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Ararat

  • 2002
  • Tous publics
  • 1h 55m
IMDb RATING
6.3/10
15K
YOUR RATING
Ararat (2002)
Home Video Trailer from Miramax
Play trailer1:34
3 Videos
53 Photos
DramaWar

Interrogated by a customs officer, a young man recounts how his life was changed during the making of a film about the Armenian genocide.Interrogated by a customs officer, a young man recounts how his life was changed during the making of a film about the Armenian genocide.Interrogated by a customs officer, a young man recounts how his life was changed during the making of a film about the Armenian genocide.

  • Director
    • Atom Egoyan
  • Writer
    • Atom Egoyan
  • Stars
    • Charles Aznavour
    • Brent Carver
    • Eric Bogosian
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.3/10
    15K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Atom Egoyan
    • Writer
      • Atom Egoyan
    • Stars
      • Charles Aznavour
      • Brent Carver
      • Eric Bogosian
    • 217User reviews
    • 71Critic reviews
    • 62Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 12 wins & 13 nominations total

    Videos3

    Ararat
    Trailer 1:34
    Ararat
    Ararat
    Trailer 1:34
    Ararat
    Ararat
    Trailer 1:34
    Ararat
    Ararat
    Trailer 1:37
    Ararat

    Photos53

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    Top cast51

    Edit
    Charles Aznavour
    Charles Aznavour
    • Edward Saroyan
    Brent Carver
    • Philip
    Eric Bogosian
    Eric Bogosian
    • Rouben
    Simon Abkarian
    Simon Abkarian
    • Arshile Gorky
    Christopher Plummer
    Christopher Plummer
    • David
    Arsinée Khanjian
    Arsinée Khanjian
    • Ani
    Setta Keshishian
    • Dinner Guest…
    David Alpay
    David Alpay
    • Raffi
    Shant Srabian
    • Dinner Guest #3…
    Marie-Josée Croze
    Marie-Josée Croze
    • Celia
    Elias Koteas
    Elias Koteas
    • Ali…
    Max Morrow
    Max Morrow
    • Tony
    Christie MacFadyen
    • Janet
    Dawn Roach
    • Customs Officer
    Garen Boyajian
    • Young Gorky
    Lousnak Abdalian
    • Gorky's Mother
    Raoul Bhaneja
    Raoul Bhaneja
    • Photographer, Levon
    Haig Sarkissian
    • Sevan
    • Director
      • Atom Egoyan
    • Writer
      • Atom Egoyan
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews217

    6.314.9K
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    10

    Featured reviews

    Buddy-51

    important but deeply flawed study of an ethnic tragedy

    In 1915, right in the midst of World War I when the eyes of the world were focused on other corners of the planet, the Turks slaughtered over a million of their own Armenian citizens in a holocaust that the Turks to this day deny ever happened. Atom Egoyan's complex, though not entirely successful film, `Ararat,' attempts to show just how long a shadow this horrific genocide still casts over the Armenian people today.

    Rather than simply make a film set at the time of the genocide, Egoyan has chosen to set his film in the present and have his vast assortment of characters reflect on what this almost century-old event means to them in their present lives (most of them are second generation Armenians and Turks living in Canada). One of those characters is an aged film director who, in honor of his mother who endured the atrocities, has come to Canada to make a film about the event. Thus, all the glimpses we get of the actual genocide are film-within-a-film reenactments. In a bit of irony, Egoyan shows just how difficult it is for any work of art to faithfully capture the `truth' of such an event, for falsehoods inevitably creep into the picture the moment the artist alters even minor facts under the guise of `artistic license.' This is particularly ironic given the fact that `truth' and `facts' are such an important part of the case the Armenians have built against the Turks. The film deals head-on with what is `truth' and how much of history comes down to a matter of personal perception.

    Egoyan has provided a veritable labyrinth of characters and events, so much so that it becomes almost impossible to provide anything near a comprehensive summary of either the plot or the people who are caught in its entanglements and complexities. Suffice it to say that the film deals with such weighty themes as the intricacies of mother/child relationships, coming to terms with the ghosts from both the private and collective past, and the part denial plays in assuaging our own sense of guilt and responsibility for unspeakable events in history. This denial then allows us to live our lives in unconcerned complacency.

    Egoyan views his film almost as a giant canvas and he keeps throwing characters onto it, often without painting the strokes in clear enough detail for us to understand fully what is going on (an apt analogy, given the fact that one of the characters is an actual painter and he deliberately leaves part of his artwork unfinished). Some of the people we meet are fascinating and complex, while others seem underdeveloped and too enigmatic to make much of a contribution to our comprehension of the material. Occasionally, we get the nagging impression that a number of the minor characters and plot strands are left hanging in a state of unresolved limbo. Moreover, the film occasionally lapses into a pedantic tone, as if the writer felt it more important to provide us with a history lesson than involve us in a drama. What promises to be an enlightening character study frequently becomes a polemic.

    Structurally, `Ararat' is very complex, with the director cutting back and forth between characters in the present, one character in the past, and the events of the genocide as depicted in the film being made. Egoyan deserves credit for bringing it all together even if the very artifice of the format ends up distancing the audience from the emotional immediacy of this very grim subject matter. `Ararat' is more of an intellectual exercise than an emotionally involving drama, but it does serve a salutary purpose in raising the public's consciousness about a shameful, tragic moment in history that has for too long gone unrecognized by the general public.
    zzz05

    politically charged

    The high frequency of attacks on this film as being 'proArmenian propaganda' is a testament to the power of the movie. The historical accuracy or moral culpability of the Turks vs. the Armenians in this conflict is not within my knowledge base to judge absolutely, nor that of most of the posters on IMDB, I suspect, so I will just judge this as a movie.

    Egoyan has managed the trick of avoiding a simple tearjerker black hat white hat polemic like Mel Gibson's The Patriot (or Braveheart or Passion of the Christ or We Were Soldiers or Chicken Run or....) or even 'Schindler's List' by the technique of distancing the audience to one remove, by making his film actually about an Armenian-Canadian filmmaker making a film about the Armenian Holocaust. Obviously, 'Ararat' still manages to stir up powerful emotions, but by also examining the responses of the film cast and crew and their loved ones and others with whom they come into contact the film attains a more mature and introspective value.
    7SnoopyStyle

    powerful history and emotionally complex

    In 1915, Turkish forces attack Van and its Armenian inhabitants in eastern Turkey. Clarence Ussher is an American missionary doctor who witnesses and later writes about the destruction. Arshile Gorky is an artist who loses his family and escapes to America. Ani (Arsinée Khanjian) is a modern day professor, and an expert on Gorky and his painting of his mother. Edward Saroyan is directing a film about Van and hires Ani intending to incorporate Gorky into the story. Ani is facing trouble at home. Her son Raffi (David Alpay) is rebelling and sleeping with his step-sister Celia (Marie-Josée Croze). Celia blames Ani for the death of her father. Raffi decides to go to Turkey. When he returns, he's stopped at customs by David (Christopher Plummer). David has family problems of his own. In Saroyan's film, half-Muslim Ali (Elias Koteas) plays the cruel governor Jevdet Bey and Martin Harcourt (Bruce Greenwood) plays Ussher.

    Tackling the Armenian Genocide is a tricky matter. Director Atom Egoyan does it by entangling with many issues of art, history and truth. It is a very commendable effort diving deeper than a simple reenactment which the character Saroyan does in the movie. I love every scene where these issues are touched on. I do wish Raffi is played by a more compelling actor. I love Croze but her character adds an unnecessary layer. Her character is struggling with her father's suicide. That emotional conflict is too similar to Raffi's father's death from attempting to assassinate the Turkish ambassador. Raffi and Celia could easily be combined into one character. I would actually keep Croze who is the better actor of the two. With such complex emotions, the cast of characters would be better off with some minor trimming. The same goes for David's family. The movie needs a little bit of emotional trimming.
    7caspian1978

    Interesting

    A terrific rough style cast in a story about denial and the truth of living in denial. At first, I thought the movie was about the Armenian Genocide, but its not. It's about a families struggle in the present day world trying to live knowing that the genocide is their past. Many interesting characters are introduced throughout the story. The plot thickens as characters appear in the movie and the movie within the movie. The issue about denial is stronger than the truth. The issue about Turkey is made many times and is the last thing we see at the end of the movie, still, this is not a movie about the Genocide and Turkey's true intentions, its about the aftermath and the denial that becomes the truth.
    7kadar

    Disappointing

    This is a very flawed movie by a well-regarded director.

    One major problem is the star-role presence of his ubiquitous (in his films) wife, who can't act well and simply cannot use her voice expressively or effectively. Her monotonic droning, in film after film, is irritating.

    Another is that he doesn't have the directorial chops to film in an epic style such as the Armenian battle scenes require.

    The lopsided voting pattern here seems to be the result of ethnocentric ballot-box stuffing. All those "10"s could only mean that thousands of Egoyan's compatriots have invaded the board and voted politically rather than esthetically or rationally.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Ararat (2002) premiered as part of the 'Official Selection' at the 55th Cannes International Film Festival in 2002, but it was not 'In Competition' for any awards. Atom Egoyan's prior feature [Le voyage de Felicia (1999)] and his subsequent feature [La vérité nue (2005)], artistically less ambitious films, were both screened 'In Competition' at Cannes. The reasons for "Ararat" not being part of the 'Official Competition' in 2002 are still ambiguous: Some claim there was political pressure on the festival by Turkey, while Egoyan said he himself decided not to enter Ararat (2002) into the competition: "This film is dealing with a period of history that has never been represented before on film. The idea of subjecting that to the additional pressures of a jury - given all the pressures that are on this film already - seemed to be unnecessary."
    • Quotes

      Raffi: But he thinks Turkey was at war with Armenia. Doesn't it bother you that he doesn't get the history?

      Edward Saroyan: No, not really.

      Raffi: I mean why didn't you explain to him that we were citizens, we were Turkish citizens. We had a right to be protected.

      Edward Saroyan: Are you driving him home?

      Raffi: Yeah.

      Edward Saroyan: Huh. Take this.

      [hands him dollar bills]

      Edward Saroyan: Buy him a bottle of champagne. Let him think that he has done something special.

      Raffi: Something special? I'm sorry, Mr Saroyan, I don't think I understand.

      Edward Saroyan: Young man, do you know what still causes so much pain? It's not the people we lost, or the land. It's to know that we could be so hated. Who are these people, who could hate us so much? How can they still deny their hatred? And so hate us... hate us even more?

    • Crazy credits
      Closing disclaimers: 1) The historical events in this film have been substantiated by holocaust scholars, national archives, and eyewitness accounts, including that of Clarence Ussher. 2) To this day, Turkey continues to deny the Armenian Genocide of 1915.
    • Connections
      Featured in The Making of 'Ararat' (2003)
    • Soundtracks
      Mystery
      Written by Gord Downie (as Gordon Downie) and Atom Egoyan

      Performed by Gord Downie (as Gordon Downie)

      From the album "Coke Machine Glow"

      Courtesy of Wiener Art Records - copyright 2000

      Copyright 2000 - Wiener Art (SOCAN)/Egoyan Ego Film Arts (SOCAN)

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    FAQ

    • How long is Ararat?
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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • September 4, 2002 (France)
    • Countries of origin
      • Canada
      • France
    • Official sites
      • egofilmarts.com (Canada)
      • Miramax
    • Languages
      • English
      • Armenian
      • French
      • German
      • Turkish
    • Also known as
      • A級控訴
    • Filming locations
      • Turkey(Stock Footage, church ruin on the island)
    • Production companies
      • Alliance Atlantis Communications
      • Serendipity Point Films
      • Ego Film Arts
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $15,500,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $1,555,959
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $211,130
      • Nov 17, 2002
    • Gross worldwide
      • $2,743,336
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 55 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • DTS
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.66 : 1

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