The Colours Composition in The Diamond Arm by Leonid Gaidai

Abstract

The main motives of the colour composition of the film The Diamond Arm are discussed in the article. The variations of the blue and the semantics of the cold range of colours associated with the world of the main character, Senya Gorbunkov, his unconscious and his fears are analyzed. The development of the motif of pale, light colour shades that appear at moments of dramatic uncertainty, extreme tension and preparation for the upcoming climaxes is traced. Silver and metallic tones are assigned to the secret world of smugglers. The author notes that throughout the film a certain dialogue of cold colours and warm ochre-scarlet colour shades unfolds. At first separate “warm” details inside blue landscapes and “pale” interiors appear, then their spatial presence and energy are enhanced. Ochre and red shades accompany the phenomenon of “dark forces”, whether it is a Soviet house manager Varvara Sergeevna or smugglers. The main red scene of the film is the scene of failed seduction of an honest hero. Thus, the main colour of the revolution is recoded into the colour of eroticism, deception, violence, unfortune. The white colour in the film plays the part of a trickster, revealing ambivalent properties and constantly showing that the whole reality and the person in it are not like what they seem. The colour concept forms a kind of visual melody of the film, adding much more semantic overtones.

Keywords

• cinema
• soviet culture
• game
• comedy
• psychology of art
• blue
• scarlet
• red room
• silver
• metallic
• white
• trickster
• nightmare
• new coding