The Legend of Suram Fortress

Director: Sergei Parajanov

1985 / 88min / 35mm

Abashidze and Parajanov bring a bit of Caucasus Mountains folklore, concerning the persistent, thwarted efforts of the Georgian peoples to erect an impregnable citadel capable of repelling any invasion, to lapidary life in this near-hallucinatory opulent film, made up of exactingly designed tableaux. Parajanov, making his first film after some 15 years of imprisonment and other government persecution—a film which, incidentally, revolves around a young man sacrificing himself by being immured in the walls of the titular fortress—returns in a gush of radiant colors and textures, rugged landscapes and plush manmade fabrics, told via mirroring storylines that lend the narrative a circular, self-contained quality. “Loony and beautiful… A vast, multisectioned mural with panels like sliding doors… full of deadpan outlandishness and medieval vaudeville turns.” —The New Yorker