by the censorship it was subject to, perhaps too much to allow a full accessibility.

RATING: 4/5

Original title: Նռան գույնը

Directed by: Sergei Parajanov

Length: 78 min.

Year: 1968

Country; Armenia, USSR

Availability: Internet Archive, Amazon US , Criterion Channel

Synopsis: the life of 18th century armenian troubadour, Sayat-Nova