'The Color of
Pomegranates' is a
poetry film from Sergei Parajanov (1924-1990), who was a Soviet filmmaker of
Armenian descent. The film
concerned the life of Sayat-Nova, the 18th century Armenian poet.
The story, however, was not presented in the style of 3-hour biographic films
from American cinema. Parajanov presented the story in a poetic style, where
the cinematic images were associative rather than narrative. The viewers have
to construct the personality of Sayat-Nova themselves by engaging with the
poetic images. Because of the stylized composition, the film did resemble the
tippy drug films of the late 1960s, making it an unique cinematic experience.
Sergei Parajanov was considered as a bad
boy in cinema, yet that certainly came with a cost for him. His cinematic style
was so unique that he has established a firm spot in European Art Cinema, and
he was admired by filmmakers like Godard, Antonioni and Tarkovsky. It was
however his unique approach to film art that has attracted unwanted attention :
when he was making films in the 1960s, his style served as a conflicting
departure from the sanctioned style of Soviet Union of the day - Socialist
Realism. Now that may not be a fair description for Parajanov - before 1965,
most of his films were comfortably situated in the realm of Socialist Realism.
After the viewing of Tarkovsky’s 'Ivan's Childhood', Parajanov was enlightened
by the experimental nature of the film and came up with his own poetic style.
From the late 1960s to early 1970s, Parajanov was marginalized by the Soviet
Union film community, and given his controversial personality outside of
cinema, he was imprisoned intermittently all the way to his death. For the last
25 years of his life, Parajanov has only made 4 feature films, all suffering
from limited distribution and severe marginalization from the community alike.
It was only at the final years of his life, when audience started to be aware
of his work and watched in awe of these stunning achievement, which were created
through so many constraints.
Parajanov’s discovery of his personal style reflected a larger
trend of the art cinema of 1960s, which was the emphasis of Modernism in film
art. Modernism was an important artistic force in the early 20th
century, coinciding with the dawn of cinema. The guiding principle of Modernism
was the motto ‘from mimesis to poiesis'. For the Western literature of the late
19th century, most authors intended to represent the world in a
realistic approach, as if they were mimicking reality. Authors like Zola
focused on human behaviors and observable phenomena around them, and this tendency
was certainly influenced by rise of the positivist approach towards social
science of that era. Termed 'naturalism', the practitioners from literature
shared similarities to empirical scientists, who tried to test hypotheses and
confirm theories through observation and experimentation.
At the early 20th century, the movement of Modernism has
shown a burgeoning development and many artists from different fields alike
were having strong commitment to this interesting style. Modernism focused on
poiesis, the experimentation of form and content. From the influence of Freud,
Proust and Nietzsche, many of these artists focused on the inner mental (and
unobservable) lives of individuals, through the applications of techniques such
as oneiric imageries, multi-person narratives, stream of consciousness and
internal monologues. Rather than a unified and coherent self implied by the
naturalists, the modernist's individual self was fragmented, and this notion
challenged the very conception of any essentialism regarding humanity.
It is ironic that Modernism has never become a mainstream style,
as most practitioners tend to prefer a coherent narrative when telling a story.
Indeed, when Parjanov first submitted the script of 'The Color of Pomegranates' to the studio, problems already emerged. His script was met with
comments like 'subjective', 'incomprehensible' and 'unclear'.
The non-narrative tendency of the film was most evident from the
composition in its many frames. Parajanov staged much of his film in the style
of tableaux, featuring a lot of frontal, shallow focus and portrait shot. The
stylized flatness from the visual feel resembled the films of Pier Paolo
Pasolini, and the frontal / shallow focus combination also recalled many of
Robert Bresson's films. Any attempt to establish a narrative continuity was
derailed by the frequent use of jump cuts throughout the film. One can easily
feel the deliberation by Parajanov here – through the cinematic juxtaposition,
he created a kind of cinematic rhythm rarely seen in films. The poiesis from
the image and sound of the film evoked the Imagist poems of Ezra Pound and T.
S. Eliot. The spatial and temporal unity, as the key rule of great
story-telling and cherished by some many filmmakers, has been deconstructed by
this poetic warrior of cinema.
Even from the opening minutes of the film, Parajanov was already
trading metaphoric images with the audience. Through a number of shots
portraying still life and objects, Parajanov challenged the viewers to
construct the meanings and the own perspective about the film, and the life
experience of the Armenian poet. Parajanov showed himself to be a master of
composition and mise-en-scene, and through the use of repetition of some key
images throughout the film, that served as an imprinting effect on the mind of
the viewers.
Even when young, Sayat-Nova has already demonstrated the key
attributes of a gifted poet - by carrying out the metamorphosis of concrete
sense impressions, desire and feelings into abstract metaphoric images. The way
of poetry needs to transform from the concrete into the abstract, and to engage
in a higher level of formalization and sublimation of thoughts.
However gifted one might prove himself to be, the essential
component poetry are the vivid imaginations and the experience through life.
Numerous critics have interpreted the significance of pomegranates in the film,
and I don't have much to add to the established meanings. It is worth
reiterating, though : the diverse taste of pomegranates symbolizes the various
periods and sentiments of one's life. It is even more than that: through
association one can put in all sort of meanings to this fruit, from the
contrast of life and death to fertility and degeneration. It appears to me that
the juices, flowing profusely from the fruit, also takes a sensual meaning, as
if it symbolizes some sort of temptation through its uncanny resemblance to
bodily fluids.
If we go further and see the development of Sayat-Nova into a
poet, he seems to move through the phenomenal stage into the noumenal stage.
That is, he experienced the sensuality throughout his life and eventually
settled in an ascetic lifestyle, working as a monk and focused on creating art.
The sexual awakening for Sayat-Nova happened in an early stage, when he spied upon the nude King and Princess in the sulfur baths.
Desire might lead to inspiration, but when it was not controlled it would not
lead to anything contributive. Through a nicely executed dream sequence, the
poet had an opportunity for self-reflection and eventually decided to withdraw
himself from the worldly desire and committed to asceticism.
A nice point from some viewers was that the poet sacrificed
himself in a symbolic way – to give up his own self-interest and worked towards
more universal aims. The recurring image of the dagger, along with some other
Christian symbolisms, signified this martyrdom, charting Sayat-Nova’s journey
towards a pure and spiritual existence. As per the Freudian sublimation, the
impulses have been contained and put into creative use, inspiring the lovers of
art from the future generations.
by Ed Law
Film Analysis
by Ed Law
Film Analysis
