The Colour of Pomegranates

The cinematic style of Sergo Paradjanov is without doubt a unique and beautiful one, and it is unfortunate that it is one which can be difficult for uninitiated viewers to appreciate fully. In The Colour of Pomegranates he uses formalised iconography and images, typical of his style, to illustrate the life of the eighteenth century Armenian poet Sayat Nova; "the king of Song".

The subject is admittedly an obscure one, but only the most narrow-minded Hollywood-centred filmgoer could deny that the film has a great innate aesthetic value. It is hard to describe this film without over-using the word beautiful, but that is certainly the word to describe Paradjanov's sometimes magical, sometimes abstruse construction of symbols religious, poetical, and cultural.

It is possibly the last of these which most hinders accessibility for local references are those which the occidental viewer is most likely to fail to understand. Filmgoers conversant with the work of Tarkovsky should be best able to appreciate this director's stimulating and truly idiosyncratic style. Those who are less familiar with this type of work should take up the challenge of beginning their experience here. The Colour of Pomegranates is not a long film, and will prove extremely rewarding to those who make the unusual effort and actually think about what they are seeing. Approached in the right way it's mind-blowing.

Review by Iain Lang
Taken from EUFS Programme 1994-95