Pastorale

Iosseliani’s lyrical and eccentric portrait of rural Georgian life hangs on a slim narrative thread having to do with the visit of a string quartet to a remote village. The encounter between town and country is treated by Iosseliani with characteristic wry humor, and the film’s subtext is a bold look at the conditions of women in the village. Albert Johnson wrote, “Pastorale is very much a tone-poem. Iosseliani’s sharp perceptions are constantly aimed toward sardonic juxtapositions, in the subtlest sense, to establish those wistful ironies of human behavior that exist when cultural patterns coexist behind invisible barriers.”