Colour of Pomegranates

In its concept, Colour of Pomegranates resembled nothing that had been filmed before in the countries of the Soviet Union. This film about the 18th century Armenian poet Sayat Nova broke radically with the tradition of biographical films. Static, flat images, drawing on the examples of Persian miniatures and Christian icons, develop the poet’s life from birth to his death in a monastery. The film is divided into eight chapters. In the introduction we see the poet in the role of a boy surrounded by numerous books and manuscripts, their pages turned by the wind. The poet enters the courtyard and meets the muse of poetry who becomes his lover. As a monk in a church decorated with frescoes, the poet begs his muse for absolution. We then see the poet with a family, and finally a vision of his death. The ending relates to the murder of the poet by Persian conquerors in front of Tbilisi Cathedral in 1795. In official circles Colour of Pomegranates evoked considerable displeasure. The prominent director Sergei Yutkevich made some changes “in the interests of greater comprehensibility,” but neither version ever made it into Soviet distribution. In subsequent years Sergei Paradjanov was repeatedly imprisoned, and was not allowed to make any films for seventeen years.