Nran guyne / Sayat Nova

Brotseulis kvaviloba / Tsvet granata / Colour of Pomegranates / Granatäpplets färg. AM-SU 1968. PC: Armenfilm. D: Sergei Parajanov. Incorporating poems and songs by Sayat Nova. M: Tigran Mansurjan. ED: Sergei Parajanov, M. Ponomarenko. RE-ED: Sergei Yutkevich. Starring Sofiko Chiaureli (poet as a youth / poet's love / poet's muse / mime / angel of resurrection), Melkon Aleksanyan (poet as a child), Vilen Galstyan (poet in the cloister), Giorgi Gegechkori (poet as an old man). 79 min. The 1972 Sergei Yutkevich cut internationally released in 1982. The Polfilm / Ulf Berggren print with Swedish subtitles: original in Armenian with Swedish start and end credits, other text titles in Russian. Viewed at Orion, Helsinki, 15 March 2005. Still the masterpiece, one of the most beautiful films ever made. The story of the birth of the sense for beauty of Aratiun Sajadian (1712-1795), dubbed Sayat Nova = the "king of song". Parajanov's unique vision at its most powerful. What a loss that he was harassed and jailed by the Soviet authorities at the height of his powers. ****