The Colour of Pomegranates (1969) Sayat Nova [The Yutkevich Cut] [4K restoration]

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The Colour of Pomegranates (1969) Sayat Nova [The Yutkevich Cut] [4K restoration]

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The Colour of Pomegranates was more heard about than seen in the seventies, and mostly in the context of Parajanov's imprisonment, and when it was released theatrically in the United Kingdom and the United States in the eighties, it was its so-called Russian version recut by Soviet filmmaker Sergei Yutkevich (Lenin v Polshe) that removed some quotations from the Book of Genesis, removed and reordered some scenes, and tried to structure the film as the Sayat Nova biopic, replacing the original version's quotations between sequences with eight chapter headings. Although an imprisoned Parajanov was displeased with Yutkevich's actions, critic Tony Rayns in his appreciation piece for the film revealed that Parajanov later admitted that the attempts to make the film more acceptable to Soviet censors was responsible for getting the film more widely seen.

One of the great films in all cinema, virtually incomprehensible to anyone not familiar with Armenian or Georgian history and culture. Whatever the dubious politics in enjoying a subversive political work as an aesthetic spectacle, there is much to astonish. The nominal story concerns an 18th century Armenian poet/national hero/martyr, but Paradjanov rejects biographical narrative in favour of a montage stream of religious, political, cultural, sexual imagery, composition and allegory unparalelled in the history of the medium, although fans of Von Sternberg will not be bemused.

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The Colour of Pomegranates (1969) Sayat Nova [The Yutkevich Cut] [4K restoration]

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