MovieChat Forums > Sayat Nova (1982) Discussion > English title?

English title?

posted 9 years ago by flaiky
2 replies | jump to latest

Does anyone know why the title "Colour of Pomegranates" was picked for the US/UK release of this film? Obviously there is the pomegranate imagery at the start, so I know where the reference comes from, but it still seems kind of random as a title. Did Parajanov pick it himself?

I wonder why "Sayat Nova" - the original title - wasn't used internationally. The poet is known by this name in the English speaking world, so it would make sense.

That is a masterpiece of understatement.

[–] PoppyTransfusion 9 years ago

Interesting Q to which I don't pretend to have the answer but here's a hypothesis.

The Colour of Pomegranates is said to be as much about Parajanov and his tormented self/suppressed homosexuality as it is about the Armenian poet. The pomegranate was used as a symbol of sin by Oscar Wilde (http://www.iasj.net/iasj?func=fulltext&aId=52703) and so I would guess that the title is an oblique nod to human sin as embodied by the poet and the film's director. But this is only a guess. It would be great to have someone versed in Armenian art offer an informed opinion.

A bird sings and the mountain's silence deepens.

[–] altyn 9 years ago

I just saw a restored version (restored in 2014, 79 minutes) which contained this explanation: Soviet censors decided that the film was not a proper biography of the Armenian poet and therefore decided to change the title into "The colour of pomegranates".
For what it is worth...