Please don't forget Franchesca Norstein's contribution. Every single object, every character, background, foreground, was painstakingly drawn by Franchesca.
Such a melancholic film . Before the war, families had been whole; then they shattered; struggling to be whole, as the sad, lonely little wolf struggled to live.
I can see why many consider this the greatest animated film ever made. This went WAY beyond what should even be possible with cut-out animation. Every single shot is a jaw-dropping masterpiece and a technical marvel. This is one of those films I watch slowly, in small doses, so I can absorb the sheer beauty of it.
In a university library, I once read that the wolf's face and design were inspired by a dead kitten Norstein found. It was described as "already crossed over...it's quite dead..." and a picture of its frozen stare was shown. I broke down and cried, startling the other students. Seeing the wolf's face makes me cry again.
@@theotherther1 thank you for the source. And thank you for the additional introspective. It's one thing to see the pain while watching it from my own point of view. But I imagine watching this as someone growing up on the USSR at the time must be so much more visceral.
The name comes from a poem of Nazım Hikmet, a Turkish socialist poet who was exiled for his ideas during the unstable years of Türkiye. Yuri Norstein was a big fan of Nazım Hikmet's poem "Tale of Tales (Masalların Masalı)", which was about the childish memory of perceiving nature; thus he named his work after the poem. From what I know N. Hikmet used to be very popular in Russia and is still beloved by everyone in Türkiye no matter the ideology.
The child's golden memories versus the desaturated colors of the present day. Very magnificent and it captures that feeling that many people experience when they remember their childhoods against the horrors of the present.
In watching Russian cinema I often perceive a sense of doom felt by these people, something deeply connected to their history and from which they cannot escape. Not just a matter of war, it seems to be a more shifty and powerful ghost lurking in their mind. Thank you for uploading this video, I did not know Norstein at all.
You are right in pointing this out. The Second World War is forever seared into the consciousness of the Soviet nation. It was a war like no other, a war of annihilation. More than 20 million dead. A senselessness like no other, something which makes even the victory almost meaningless. To this day - forests in Belarus and many parts of Western Russia are peppered in shells, shreds of rusted German and Soviet barbed wire and bones of the dead. This may be something which will never go away. Today of all European countries, Russia and Germany have the best relationship, and people find it difficult to explain considering the past animosity, but the reality of it is - it is almost cathartic.
I am also consuming a lot of russian art, filled with so much sober sensibility. I have notice that I don't like what I have seen from the post-soviet time. In the Soviet Union even the cartoon for children were highly artistic.
the majority of the russians were slaves before the 1860's who were bound to the land and couldn't leave it, and suffered physical abuse from landlords which in turn promoted a culture of alcoholic addiction. The Soviet Union in history was superior compared to the tsars that came before or the crooks that came after, but they failed to meet a western standard of living and the western propaganda took advantage of this vulnerability to continue to enslave Russia now in control of oligarchs.
Whoa.....The older I get, the better stuff I get to know about for the first time, what a wonder, an emotional masterpiece, so much culture and pathos and .... intimate mystery packed into a visual and audio treasure. Thank you, and thanks to Lula Goodwin for reminding us about Franchesca's contribution.
Easily the most moving animation I've ever seen, I'm instantly a fan of Yuriy Norstein. I've never seen so much emotion put through animation before, you don't even need subtitles to feel what is going on.
The title is taken from a poem of our famous poet Nazim Hikmet. The images of poet, tree and cat can be seen as inspirations drawn from this poem and I also believe it influenced the theme of the animation (the general theme/s besides the obvious references to Russian history) but in order not to channel anyone into a certain interpretation I will keep my opinion to myself. In case anyone wants to read: Tale of Tales We stand at the source, the plane tree and I. Our images reflect off the river. The water-dazzle lights up the plane tree and me. We stand at the source, the plane tree, me, and the cat. Our images reflect off the river. The water-dazzle lights up the plane tree, me, and the cat. We stand at the source, the plane tree, me, the cat, and the sun. Our images reflect off the river. The water-dazzle lights up the plane tree, me, the cat, and the sun. We stand at the source, the plane tree, me, the cat, the sun, and our lives. Our images reflect off the river. The water-dazzle lights up the plane tree, me, the cat, the sun, and our lives. We stand at the source. The cat will be the first to go, its image in the water will dissolve. Then I will go, my image in the water will dissolve. Then the plane tree will go, its image in the water will dissolve. Then the river will go, the sun alone remaining, and then it, too, will go. We stand at the source, the plane tree, me, the cat, the sun, and our lives. The water is cool the plane tree is huge I am writing a poem the cat is dozing the sun is warm Thank God we live. The water-dazzle lights up the plane tree, me, the cat, the sun, and our lives. Nazim Hikmet (Translated by Randy Blasing & Mutlu Konuk) This is the link for the book, in case someone is interested. www.amazon.com/Poems-Nazim-Hikmet-Revised-Expanded/dp/0892552743 *Instead of "Thank God" he actually wrote something like "Thankfully", as an atheist.
@@georgefromgreece4119 Thanks George, indeed we have a lot in common! Let me post a couple of lines from another poem of Nazim Hikmet: "I think of our crafts the business of poetry painting music and so on I think and I know a great river flows from the time the first human hand drew the first bison in the first cave then all streams run into it with their new fish new water-grasses new tastes and it alone flows endlessly and never dries up"
the memory sequence from 5:55 to 9:00 always makes me cry. The use of the tango 'burnt by the sun', the gramophone glitch and the letters from the front really makes one realize the enormous sense of loss in the war. This film is a form of national catharsis, not least for the millions of Soviet women destined for lonely spinsterhood because of the war.
@@candide1065 Literally no one ever said women were the most affected, just that they *were* affected. I'm seeing you spreading misogynistic comments around, so please, do something better with your time. Just appreciate this film for what it is without being disrespectful.
They're both two of the greatest artists this world has ever seen. I truly hope one day " the overcoat" will be available for people to enjoy and cherish as they have for decades.
at 8:00 the letters that were flying like birds were triangular in shape. Because during WW2, Russian soldiers had to fold letters in a triangle so it could easily be opened for inspection and censoring.
Аnd also because there were no envelopes and there was not enough paper. Many resources that are easily accessible and cheap today were not so in the past, especially in war and frontline conditions. In addition, the Soviet planned economy constantly created "deficits" (as we called goods that were not necessarily expensive, but for some reason difficult to obtain)
From an aesthetic point of view, this animated film is a stunner. Archaic, raw, surreal. It reminded me of Chaïm Soutine, whose art I adore, especially the fleeting superposed houses & the couple on the bench. It conveys a lot of emotion, not sure I understand the symbolism in it, except perhaps the most obvious parts about the war. Still, it is beautiful & melancholic & I loved it. Thank you ♡
Saw the revival review in the 3/18/19 New Yorker and viewed "Tale of Tales" today for the first time, 40 years on. Looked into the pictured triangle letters and found they were folded that way by Soviet soldiers, and recipients immediately knew when they received one that their loved one was still alive. (Paper shortages and the ease for state censors to view them made them popular.)
I let my four-year old daughter watch this. Now she is a 11 year old and doing a test on history. She told me she was going to do her test of the war from the Tale of Tales. I am so proud of her. She’s going to do so well. We should have more short movies like this.
Yuri and his wife franchesca do some of the most detailed work I've ever seen. To the point that it's scary how much patience and obsession you need to do it
I know this tango. My father was born in 1950 in East Germany. I know this song in Polish. My mother is Polish. I lived in a village when young. I am in my late twenties. My brother was in his mid 30s he was killed two years ago. My father is old now and may die soon. All I see in this world is the repeating of the old wars happening again and again. Everyone killing each other for no reason. Wars. I know the feelings in this film. It brings good memories but also very sad ones. I want to take the wolf with me.
I love Russian cinema, Tarkovsky, Klimov, Alexei German, but I never heard of this wonder. Spasiva, Alexandra, for sharing this masterpiece. Muchas gracias.
Thank you for the video! How nice that anyone can see this now. Very thoughtful of you to put notes explaining things us non-Russians wouldn't understand.
The song at 5:55 and later throughout the movie is called "To ostatnia niedziela", written by Petersburski (music) and Friedwald (original Polish lyrics). I wish this was mentioned in the credits. The Russian translation, "Утомлённое солнце", indeed became popular in the USSR.
Thanks for your time and effort in sharing and translating this gem to the wider english speaking audience. It is very important to preserve these creations in today's digital age, especially those that are hard to find.
desde un punto de vista puramente estético, ya me parece una obra sumamente única de por sí. me encanta esta especie de efecto stop-motion y las texturas ásperas que tienen los elementos de la obra, es muy bello. adoro especialmente la escena del bebé amamantando, capturaron muy bien el movimiento gentil de las mejillas. no sé mucho de historia rusa más allá de lo escencial así que qué significa qué cosa se me escapa, pero se puede ver que el tema principal es la melancolía de perder algo, tal vez intentaron ligar la pérdida de la inocencia que se da al crecer con la pérdida de la guerra. siento que el lobito representa algo muy fundamental, puede que él sea la necesidad de aferrarse a como fueron las cosas en el pasado antes de los cambios (o la guerra) por eso es que parece existir solo dentro de la memoria de la casa, e intenta llevarse al bebé para preservar la inocencia que existe en ese recuerdo. de todas formas es una obra muy bella, y a nivel técnico ya es fascinante de por sí, muy lindo de ver, aunque como varias de las caricaturas rusas de este tiempo tiene un aire deprimente.
@@Hello-tk5ze I think that the Guru is a "Russian spiritual features". I love Tarkovsky's films, but I think his films are based on Russian spiritual features. I think that the Ashkenazi Jew, Yuri Norstein, was also caught by Russia's deep spiritual features. ua-cam.com/video/3aRMWwAphLM/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/uU22autbqAo/v-deo.html
@@FringeSpectre Their comment mentions Isao Takahata, the co-founder of Studio Ghibli, so no, Miyazaki did not create every element of every film his name is attached to. He had Takahata as a collaborator and entire studios behind him.
I discovered this years ago, and I consider it the best Russian film of any sort. That melancholy tango really grabbed me! It took me years of digging to find out it was called Utomlyonoye Solnstsye, and also turns up in Siberiade. This film has many themes relevant for a modern Russian audience.
Thank you Alexandra for your help in understanding this. It was Utomlennoe solntse (original Polish Tango Ostatnia niedziela) which brought me here. I had never seen this masterpiece short film before. I don't know why I was drawn to the music in the first place, speaking neither Russian nor Polish, but I am glad I wound up here.
@@AlexandraPryakhina Am going to create an illustrated alphabet picture book from A to Z in English & Spanish. Must watch your film again. 🎥 All the best & A Happy Easter
I watched this animation about 25 years ago in Japan, and it is still unforgettable. I am so fascinated with Yuriy’s painstaking beautiful work, and J.S.Bach’s piano melody. This film has lots of implications, and I love to know about them. I think the apple is the key of the story, but what does it stand for? What does the bull’s skipping rope imply? Thank you so much for your English subtitle, it helped me to understand this beautiful film better. Love xxx
This is my first time watching the film and I wish I had seen this years ago. This film is obviously meant to be ambiguous, and forces its viewers to think hard about what they have just seen so there are likely many layers of symbolism based on context. The apple in western culture is often linked to Christian/Judaic/Islamic myth. Adam and Eve eat from the tree of knowledge and then lose their innocence, but they gain an understanding of the world. God then makes them mortal. The price of obtaining that knowledge is death and suffering. The fruit they eat is almost always depicted as an apple in art, and it would not surprise me if Norstein wanted to reference the idea of losing innocence and carrying the burden of knowing death and suffering. It is likely only a small part of how one could interpret the symbolism of the apple, though; it has so much colour and life compared to the cold snow, the dull and dark clothing of the boy, and the crows. Crows are also often associated with death in western cultures; but that is again only one possible interpretation. Hopefully this will give some insight into the symbolism being shown.
@@stevenwarner9156 Thank you so much for explaining the interpretation of the apple. I am Japanese, and not so familiar with western interpretation of those symbolic things. Yes, your explanation certainly helps to understand and see the depth of this film.
This is only my opinion but I believe the bull skipping rope with the young girl is another representation of the innocence of childhood. He is her imaginary friend that she is playing with and she doesn't want to stop playing with him to do boring things like taking care of the baby. But the golden childhood is a place of nostalgia so even the tantrum thrown by the young girl is remembered with deep fondness. The bull and the jump rope depict the security and innocence of childhood.
thank you for uploading this and providing notes! it's going to stick with me for a long time, i think. i feel like i just witnessed someone's dream. i hope one day i'll be able to make an art piece as memorable and haunting as the little wolf's face.
lucho por encontrar palabras que describan genuinamente mi admiración hacia esto!! por lo cual, interpretare mi bloqueo como un profundo respeto de mi lado más emocional que se encuentra extasiado.... la musica el dibujo el cuento la interpretación, todo muy encantador de entender. Sí, es Arte, en mayusculas
Thank you so much for sharing this. I only learned about Tale of Tales yesterday from a documentary about Yuri Norstein and Franchesca Yarbusova and their 40 year work called The Overcoat. I just wish I was able to understand more of what the film was about/what the meaning of things were. A beautiful film.
Thank very much very uploading this and for your subtitles. The following essay may help viewers make sense of this richly enigmatic short film. Or, at least, outline the contours in which the senses of the film's multi-layered meanings may be discovered. "The film has visited several different worlds, delineated in part by the style of animation employed; it has presented fragmentary episodes that are interpretable as micro-narratives; it has slipped in time within its different worlds, and has juxtaposed one world with another, one episode with another, with little apparent sense of purpose. We sense that there is some connection between them - after all, the little wolf seems to inhabit them all in one way or another - but an overarching narrative, if any, appears elusive, and perhaps even illusory. What we seem to be presented with is ‘what is’ rather than ‘what happened’, a multi-layered meditation that crosses narrative genres (Slowik, 2014). We are left with a series of questions: Who is the little wolf, what is he doing, and why? What is the significance of the old house? What, where, when and why is the delicately-drawn fantastical world? Who is the family in the snow? While the departing warriors and telegrams are evident allusions to the Great Patriotic War, how do they - and the tango dance that they interrupt - relate to the other strands of the film? Does the film present a narrative or is it just a congeries of fairy-tales and folk-tales? Is the film actually subversive? And so on . . ." journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/17468477221114596
Thanks for the subtitles Alexandra. I first saw this masterpiece 30 odd years ago, and was captivated. The subtitles are a bonus, but in truth, the film speaks for itself - indeed Norstein was quite vocal expressing his view that art doesn’t and shouldn’t have to explain itself, to be relevant. Art (and this is high art) transcends literal explanation, it also transcends language in the literal sense.
so does she also come up with the idea of the movie and every single shot or is he in fact the writer and director meaning that's his vision and anything that's on screen comes from him and the artist just draws? Which by the way, it's A LOT OF WORK and requires immense talent, so all credits to animators and artists and here specifically to his wife, but directors in animation are just as important as they are in live action movies. This is Yuri Norstein's movie.
i see a child grown up to soon and no comforting childhood. maybe i am thinking the wolf represents Yuri Norstein who grew up too soon and has to take care of his own newborn and family.
Thanks for uploading this! It's awesome to see what's inside of people's minds in this way, I think this story could have more meaning than what I think
Thank you so so much for the amazing subtitles you have provided, as the background you provide is essential in viewing this amazing piece of art for non-Russians such as myself. I have some theories as to what some of the imagery I did not quite understand may symbolize that I can write at a later date. For now I want to postulate a few ideas: 1.) Maybe the dream sequences another commenter mentioned, perhaps they tae place in a picture book or story book? Maybe that man at 21:48 is a children's book author? I mean goodness, this whole film looks like a children's book. 2.) Maybe the crying baby symbolizes the Russians/Soviets themselves, seeking some kind of comfort from the real world, the one where the adults such as the parents in the film are suffering from, and the wolf is trying to bring some much needed comfort to these people. I am not an artist, and I suck at drawing. Every single frame looks like it would take someone such as myself an entire lifetime to make, just a single frame, let alone a masterful, dreamlike meditation on war, loss, and national identity. This was on Sight and Sound's 250 list of films; without that list I would never have found this film. Thank you so much again for the upload! My regards, Paul
Thank you Paul!! I wish I had some clue on the correctness of your guesses. I'm only wallowing in guesses myself. It fills my heart with joy to know that you appreciated the translation I made! / Alexandra
This film is episodic in structure and, as many have said, is made up of memories, dreams, and fantasies, as well as feelings, emotions, and ideas. There are several themes running through this film: happiness is precious, short-lived, and very fragile; war touches everyone even many years later; childhood is magical and memories of it are like a fairy tale, and the same can be said about creativity .... For a poet, a writer or an artist, a blank sheet of paper is magical and full of possibilities (that's why it glows in the dark like a door to a dream) - it can become a poem or a story, a sketch of a picture or a cartoon character, and when it is kidnapped by a little wolf (who himself is a character from a children's fairy tale lullaby) - it can even turn into a baby - the ultimate result of creativity. It is no coincidence that many creators compare their creations to children...
Alexandra Pryakhina: thanks for the subtitles and clues. I doubt it is so, but the artist figure reminds me of Prokofiev, and the bull reminds me of Where The Wild Things Are. Are either of those even possible (never mind likely). And then, more persuasively, the boy in the snow with the apple and the birds--the imagery reminds me of a similar passage in Tarkovsky's Mirror, which seems (is?) modeled after a painting. So, is Norstein (or, rather, Petrushevskaya) referring to the painting as well, if not Mirror. [BY the way, I know the artist is supposed to be, strictly speaking, a poet, but he still also seems musical to me: the lyre notwithstanding!.] In any case, the film owes much to Mirror, in the best possible way. (Mirror, by the way, is my #1 movie of forever.) Thanks again for posting.
When i was a small child i used to rock on the same type of sewing machine as the little wolf. Does anyone know where I can find an analysis of this film? on how to interpret the characters..
I love the atmosphere of norstein’s work. There’s something apocalyptic about it. It kind of reminds me of melancholic horror like silent hill, ring, everywhere at the end of time, Blair witch. Just expressing emptiness as something to see.
There’s an aged feeling to this animation, it features images of decay, abandonment, and overgrowth. I think humans have an instinctive fear of abandoned or decayed places. Could be as simple as the fact that abandoned places are by nature far from help. Places like that also pose an existential threat, if I’m using that term right. A decayed place is a place of death in a sense, to be in one is a confrontation with the upsetting reality that everything falls apart and dies, eventually. I think that’s why this animation is creepy to some people in some settings. If anyone disagrees or has any other ideas, speak up! I’ve been thinking about this for a couple of weeks, it’s super interesting to me.
My interpretation: I think those fairy tale characters see our real world as a fairy tale. That is, there the plot of the cartoon is reversed - the fairy tale is reality and reality is a fairy tale. A blank sheet of paper is a life not yet lived: "everything is still ahead, everything is still possible" (quote from the movie "Mirror" by Tarkovsky).
i’m sure there’s no connection at all, but i’ve just started reading dostoyevsky’s “the brother’s karamazov” and the tango section reminds me so much of fyodor and alyosha’s conversation, where fyodor talks about thinking he’ll be dragged to hell by hooks. and here the soldiers are, carried off by hooks! maybe i’m just ignorant to some reoccurring hook theme in russian media haha, but i thought it was interesting enough to mention : )
![Yoji Kuri - Manga [1977]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/iNV6apzN0AU/mqdefault.jpg)
![Yoji Kuri — Manga [1977]](/img/tr.png)
Please don't forget Franchesca Norstein's contribution. Every single object, every character, background, foreground, was painstakingly drawn by Franchesca.
She is amazing!
People always forget about her!
Like Christo and Jean-Claude…
@@candide1065 It's about a person, not a female. If it was his male friend who did all of that, you wouldn't make this stupid comment, would you
@@candide1065 Yeah? Phrasing it in an obnoxious manner doesn’t erode the fact that her name is missing and people often overlook her.
Such a melancholic film . Before the war, families had been whole; then they shattered; struggling to be whole, as the sad, lonely little wolf struggled to live.
Finally the algorithm found something worth watching!
I can see why many consider this the greatest animated film ever made. This went WAY beyond what should even be possible with cut-out animation. Every single shot is a jaw-dropping masterpiece and a technical marvel. This is one of those films I watch slowly, in small doses, so I can absorb the sheer beauty of it.
In a university library, I once read that the wolf's face and design were inspired by a dead kitten Norstein found. It was described as "already crossed over...it's quite dead..." and a picture of its frozen stare was shown. I broke down and cried, startling the other students.
Seeing the wolf's face makes me cry again.
Jesus, I had no idea.
where can find that info?
@@SteveAdmienn Clare Kitson's book
Yuri Norstein and Tale of Tales: An Animator's Journey
@@theotherther1 thank you for the source. And thank you for the additional introspective. It's one thing to see the pain while watching it from my own point of view. But I imagine watching this as someone growing up on the USSR at the time must be so much more visceral.
muzzle of a wolf, this is the face of the author👀
all of his works are mesmerising
as an art student i’m so fascinated by so many soviet artists and film directors
in its simplicity it is unbelievably moving. Like their literature
"Their works", his life partner did all the graphics.
So moving, touching, beautiful. The childlike dreams, the war, loss, life, the lonely wolf.... it really is the Tale of tales
The name comes from a poem of Nazım Hikmet, a Turkish socialist poet who was exiled for his ideas during the unstable years of Türkiye. Yuri Norstein was a big fan of Nazım Hikmet's poem "Tale of Tales (Masalların Masalı)", which was about the childish memory of perceiving nature; thus he named his work after the poem. From what I know N. Hikmet used to be very popular in Russia and is still beloved by everyone in Türkiye no matter the ideology.
The child's golden memories versus the desaturated colors of the present day. Very magnificent and it captures that feeling that many people experience when they remember their childhoods against the horrors of the present.
The beginning with the baby drinking the milk, everything felt peaceful during that moment.
In watching Russian cinema I often perceive a sense of doom felt by these people, something deeply connected to their history and from which they cannot escape. Not just a matter of war, it seems to be a more shifty and powerful ghost lurking in their mind.
Thank you for uploading this video, I did not know Norstein at all.
Thank YOU for leaving a kind comment!
You are right in pointing this out. The Second World War is forever seared into the consciousness of the Soviet nation. It was a war like no other, a war of annihilation. More than 20 million dead. A senselessness like no other, something which makes even the victory almost meaningless. To this day - forests in Belarus and many parts of Western Russia are peppered in shells, shreds of rusted German and Soviet barbed wire and bones of the dead. This may be something which will never go away. Today of all European countries, Russia and Germany have the best relationship, and people find it difficult to explain considering the past animosity, but the reality of it is - it is almost cathartic.
I feel the same about Russian literature.There is always an impending doom and grief.Bleak like the winters of Russia.
I am also consuming a lot of russian art, filled with so much sober sensibility. I have notice that I don't like what I have seen from the post-soviet time. In the Soviet Union even the cartoon for children were highly artistic.
the majority of the russians were slaves before the 1860's who were bound to the land and couldn't leave it, and suffered physical abuse from landlords which in turn promoted a culture of alcoholic addiction. The Soviet Union in history was superior compared to the tsars that came before or the crooks that came after, but they failed to meet a western standard of living and the western propaganda took advantage of this vulnerability to continue to enslave Russia now in control of oligarchs.
Whoa.....The older I get, the better stuff I get to know about for the first time, what a wonder, an emotional masterpiece, so much culture and pathos and .... intimate mystery packed into a visual and audio treasure. Thank you, and thanks to Lula Goodwin for reminding us about Franchesca's contribution.
Great comment!
Hope she sees this bro
Easily the most moving animation I've ever seen, I'm instantly a fan of Yuriy Norstein. I've never seen so much emotion put through animation before, you don't even need subtitles to feel what is going on.
It is literally the best animated film of all time
I don't understand what's going on in this movie
Check out "dogs" by CUREiosity it has clips of this film in it. amazing song too.
me bored after 4 minutes lol
@@alexiacaceda1421 Reference to the tragedy of the War
The title is taken from a poem of our famous poet Nazim Hikmet. The images of poet, tree and cat can be seen as inspirations drawn from this poem and I also believe it influenced the theme of the animation (the general theme/s besides the obvious references to Russian history) but in order not to channel anyone into a certain interpretation I will keep my opinion to myself. In case anyone wants to read:
Tale of Tales
We stand at the source,
the plane tree and I.
Our images reflect
off the river.
The water-dazzle
lights up the plane tree and me.
We stand at the source,
the plane tree, me, and the cat.
Our images reflect
off the river.
The water-dazzle
lights up the plane tree, me, and the cat.
We stand at the source,
the plane tree, me, the cat, and the sun.
Our images reflect
off the river.
The water-dazzle
lights up the plane tree, me, the cat, and the sun.
We stand at the source,
the plane tree, me, the cat, the sun, and our lives.
Our images reflect
off the river.
The water-dazzle
lights up the plane tree, me, the cat, the sun, and our lives.
We stand at the source.
The cat will be the first to go,
its image in the water will dissolve.
Then I will go,
my image in the water will dissolve.
Then the plane tree will go,
its image in the water will dissolve.
Then the river will go,
the sun alone remaining,
and then it, too, will go.
We stand at the source,
the plane tree, me, the cat, the sun, and our lives.
The water is cool
the plane tree is huge
I am writing a poem
the cat is dozing
the sun is warm
Thank God we live.
The water-dazzle
lights up the plane tree, me, the cat, the sun, and our lives.
Nazim Hikmet
(Translated by Randy Blasing & Mutlu Konuk)
This is the link for the book, in case someone is interested.
www.amazon.com/Poems-Nazim-Hikmet-Revised-Expanded/dp/0892552743
*Instead of "Thank God" he actually wrote something like "Thankfully", as an atheist.
Well done. Thanx for this!
I also Thank You.
thank you for sharing this
Thanks so much Tarik!!!
We all share the same eastern european/ oriental/ middle eastern culture!!!
@@georgefromgreece4119 Thanks George, indeed we have a lot in common!
Let me post a couple of lines from another poem of Nazim Hikmet:
"I think of our crafts the business of poetry painting music and so on
I think and I know
a great river flows from the time the first human hand drew the
first bison in the first cave
then all streams run into it with their new fish new water-grasses
new tastes and it alone flows endlessly and never dries up"
the memory sequence from 5:55 to 9:00 always makes me cry. The use of the tango 'burnt by the sun', the gramophone glitch and the letters from the front really makes one realize the enormous sense of loss in the war.
This film is a form of national catharsis, not least for the millions of Soviet women destined for lonely spinsterhood because of the war.
Yes!! It's tearing my heart apart.
Your comment is perfection.
Oh my!
"Men die in war. Women most affected."
@@candide1065 Literally no one ever said women were the most affected, just that they *were* affected. I'm seeing you spreading misogynistic comments around, so please, do something better with your time. Just appreciate this film for what it is without being disrespectful.
Im here after watching Yuri's documentary of his and his wife's forty year project.
Me too!!
Same.I'd never heard of this master before.Now I'm hookef.
☝️
Got to love atrocity guide.
thanks to Atrocity Guide 💕
They're both two of the greatest artists this world has ever seen. I truly hope one day " the overcoat" will be available for people to enjoy and cherish as they have for decades.
I saw the overcoat here on youtube.
@@baluga_puspin_cat its incomplete and always will be
at 8:00 the letters that were flying like birds were triangular in shape. Because during WW2, Russian soldiers had to fold letters in a triangle so it could easily be opened for inspection and censoring.
Аnd also because there were no envelopes and there was not enough paper. Many resources that are easily accessible and cheap today were not so in the past, especially in war and frontline conditions. In addition, the Soviet planned economy constantly created "deficits" (as we called goods that were not necessarily expensive, but for some reason difficult to obtain)
From an aesthetic point of view, this animated film is a stunner. Archaic, raw, surreal. It reminded me of Chaïm Soutine, whose art I adore, especially the fleeting superposed houses & the couple on the bench. It conveys a lot of emotion, not sure I understand the symbolism in it, except perhaps the most obvious parts about the war. Still, it is beautiful & melancholic & I loved it.
Thank you ♡
Saw the revival review in the 3/18/19 New Yorker and viewed "Tale of Tales" today for the first time, 40 years on.
Looked into the pictured triangle letters and found they were folded that way by Soviet soldiers, and recipients immediately knew when they received one that their loved one was still alive. (Paper shortages and the ease for state censors to view them made them popular.)
Oh wow, thank you for this insight.
I let my four-year old daughter watch this. Now she is a 11 year old and doing a test on history. She told me she was going to do her test of the war from the Tale of Tales. I am so proud of her. She’s going to do so well. We should have more short movies like this.
Yuri and his wife franchesca do some of the most detailed work I've ever seen. To the point that it's scary how much patience and obsession you need to do it
Thanks you for making this film avaliable and added subtitle truely a bless.
I know this tango. My father was born in 1950 in East Germany. I know this song in Polish. My mother is Polish. I lived in a village when young. I am in my late twenties. My brother was in his mid 30s he was killed two years ago. My father is old now and may die soon. All I see in this world is the repeating of the old wars happening again and again. Everyone killing each other for no reason. Wars. I know the feelings in this film. It brings good memories but also very sad ones. I want to take the wolf with me.
I love Russian cinema, Tarkovsky, Klimov, Alexei German, but I never heard of this wonder. Spasiva, Alexandra, for sharing this masterpiece. Muchas gracias.
Jesús Christ, Tolmach. Just for a brief well intended comment you have given me an angry History lesson. I will watch now A Fiddler On The Roof.
You are welcome!
I remember seeing this short in 2006 when I was a kid, I watch it in Canal 11 (a broadcast channel here in Mexico).
Thank you for the video! How nice that anyone can see this now. Very thoughtful of you to put notes explaining things us non-Russians wouldn't understand.
Appreciate it!
Check out "dogs" by CUREiosity it has clips of this film in it. amazing song too.
The greatest animation ever made: thought and emotion provoking.
The song at 5:55 and later throughout the movie is called "To ostatnia niedziela", written by Petersburski (music) and Friedwald (original Polish lyrics). I wish this was mentioned in the credits. The Russian translation, "Утомлённое солнце", indeed became popular in the USSR.
Thanks, added your comment to the description!
@@AlexandraPryakhina Thank you! 🥰
Thank you for your kind comment on Russian culture, which is hard for foreigners to notice. Thanks to it, I enjoyed this masterpiece more abundantly.
Excellent! You are very welcome.
This is a video poetry. Masterpiece.
This resonates in my heart in such a painful way. I'm thankful to the creators of this.
I've been hankering to see a subtitled copy of this masterpiece for years. Alexandra, you are an angel!
I couldn't be happier, Nate! Thanks for the kind words! :)
Thanks for your time and effort in sharing and translating this gem to the wider english speaking audience. It is very important to preserve these creations in today's digital age, especially those that are hard to find.
Thank you for your kind words! I agree that the masterpieces like that should be carefully preserved.
Truly a masterpiece.
desde un punto de vista puramente estético, ya me parece una obra sumamente única de por sí. me encanta esta especie de efecto stop-motion y las texturas ásperas que tienen los elementos de la obra, es muy bello. adoro especialmente la escena del bebé amamantando, capturaron muy bien el movimiento gentil de las mejillas.
no sé mucho de historia rusa más allá de lo escencial así que qué significa qué cosa se me escapa, pero se puede ver que el tema principal es la melancolía de perder algo, tal vez intentaron ligar la pérdida de la inocencia que se da al crecer con la pérdida de la guerra. siento que el lobito representa algo muy fundamental, puede que él sea la necesidad de aferrarse a como fueron las cosas en el pasado antes de los cambios (o la guerra) por eso es que parece existir solo dentro de la memoria de la casa, e intenta llevarse al bebé para preservar la inocencia que existe en ese recuerdo.
de todas formas es una obra muy bella, y a nivel técnico ya es fascinante de por sí, muy lindo de ver, aunque como varias de las caricaturas rusas de este tiempo tiene un aire deprimente.
Hayao Miyazaki or Isao Takahata is definitely a good animation director. But Yuri Norstein is a genius. From Japan.
Hitoshi Yokoo I though guru was Russian ?
@@Hello-tk5ze
I think that the Guru is a "Russian spiritual features".
I love Tarkovsky's films, but I think his films are based on Russian spiritual features.
I think that the Ashkenazi Jew, Yuri Norstein, was also caught by Russia's deep spiritual features.
ua-cam.com/video/3aRMWwAphLM/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/uU22autbqAo/v-deo.html
@@Hello-tk5ze They were saying that their comment was from Japan :)
His wife did literally all the art. Didn't Miyazaki draw and direct everything himself?
@@FringeSpectre Their comment mentions Isao Takahata, the co-founder of Studio Ghibli, so no, Miyazaki did not create every element of every film his name is attached to. He had Takahata as a collaborator and entire studios behind him.
Pure art! I've never seen anything like it!
I discovered this years ago, and I consider it the best Russian film of any sort. That melancholy tango really grabbed me! It took me years of digging to find out it was called Utomlyonoye Solnstsye, and also turns up in Siberiade. This film has many themes relevant for a modern Russian audience.
Посмотрите фильм "Утомленные Солнцем"
@@t76480 I have watched it! Nice movie, but not as good as this masterpiece.
@@jaywalker7363 If you like surrealism and dystopia, then I can recommend the movie Kin-Dza-Dza
So moving. I almost cried. So beautiful. And the amount of time put into this art piece...
Okay, the reflection on the hub cap was IMPRESSIVE
Thank you Alexandra for your help in understanding this. It was Utomlennoe solntse (original Polish Tango Ostatnia niedziela) which brought me here. I had never seen this masterpiece short film before. I don't know why I was drawn to the music in the first place, speaking neither Russian nor Polish, but I am glad I wound up here.
It is so good to hear that you appreciate my effort! Thank you!
This is exactly like a nightmare. I know people say this about stuff a lot but this is genuinely like a surreal and uncomfortable nightmare.
Nightmares are good for your mental health sometimes
Definitely.
Precisely
@@EaglehawkMoonfang Not this one.
“Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.”
Beautiful !!! As an artist, this is a mini-masterpiece !!! Thank you for showing and sharing !!! All the best !!!
Thank YOU for your kind words!
@@AlexandraPryakhina Am going to create an illustrated alphabet picture book from A to Z in English & Spanish. Must watch your film again. 🎥 All the best & A Happy Easter
@@christopherheinig5590
I watched this animation about 25 years ago in Japan, and it is still unforgettable. I am so fascinated with Yuriy’s painstaking beautiful work, and J.S.Bach’s piano melody. This film has lots of implications, and I love to know about them. I think the apple is the key of the story, but what does it stand for? What does the bull’s skipping rope imply? Thank you so much for your English subtitle, it helped me to understand this beautiful film better.
Love xxx
This is my first time watching the film and I wish I had seen this years ago. This film is obviously meant to be ambiguous, and forces its viewers to think hard about what they have just seen so there are likely many layers of symbolism based on context. The apple in western culture is often linked to Christian/Judaic/Islamic myth. Adam and Eve eat from the tree of knowledge and then lose their innocence, but they gain an understanding of the world. God then makes them mortal. The price of obtaining that knowledge is death and suffering. The fruit they eat is almost always depicted as an apple in art, and it would not surprise me if Norstein wanted to reference the idea of losing innocence and carrying the burden of knowing death and suffering.
It is likely only a small part of how one could interpret the symbolism of the apple, though; it has so much colour and life compared to the cold snow, the dull and dark clothing of the boy, and the crows. Crows are also often associated with death in western cultures; but that is again only one possible interpretation. Hopefully this will give some insight into the symbolism being shown.
@@stevenwarner9156 Thank you so much for explaining the interpretation of the apple. I am Japanese, and not so familiar with western interpretation of those symbolic things. Yes, your explanation certainly helps to understand and see the depth of this film.
Happy that my input helped!
This is only my opinion but I believe the bull skipping rope with the young girl is another representation of the innocence of childhood. He is her imaginary friend that she is playing with and she doesn't want to stop playing with him to do boring things like taking care of the baby. But the golden childhood is a place of nostalgia so even the tantrum thrown by the young girl is remembered with deep fondness. The bull and the jump rope depict the security and innocence of childhood.
@@Luipaard005 Thank you for explaining, that makes sense!!
This is the stuff that keeps me from offing myself... thank you Yuri.
Beautiful, isn't it? Hang in there!
thank you for uploading this and providing notes! it's going to stick with me for a long time, i think. i feel like i just witnessed someone's dream. i hope one day i'll be able to make an art piece as memorable and haunting as the little wolf's face.
You're very much welcome, I'm glad to hear that you appreciated both the film and my own bit of effort.
lucho por encontrar palabras que describan genuinamente mi admiración hacia esto!! por lo cual, interpretare mi bloqueo como un profundo respeto de mi lado más emocional que se encuentra extasiado.... la musica el dibujo el cuento la interpretación, todo muy encantador de entender. Sí, es Arte, en mayusculas
thank you so much for uploading this
Enjoy!
Cant believe my luck finding this!good quality, too! Thank-you 🌻
a masterpiece, beautifull, poetic and bitter sweet, melancholic and peacefull. Exactly what we currently need on Earth
Thank you so much for sharing this. I only learned about Tale of Tales yesterday from a documentary about Yuri Norstein and Franchesca Yarbusova and their 40 year work called The Overcoat. I just wish I was able to understand more of what the film was about/what the meaning of things were. A beautiful film.
You're very welcome! / I'll give a watch to the documentary you've mentioned.
Thank very much very uploading this and for your subtitles.
The following essay may help viewers make sense of this richly enigmatic short film. Or, at least, outline the contours in which the senses of the film's multi-layered meanings may be discovered.
"The film has visited several different worlds, delineated in part by the style of animation employed; it has presented fragmentary episodes that are interpretable as micro-narratives; it has slipped in time within its different worlds, and has juxtaposed one world with another, one episode with another, with little apparent sense of purpose. We sense that there is some connection between them - after all, the little wolf seems to inhabit them all in one way or another - but an overarching narrative, if any, appears elusive, and perhaps even illusory. What we seem to be presented with is ‘what is’ rather than ‘what happened’, a multi-layered meditation that crosses narrative genres (Slowik, 2014). We are left with a series of questions: Who is the little wolf, what is he doing, and why? What is the significance of the old house? What, where, when and why is the delicately-drawn fantastical world? Who is the family in the snow? While the departing warriors and telegrams are evident allusions to the Great Patriotic War, how do they - and the tango dance that they interrupt - relate to the other strands of the film? Does the film present a narrative or is it just a congeries of fairy-tales and folk-tales? Is the film actually subversive? And so on . . ."
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/17468477221114596
This is incredible. Thanks for uploading this-- it blew me away.
Thanks for the subtitles Alexandra. I first saw this masterpiece 30 odd years ago, and was captivated. The subtitles are a bonus, but in truth, the film speaks for itself - indeed Norstein was quite vocal expressing his view that art doesn’t and shouldn’t have to explain itself, to be relevant. Art (and this is high art) transcends literal explanation, it also transcends language in the literal sense.
So happy that I helped!!
Absolutely wonderful! Watched it twice.
Beautiful. The music video for Girl and The Sea by the Presets took a lot of inspiration from this
His wife drew everything. He then puts it altogether
so does she also come up with the idea of the movie and every single shot or is he in fact the writer and director meaning that's his vision and anything that's on screen comes from him and the artist just draws? Which by the way, it's A LOT OF WORK and requires immense talent, so all credits to animators and artists and here specifically to his wife, but directors in animation are just as important as they are in live action movies. This is Yuri Norstein's movie.
emormous and wonderful compelling work, filled with emotion and detail. thanks
i see a child grown up to soon and no comforting childhood. maybe i am thinking the wolf represents Yuri Norstein who grew up too soon and has to take care of his own newborn and family.
Can´t thank you enough! So beautiful...so moving...such inspiring flow of sound and images.
You are very very welcome Suzanne!
Thanks for uploading this! It's awesome to see what's inside of people's minds in this way, I think this story could have more meaning than what I think
Thank you so so much for the amazing subtitles you have provided, as the background you provide is essential in viewing this amazing piece of art for non-Russians such as myself. I have some theories as to what some of the imagery I did not quite understand may symbolize that I can write at a later date.
For now I want to postulate a few ideas: 1.) Maybe the dream sequences another commenter mentioned, perhaps they tae place in a picture book or story book? Maybe that man at 21:48 is a children's book author? I mean goodness, this whole film looks like a children's book. 2.) Maybe the crying baby symbolizes the Russians/Soviets themselves, seeking some kind of comfort from the real world, the one where the adults such as the parents in the film are suffering from, and the wolf is trying to bring some much needed comfort to these people.
I am not an artist, and I suck at drawing. Every single frame looks like it would take someone such as myself an entire lifetime to make, just a single frame, let alone a masterful, dreamlike meditation on war, loss, and national identity.
This was on Sight and Sound's 250 list of films; without that list I would never have found this film. Thank you so much again for the upload!
My regards,
Paul
Thank you Paul!! I wish I had some clue on the correctness of your guesses. I'm only wallowing in guesses myself. It fills my heart with joy to know that you appreciated the translation I made! / Alexandra
This film is episodic in structure and, as many have said, is made up of memories, dreams, and fantasies, as well as feelings, emotions, and ideas. There are several themes running through this film: happiness is precious, short-lived, and very fragile; war touches everyone even many years later; childhood is magical and memories of it are like a fairy tale, and the same can be said about creativity .... For a poet, a writer or an artist, a blank sheet of paper is magical and full of possibilities (that's why it glows in the dark like a door to a dream) - it can become a poem or a story, a sketch of a picture or a cartoon character, and when it is kidnapped by a little wolf (who himself is a character from a children's fairy tale lullaby) - it can even turn into a baby - the ultimate result of creativity. It is no coincidence that many creators compare their creations to children...
old is gold 🙏
Watched the whole thing, realized I didn't turn the subtitles on. Oops.
Guess I'll watch it again properly tomorrow. Beautiful imagery.
Alexandra Pryakhina: thanks for the subtitles and clues. I doubt it is so, but the artist figure reminds me of Prokofiev, and the bull reminds me of Where The Wild Things Are. Are either of those even possible (never mind likely). And then, more persuasively, the boy in the snow with the apple and the birds--the imagery reminds me of a similar passage in Tarkovsky's Mirror, which seems (is?) modeled after a painting. So, is Norstein (or, rather, Petrushevskaya) referring to the painting as well, if not Mirror. [BY the way, I know the artist is supposed to be, strictly speaking, a poet, but he still also seems musical to me: the lyre notwithstanding!.]
In any case, the film owes much to Mirror, in the best possible way. (Mirror, by the way, is my #1 movie of forever.)
Thanks again for posting.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!!
talastra m
Thank you, this was amazing!
Glad I could help!
This is stunning
I don't understand what I just saw but it's beautifulllllll and the wolf is literally too cute. Going to search for explanations now on the internet.
Thanq so much Alexandra 💙💙
You're welcome!
hauntingly beautiful
I'd love to see the masterpiece they've been working on for decades if they finally finish it in my lifetime.
delightful !! thank you for sharing!
Always a pleasure!
Beautiful animation...
Aha!
So beautiful
So nice
What a work!
This is beautiful!!!
When i was a small child i used to rock on the same type of sewing machine as the little wolf.
Does anyone know where I can find an analysis of this film? on how to interpret the characters..
Im wondering what is the significance of the fish and the cat?? I have ideas about the others but not those
Yuri Norstein and Tale of tales : an animator's journey, Clare Kitson, Indiana University Press, 2005
@@mettehansen9754 Это Кот Учёный. Он из детской сказки Пушкина.Золотая рыбка тоже из сказки. Сам Пушкин тоже нарисован как человек с бакенбардами.
@@t76480 okay thanks for explaining Ill look into those fairytales Спасибо 😊
Thank you very much
Enjoy!
I love the atmosphere of norstein’s work. There’s something apocalyptic about it. It kind of reminds me of melancholic horror like silent hill, ring, everywhere at the end of time, Blair witch. Just expressing emptiness as something to see.
a remarkably insightful animation. The Yuriy Francessca coupling is unparalled
Thank you for posting this. Always liked it. Beautiful animation!
You're welcome. Yeah, it's amazing indeed!
This is wild imagery! A gold mine!
Chere ele c'è petit film e Tres poetique et Tres sensibile sensibile gros bisous Eva ,merci .
Very emotive video. Thank you for sharing.
For years this anmation scared me and I thought was a Mandela effect of my childness, now continues proving me creepy by the technique using.
It is kind of creepy to me sometimes, depending on my mood. Wonder what specific aspects make it that way
There’s an aged feeling to this animation, it features images of decay, abandonment, and overgrowth. I think humans have an instinctive fear of abandoned or decayed places. Could be as simple as the fact that abandoned places are by nature far from help. Places like that also pose an existential threat, if I’m using that term right. A decayed place is a place of death in a sense, to be in one is a confrontation with the upsetting reality that everything falls apart and dies, eventually. I think that’s why this animation is creepy to some people in some settings. If anyone disagrees or has any other ideas, speak up! I’ve been thinking about this for a couple of weeks, it’s super interesting to me.
My interpretation: I think those fairy tale characters see our real world as a fairy tale. That is, there the plot of the cartoon is reversed - the fairy tale is reality and reality is a fairy tale. A blank sheet of paper is a life not yet lived: "everything is still ahead, everything is still possible" (quote from the movie "Mirror" by Tarkovsky).
This is where the world is.
16:15 - 19:15 Beautiful sequence.
удивительно, русские люди, вы прекрасны
Спасибо, из России с любовью ♥️
Thank you for this, lovely
You are welcome Adam!
Buena animacion, saludos desde mexico 🇲🇽 😊
Too beautiful for words
Great treasure for everyone in the world.
Wonderful ❣️
I love this story .. i love this animation 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜.
It's the musical score 🎼
Wonderful. Thank you
Thank you for the explanations within the subs!
My pleasure!
i’m sure there’s no connection at all, but i’ve just started reading dostoyevsky’s “the brother’s karamazov” and the tango section reminds me so much of fyodor and alyosha’s conversation, where fyodor talks about thinking he’ll be dragged to hell by hooks. and here the soldiers are, carried off by hooks! maybe i’m just ignorant to some reoccurring hook theme in russian media haha, but i thought it was interesting enough to mention : )
Мультфильм построен на детских ассоциациях из сказок, которые детям читают родители. В основном там сказки Пушкина.
Magnificent! Cheers!
Beautiful.