Ukrainian Rhapsody (1961) (2025)

Ukrainian Rhapsody (1961) (1)

Ukrainian Rhapsody (1961) (2)

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1961

Українська рапсодія

Directed by Sergei Parajanov

Synopsis

Singer Oksana has lost her beloved in the war. Everyone thinks he perished, but actually he was taken prisoner, then ran away, hid, fell into American hands, and… Finally, he returns to his village, and meets Oksana. —Yerevan International Film Festival

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  • Cast
  • Crew
  • Details
  • Genres
  • Releases

Cast

Olga Reus-Petrenko Eduard Koshman Yuriy Gulyayev Natalya Uzhviy Aleksandr Gai Valeriy Vitter Anatoli Chemodurov Stepan Shkurat Sergey Petrov Nikolay Slobodyan A. Pospelov Olga Nozhkina Dmitriy Kapka Ekaterina Litvinenko Valentin Grudinin Yurii Sarychev I. Kulikov Kostiantyn Stepankov Svetlana Konovalova V. Belyy Evgeniy Kovalenko Mykola Vinhranovsky Mykola Zasieiev-Rudenko

DirectorDirector

Sergei Parajanov

Co-DirectorCo-Director

Andrey Bocharov

WriterWriter

Aleksandr Levada

StoryStory

Aleksandr Levada

CinematographyCinematography

Ivan Shekker

Production DesignProduction Design

Mikhail Rakovskiy

Visual EffectsVisual Effects

V. Dubrovskiy

ComposerComposer

Platon Maiboroda

SongsSongs

Nikolay Nagnibeda

SoundSound

Nina Avramenko Sofiya Sergiyenko

Costume DesignCostume Design

Nikolay Braun

MakeupMakeup

Ye. Shayner

Studio

Dovzhenko Film Studios

Country

USSR

Primary Language

Ukrainian

Spoken Languages

Russian Ukrainian

Alternative Titles

Rapsodia Ucraina, Rhapsodie ukrainienne, Украинская рапсодия, 乌克兰狂想曲

Genres

War Romance Music Drama

Releases by Date

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Theatrical

25 Sep 1961
  • Ukrainian Rhapsody (1961) (3)USSR

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Ukrainian Rhapsody (1961) (4)USSR
25 Sep 1961
  • TheatricalIn cinemasnationwide

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  • Review by Lencho of the Apes ★★★

    Rehashes the students-during-wartime trope of high-Stalinist warfilm (The Fall Of Berlin, f.e.), but its an aesthete's film with an aesthete's focus that subverts the blut und eisen totalitarian stuff almost to nonexistence; the war is barely penciled in, and the only Eternal Socialist Truth that needed to be fought for was that the damn Nazis interrupted the constant flow of music from the Ukraine into the universe.

    Single awesomest shot: the polished surface of a concert piano reflects the flames engulfing Kiev offcamera. A couple of other shots look as though Tarkovsky lifted an idea or three from this to use in Ivan's Childhood.

    PS: if you love colored gels... if you really, really love colored gels... this movie will get all the hearts + stars.

  • Review by FoundOnYouTube ★★★★ 15

    8/10

    Shoutout to @lazurs01 for the request.

    Someone needs to redo the English subtitles lol. Some sentences are translated to be a string of nouns with no verbs, adjectives, or prepositions linking them together. It was a little hard to follow, and my nonexistent Ukrainian/Russian skills didn't help either, but I think I understand what this movie is about.

    Ukrainian Rhapsody is about an opera singer who is separated from her love, due to World War II. It's an operetta with a nonlinear narrative. This early effort from Parajanov is more "mainstream" than his future works, but still worth checking out.

  • Review by Jenna Ipcar ★★★½

    A true operatic film. A simplistic plot, lost love in a war torn country, as told through abstract dream sequences and beautiful on location compositions. Akin to a jewelry box, delicate and sweet. I love this era of Soviet film where they’re practically inventing steadicams — the way the camera moves even when the subject doesn’t, landing on various moving tableaus and perfectly blocked out shots.

    Would love to see a restored, clearer version of this — some of the shots are breathtakingly beautiful and some were too dark to make out.

  • Review by Sax Von Stroheim ★★★★

    I'd forgotten how much I loved Ukrainian Rhapsody back when I saw it as part of the BFI's Sergei Parajanov retrospective (probably about ten years ago now). Though it's often dismissed as apprentice work, it's anything but - though it definitely has one foot in Soviet filmmaking practices in a way that Parajanov's subsequent films are able to better disguise.

    Ukrainian Rhapsody is basically a flimsy melodrama telling the story of two music-loving villagers, Oksana and Anton, whose romance is forestalled by World War 2. But in Parajanov's hands this typical plot is a pretext for some stunning images: Anton thrums out some Beethoven to a crowd of dejected soldiers in a bombed-out theatre, Oksana sings to inspire morale in the troops as aircraft zoom by overhead, the sails of a windmill turn in the foreground as soldiers advance on a village.

    On the strength of its imagery alone, Ukrainian Rhapsody is a hypnotic and beguiling film.

  • Review by ngoluri ★★★★

    It is the first serious work after his tale-like movies.

    Classic melodram but pretty good plot. He used flashbacks appropriately instead of simple plot. And some singing scenes could be shorter.

    And, of course, very good cinematography. Indoors, colours of sky and moonlight sequence.

  • Review by Ruth- 🖤 Old Hollywood 🖤 ★★★★

    Every Soviet era film I've watched has such amazing cinematography, and this is no exception! I'm glad it was filmed in color, because Sergei Parajanov made excellent use of that. The storyline wasn't amazing, but the singing was beautiful (although I think some of the people were really struggling to lip sync lol), and it's visually stunning.

  • Review by Oscar Lau ★★★½

    A Socialist melodrama, two lovers with musical talent being torn away by war, Parajanov fully embraced the generic tropes whilst embellishing it with a narrative structure of paralleling flashbacks and operatic use of scores and classical music. The visual flourishes and the use of allusion (by visuals and the first-person voiceover), particularly the dream sequence, anticipate his later masterpiece. I could easily see myself rating it higher in the future if there is a restored version. The print I watched does not do the film justice.

    Added to: Sergei Parajanov, Ranked

  • Review by Redmond Bacon ★★★★½

    probably my favourite Parajanov so far. so many great images – from the piano being played in a rubble-strewn concert hall, to the baby sitting on the nazi helmet, to the montage of songs by the end. The first third or so was like first-half-of-the-new-a-star-is-born good. the use of montage – obviously –is bang on too and the music is sublime. Like The Cranes Are Flying if it were directed by Vincente Minnelli. Cold War must have taken a couple of ideas for this aesthetic too.

  • Review by princess 🦋 1

    i think visually is very nice , the mining scene especially i also like when the piano was burning while playinf beethoven & stuff, just in general the juxtaposition between beauty of orchestral art& injustice/brutality of war is quite a acorn to be bethunk

    the structure i cannot stand i think was too abrupt but mayb is i am too ignorant on the political aspects on which much the drama is grounded i shall revisist this in the future

  • Review by Milo ★★★★½

    Having seen this film, I became Ukrainian. I know only the wide fields and the blue skies; the pretty girls who dance in circles; the cupolas of Kyiv; the Dnieper flowing out into the Black Sea. I would – I must – die for Ukraine. Its endless purvey of music and agricultural work. Parajanov makes for the least muscular Soviet director there ever was. He fulfils all his socialist duty, but does so in search of beauty and artistic catharsis. The muscled arm of the proletariat – that invincible image – is of little importance to this film. Parajanov instead prefers the lyrical mode. A film that interweaves time and music; a film so much composed of so many different…

  • Review by Doug Dibbern ★★★★

    This was my favorite of the early Parajanov features. It's the story of a simple village girl who becomes an amazing opera singer. But it's also a love triangle where she has to choose between two men (hint: she makes the right choice in the end (double hint: she chooses the earthier, more handsome man)). But it's also a brutal WWII story. So this is the best mixture of mainstream cinema and Parajanov's weird aestheticism I've seen. Also: the classical music is great!

  • Review by Avinaba Chakraborty ★★★½

    Punctuated by vibrant imagery and abrupt narrative ellipses, 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑗𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑣 steers a classical Soviet melodrama towards a transcendental realm that de-emphasizes on war, communist messages and it's effects while championing the spiritual tenacity of human beings.

Ukrainian Rhapsody (1961) (2025)

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