The Color of Pomegranates

Saw The Color of Pomegranates, a fairly inscrutable film from Russia, 1969, about the life of the Armenian poet Sayat-Nova.  The twist however is that this film is telling Sayat-Nova's life story as told by his poems.  Thus, it is often striking, beautiful, brutal, haunting, and totally incomprehensible.  Let's explore.

The film follows the poet's life, growing up apparently in a monastery.  He's surrounded by the earthy, simple industry of the monastery and also by the other-worldly, elevated symbolism and ritual of religion.  As he gets older, he discovers women and music, realizing at this point I think that he was not meant to be a monk.  As he gets yet older, he leaves the monastery but seems already world-weary, his poems speaking of the beauty of becoming soil and of the peace of death.

The above story is visually told by oblique and posed and strange imagery.  Mandolins spin above his head as he learns to play music.  Women hold conch shells over their breasts and monks sway back and forth like bells.  Freshly beheaded chickens are pelted at the poet's body.  Blind angels press naan against a headstone.  There is no dialogue, there is no narration.  Only a few of the poets poems, appearing in title cards like a silent film, are there to guide us.  It brings to mind the bizarre hallucinations of Jodorowsky's work, or Un Chien Andalou.  Striking stuff!

The net effect however is a little overwhelming and wearying and wore me down about a third of the way through the film.  The visuals are very intriguing, but I felt the need for a commentary track.  To a simple movie-watcher like myself, I can't fully appreciate this high-concept work and need someone better versed in (perhaps) this poet's work or in Armenian culture to decode it for me.  It's very evocative and not one to shy away from a high concept, but a little too inaccessible for me.  I need a boost!

Edit - the Criterion collection blurb points out that the tableaux in the film resemble religious ikons.  Often they are arranged in sets of three like a triptych.  This elegantly mirrors the religious traditions of the Armenians.  I need to leave this movie criticism/interpretation business up to the pros - woof!