After closely examining the 2014 World Cinema Project/L’Immagine Ritrovata restoration of Sergei Parajanov’s The Color of Pomegranates and the same archival print that they consulted as a color reference, I am sorry to report that the restoration significantly departs from the look of the reference print. It also does not match the other 35mm prints I have seen over the years. In addition, the restoration has some problems with the soundtrack, which I will describe below.
In fact I have harbored reservations for some time about the overall color scheme, despite my excitement about seeing the film preserved and restored in its original Armenian release version. In retrospect, I probably should have been more willing to share these misgivings in a public forum, but I felt that it was best to keep an open mind about the color until I could examine the reference print myself.
The Color Reference Print