The Glass Harmonica (Russian: Стеклянная гармоника, romanized: Steklyannaya Garmonika) is a 1968 Soviet animated short film directed by Andrei Khrzhanovsky. It gained notoriety for being banned in the USSR until the perestroika.^[1] 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.^[2] The film also contains no spoken dialogue and relies on visual storytelling.

Plot

The story begins with text stating: "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". In the town, which is empty, a clock tower stands in the center. When the clock reaches four, a large drum sounds, and the townspeople gather around it, where the craftsman is waiting with the glass harmonica. He plays it, and magical balls of color disperse from it. A man touches one, and it turns into a red rose in his hand. Suddenly, the "yellow devil" (the ruler of the town) appears next to the craftsman and leads him away. The yellow devil smashes the glass harmonica into pieces, and the craftsman is never seen again. The man who received the rose from the glass harmonica's magic was hiding it in his hands, until a snitch pulls his hand away to reveal it and points it out to the yellow devil. The yellow devil barks an order, and suddenly a pair of guards appears and grabs him. He drops the rose, which withers when it hits the ground. The man is never seen again, and the yellow devil rewards the snitch with one of his gold coins. The yellow devil barks another order, and the townspeople rush to the clock tower and tear it apart, taking pieces of it back to their houses. The only one who doesn't follow the 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 watches the other side of a wall through a large keyhole, where he sees the snitch in a room full of large chests. The snitch opens one to reveal they are 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 the woman, and 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 her when suddenly, the large drum sounds again, and they 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. There are now giant statues of the yellow devil's hand holding one of his golden coins in the town square. The monstrous townspeople flock to the statues, where they all fight each other until they collapse. They start to rise when the boy from earlier who picked up the fallen rose returns as a grown man, playing the glass harmonica. Those who hear its music are transformed from monsters to various renowned and enlightened figures from throughout history. Soon, there is a large crowd of enlightened figures following 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 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 is never seen again. The yellow devil shows one of his coins to the townspeople, just as he did the last time. The enlightened townspeople do not react to it, and instead someone picks up a red rose off the ground, which multiplies and are passed around the group. Upon seeing this, the yellow devil fades away and disappears in a flash of light. After this, the townspeople return the parts of the clock tower they had taken and rebuild it.

Censorship

The Glass Harmonica, 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 hand-drawn animation style and unorthodox score composed by Alfred Schnittke contradicted the artistic style of socialist realism that had been mandated by the Soviet government.^[1][3] The ambiguous nature and 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. The Glass Harmonica, at least on the surface, is an anti-Western and anti-capitalist propaganda film, like many other Soviet films.^[4][1] 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 The Glass Harmonica was unsuitable for audiences, and it was banned. It remained this way until the perestroika.^[1]

In popular culture

• In 2023, a YouTube video titled "Steamed Hams but it was banned in the USSR" was released, gaining over 1 million views within a year. It took heavy inspiration from The Glass Harmonica for its surreal style.^[5]
• In 2002, The Glass Harmonica 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.^[6]
• Clips of The Glass Harmonica are shown for the music video of Turkish band Mor ve Ötesi's 2004 song "Uyan".^[7]

References

External links

• Steklyannaya garmonika at IMDb