Sergei Parajanov at 100: The Triumph of Imagination and Beauty

In this film, Parajanov gravitated even farther from an ordinary movie-plot that commonly exists in almost any film. “He didn’t like plots,” remembers Atanesian. In the opening part of the film, a textual disclaimer says: “The film does not attempt to tell the life story of a poet. Rather, the filmmaker tried to create the poet’s inner world.” “Far from a typical biographical telling, the film recreates Sayat-Nova’s inner torments through dreamlike compositions and medieval allegories,” noted the British Institute. References to Sayat Nova exist in Madonna’s Bedtime Story, Juno Reactor’s God is God, and Lady Gaga’s 911.

In “Sayat Nova” and other films, Parajanov used allegories and symbols to replace scenes that otherwise could contain violence. In “Sayat Nova,” an arrow fired from a bow of a Muslim soldier hits a Christian icon that falls. In his later film, “The Legend of Suram Fortress,” a massive escape of hundreds of panic-stricken sheep on the slopes of Georgian mountains serves as a precursor for an expected clash between soldiers in that area. One of the movie’s characters says that war is the greatest of all disasters. Parajanov’s philosophy was against violence; therefore, he applied picturesque and visually attractive symbols whenever he needed to include battles in his motion pictures. Parajanov’s famous statement, “I will revenge the world with love,” summarizes his way of thinking that was against destruction.

Between the 1960s and early 1980s, along with the international recognition, the internal pressure against Parajanov intensified. In 1973, Kyiv’s regional court convicted Parajanov to five years of imprisonment for alleged homosexual relations but set him free after four years. French poet Lois Aragon personally asked Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev to release the director free. As Parajanov noted later, the fabricated charges against him were so ridiculous that an immigrant Russian artist promised to use the judge’s verdict in one of his comedy shows at the Comédie-Française theater in Paris. In 1988, in one of his last interviews with Russian and Armenian reporters in France, he claimed that the help of French, Georgian, and Armenian people made his early release possible.

In 1982 Parajanov was arrested again, though he was set free soon after. As a result of state persecution, Parajanov did not create any new films in the 1970s and early 1980s. When Mikhail Gorbachev came to power, Parajanov’s motion pictures were finally returned to Soviet viewers. He was awarded a car and some other compensation. His last film, “Confession,” remained unfinished. Shortly before that, as if foreseeing his imminent demise, Parajanov noted that the years spent in prisons shattered his health, and every morning he woke up alive, he was happy.

“However, the years spent in prison were my best years,” added Parajanov. I became the priest of the prison. The convicted criminals came to me for confession, and I memorized many stories that could serve as features for a film.”

By the late 1980s, Zaven Sargsyan, a friend of Parajanov, got some funds from the government of Soviet Armenia to buy the artifacts created by Parajanov and began transferring those pieces of art to Armenia. Sargsyan, a former government employee, also convinced the Soviet Armenian leaders to build a house for Parajanov. Overlooking the beautiful Hrazdan gorge in Yerevan, the house was still under construction when Parajanov passed away in 1990. The building became not the house but the museum of Parajanov. Sargsyan was its founder and director.

Sergey Parajanov was buried in the Komitas Pantheon, next to the graves of Aram Khachaturian, William Saroyan, and other notable figures. Atanesian says Sargsyan’s role in resettling Sergey Parajanov in Armenia and establishing a museum as it is now cannot be overestimated.

The video segment below includes an interview with Atanesian, a small segment of the interview with Parajanov, and Tarkovsky’s statement about Parajanov.