The Glass Harmonica (film)

File:Glass Harmonica.jpg

The main antagonist of the film, the "yellow devil"

Steklyannaya Garmonika
File:Glass Harmonica.jpg The main antagonist of the film, the "yellow devil"
Directed by	Andrei Khrzhanovsky
Written by	{{{writer}}}
Screenplay by	{{{screenplay}}}
Story by	{{{story}}}
Produced by	{{{producer}}} or {{{producers}}}
Cinematography	{{{cinematography}}}
Edited by	{{{editing}}}
Music by	Alfred Schnitkke
Production company	Soyuzmultfilm
Running time	{{{runtime}}}
Country	USSR
Language	Russian

Steklyannaya Garmonika, or Glass Harmonica, is a 1968 Soviet animated film directed by Andrei Khrzhanovsky. It gained notoriety for being banned in the USSR until after the perestroika. It is also notable for its unique and surreal animation, which includes references to many artworks by artists such as René Magritte, Hieronymus Bosch, Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Francisco Goya, Albrecht Dürer, El Greco, and Pinturicchio.The film also contains no spoken dialogue and relies on visual storytelling.

Plot

File:"Yellow devil" coin.jpg

The golden coin of the yellow devil

The story begins with on-screen text explaining that "Long ago a craftsman created a magical musical instrument, and called it: The Glass Harmonica. The sound of this instrument inspired high thoughts and fine actions. Once the craftsman came to a town whose citizens were in thrall...to a yellow devil". It then shows the town, which is dark and empty, where a clock tower stands in the center of the town square. When the clock reaches four, a large drum sounds, and the townspeople gather around it, where the craftsman is waiting, holding his glass harmonica. He begins to play it, and magical balls of color disperse from the instrument to the townspeople. One man reaches out and touches one, and it turns into a red rose in his hand. Suddenly, the "yellow devil" (the ruler of the town, whose face is on his golden coins) appears next to the craftsman. He leads him away as the townspeople look on. The yellow devil smashes the glass harmonica into pieces, and the craftsman is never seen again. The man who had received the rose from the glass harmonica's magic was hiding it in his hands, until another member of the town pulls his hand away to reveal it and points it out to the yellow devil. The man with the rose pushes the snitch away and puts it in his hands again. The yellow devil barks an order, and suddenly a pair of guards appears and grabs him, causing him to drop the rose, which withers as it touches the ground. The man is never seen again, and the yellow devil rewards the snitch with one of his gold coins. The clock tower chimes, causing the townspeople to look at it, and then look back to the yellow devil, who barks another order. The townspeople rush to the clock tower and tear it apart, stealing pieces of it and taking them back to their houses. The only member of the town who does not follow the yellow devil's command is a young boy who picks up the withered rose, upon which it regains life and blooms. The film then follows a man and woman who stole the hour hand from the clock tower back to their house, which is full of other random objects and artifacts. The man sits in a chair and watches the other side of a wall through a large keyhole, where he watches the snitch in a room full of large chests. The snitch opens one to reveal it is full of gold coins, and he places the one the yellow devil gave him in it. He then showers himself in his coins, until he chokes on one. He spits it out and tries to catch it as it rolls around, but it goes through the keyhole into the man's home. The coin rolls to where the woman is standing, where she hides it under her foot. The man goes to her to try and get it for himself, but the woman transforms into a hippopotamus and pushes him back. The man transforms into a rhinoceros, and begins to charge at the woman as the snitch watches on from behind the keyhole. Suddenly, the large drum sounds again, and the man and woman rush towards it, along with the rest of the townspeople. Everybody in the town has been transformed into a different kind of animal or monster. The yellow devil directs the drum in the town square, where there is now a giant statue of his hand holding one of his golden coins. The monstrous townspeople flock to the statue, where they all fight each other until they collapse. Slowly, they start to rise when in the distance, there are flickers of light. The boy from earlier who picked up the fallen rose and disobeyed the yellow devil's order to ransack the clock tower returns as a grown man, carrying the restored glass harmonica. He plays it as he walks through the town, and those who hear its music are transformed from monsters to various renowned and enlightened figures from throughout history. The snitch hears the music and gives his golden coins and clothes to a homeless man. Eventually, there is a large crowd of enlightened figures following the man playing the glass harmonica. The newly enlightened townspeople begin to fly through the air higher and higher, until they are about to reach the heavens, when suddenly the yellow devil appears, and they fall from the sky back to the ground. The yellow devil places his hand on the shoulder of the man with the glass harmonica, and again he smashes the harmonica to pieces, and the man who played it is never seen again. After this, the yellow devil shows one of his coins to the townspeople, just as he did the last time. This time, however, the townspeople do not react to it, and instead someone picks up a red rose from the ground, which then multiplies and is passed around the group. Upon seeing this, the yellow devil fades away and then disappears in a flash of light. After this, the townspeople return the parts of the clock tower they had taken and rebuild it, and the film ends with them remaining as enlightened figures.

Censorship

Steklyannaya Garmonika, like all Soviet media, had to be reviewed by the government before it could be released. Various features of the film were deemed unfit for release by the censors. The surreal animation style and unorthodox score composed by Alfred Schnitkke contradicted the artistic style of socialist realism that had been mandated by the Soviet government. The ambiguous nature and its message of the film could be interpreted in ways that are anti-government. One can easily draw parallels between the yellow devil, an indifferent and powerful ruler who prevents his citizens from reaching their full potential by suppressing art and creativity while also causing those who oppose him to disappear forever, and the various regimes of the Soviet Union. Steklyannaya Garmonika, at least on the surface, is an anti-Western and anti-capitalist propaganda film, like many other Soviet films. It opens by stating: "Although the events of this film are of a fantastic character...its authors would like to remind you of boundless greed, police terror...the isolation and brutalization of humans in modern bourgeoise society". Despite this statement, censors ruled Steklyannaya Garmonika was unsuitable for audiences, and it was banned. It remained this way until the perestroika, where it saw limited release.

In popular culture

• In 2002, it was released on VHS and Video CDs in the 1st edition of the "Masters of Russian Animation" collection with English subtitles, and then on DVD
• Clips of Steklyannaya Garmonika are shown for the music video of Turkish band Mor ve Ötesi's 2004 song "Uyan"
• Steklyannaya Garmonika was the basis of a popular video uploaded to YouTube in 2023 parodying the "steamed hams" scene from The Simpsons, which led to renewed interest in the original film as more people discovered it