sing! die!
by Douglas Messerli
Sergei
Paradjanov (scenario and director) Սայաթ-Նովա (Sayat-Nova) (The Color of Pomegranates) / 1968
But the noose was tightening
around his neck. In the Ukraine
where he had signed letters in support of dissidents, he—an
Armenian from Tblissi—was accused of “Ukrainian nationalism.”
His film, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, was pulled from the
screens. The shooting of Kiev Frescoes was indefinitely
blocked on grounds of “bourgeois subjectivism and mysticism,”
and “ideological deviation.”
The reels of test footage were seized where he had signed letters in support of dissidents, he—an
Armenian from Tblissi—was accused of “Ukrainian nationalism.”
His film, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, was pulled from the
screens. The shooting of Kiev Frescoes was indefinitely
blocked on grounds of “bourgeois subjectivism and mysticism,”
by the authorities and shredded. Preserved in that state, they were
returned to him twenty years later. The few tests that remained
intact were to be shown at the 6th Munich International Film
Festival. Intermezzo, another feature length film whose scenario
he wrote…was immediately banned.
In Erevan, shooting of Sayat-Nova was
constantly delayed, changes demanded. Frustrated by local authorities,
Paradjanov wrote his now famous epistle to authorities:
I was thirty-nine when a
series of sad circumstances forced me
to come to Erevan. I am now forty-two… It’s hot. Peaches are
two rubles a kilo.I’m suffocating in schemes and poorly ventilated
hotel rooms, keeping company with cockroaches. I strongly
urge that Sayat-Nova be banned and that I be sent back to Kiev.
I am willing to abandon the cinema. Kiev Frescoes and the
repression of Tarkovsky are more than enough for me.
to come to Erevan. I am now forty-two… It’s hot. Peaches are
two rubles a kilo.I’m suffocating in schemes and poorly ventilated
hotel rooms, keeping company with cockroaches. I strongly
urge that Sayat-Nova be banned and that I be sent back to Kiev.
I am willing to abandon the cinema. Kiev Frescoes and the
repression of Tarkovsky are more than enough for me.
Indeed, Paradjanov did ultimately
renounce his great film after it was cut by some twenty minutes. Yet today it
remains his masterwork, a film that illuminates and defines his overall
achievement. That such a loving and often witty work could be accomplished in
such bleak conditions is almost unthinkable.
Like all of his mature films, Sayat-Nova or The Color of Pomegranates, is a legendary tale presented in a series of static tableau, whose visual elements determine any narrative embedded in them. Even Paradjanov admitted that this film, more than any of his others, would likely be unable to be comprehended by any but an Armenian audience, but also declared that his people “are going to this picture as to a holiday.”
Below I have reprinted a short scene from Paradjanov’s scenario which
may help to give the reader a sense of the screen action, this miniature depicting
Sayat-Nova’s budding love for the Princess:
The Princess is
Making Lace
The palace of Irakli, the princess’ apartments.
Anna’s young hands making lace…
Sayat’s young hands strumming
strings. He was singing the love of Majnûn
Glorifying Laïla’s beauty, he nodded his head, his eyes closed…
Anna slowly fixed her eyes on
Sayat… Her fingers mechanically worked
the thread….In the recesses of the room, Anna’s young friends portrayed sexual pleasure,
sadness and
love.
They embraced a llama.
Peacocks fanned their tails…
Boys imitated nightingales…Sayat sang Majnûn’s love and glorified Laïla’s beauty!
I first watched this film that demands such a close “reading” with Guy
Bennett, who introduced me to Paradjanov sometime in 1996 or 1997. And I have
treated myself to its beauties many times since. Watching it again the other
day, although I felt that the Kino recording had lost the richness of the
colors I had first witnessed, I was again struck with the absolute wonderment
of the director’s tableaux vivants.
And I can’t wait to visit them soon again. This is a film you will want to own,
to put away in your library, and take it out to see year after year. Too bad it
isn’t shown at American movie theaters in the same way!
Like his subject, Paradjanov must have felt, even during the film’s
making, “In the healthy and beautiful life my share has been nothing but
suffering.” On December 17, 1973, Paradjanov was arrested in Kiev, accused of
numerous petty acts of criminal behavior and, finally, charged with
homosexuality, which was a very serious crime for repeat offenders. He was
sentenced to five years of heavy labor, unable to make a film again until 1985.
Los
Angeles, October 27, 2012
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