"Tale of Tales" by Yuriy Norstein (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) 

Please don't forget Franchesca Norstein's contribution. Every single object, every character, background, foreground, was painstakingly drawn by Franchesca.

Such a melancholic film . Before the war, families had been whole; then they shattered; struggling to be whole, as the sad, lonely little wolf struggled to live.

Finally the algorithm found something worth watching!

I can see why many consider this the greatest animated film ever made. This went WAY beyond what should even be possible with cut-out animation. Every single shot is a jaw-dropping masterpiece and a technical marvel. This is one of those films I watch slowly, in small doses, so I can absorb the sheer beauty of it.

So moving, touching, beautiful. The childlike dreams, the war, loss, life, the lonely wolf.... it really is the Tale of tales

all of his works are mesmerising as an art student i’m so fascinated by so many soviet artists and film directors

the memory sequence from 5:55 to 9:00 always makes me cry. The use of the tango 'burnt by the sun', the gramophone glitch and the letters from the front really makes one realize the enormous sense of loss in the war. This film is a form of national catharsis, not least for the millions of Soviet women destined for lonely spinsterhood because of the war.

In a university library, I once read that the wolf's face and design were inspired by a dead kitten Norstein found. It was described as "already crossed over...it's quite dead..." and a picture of its frozen stare was shown. I broke down and cried, startling the other students. Seeing the wolf's face makes me cry again.

The child's golden memories versus the desaturated colors of the present day. Very magnificent and it captures that feeling that many people experience when they remember their childhoods against the horrors of the present.

at 8:00 the letters that were flying like birds were triangular in shape. Because during WW2, Russian soldiers had to fold letters in a triangle so it could easily be opened for inspection and censoring.

Im here after watching Yuri's documentary of his and his wife's forty year project.

Whoa.....The older I get, the better stuff I get to know about for the first time, what a wonder, an emotional masterpiece, so much culture and pathos and .... intimate mystery packed into a visual and audio treasure. Thank you, and thanks to Lula Goodwin for reminding us about Franchesca's contribution.

The beginning with the baby drinking the milk, everything felt peaceful during that moment.

In watching Russian cinema I often perceive a sense of doom felt by these people, something deeply connected to their history and from which they cannot escape. Not just a matter of war, it seems to be a more shifty and powerful ghost lurking in their mind. Thank you for uploading this video, I did not know Norstein at all.

The title is taken from a poem of our famous poet Nazim Hikmet. The images of poet, tree and cat can be seen as inspirations drawn from this poem and I also believe it influenced the theme of the animation (the general theme/s besides the obvious references to Russian history) but in order not to channel anyone into a certain interpretation I will keep my opinion to myself. In case anyone wants to read: Tale of Tales We stand at the source, the plane tree and I. Our images reflect off the river. The water-dazzle lights up the plane tree and me. We stand at the source, the plane tree, me, and the cat. Our images reflect off the river. The water-dazzle lights up the plane tree, me, and the cat. We stand at the source, the plane tree, me, the cat, and the sun. Our images reflect off the river. The water-dazzle lights up the plane tree, me, the cat, and the sun. We stand at the source, the plane tree, me, the cat, the sun, and our lives. Our images reflect off the river. The water-dazzle lights up the plane tree, me, the cat, the sun, and our lives. We stand at the source. The cat will be the first to go, its image in the water will dissolve. Then I will go, my image in the water will dissolve. Then the plane tree will go, its image in the water will dissolve. Then the river will go, the sun alone remaining, and then it, too, will go. We stand at the source, the plane tree, me, the cat, the sun, and our lives. The water is cool the plane tree is huge I am writing a poem the cat is dozing the sun is warm Thank God we live. The water-dazzle lights up the plane tree, me, the cat, the sun, and our lives. Nazim Hikmet (Translated by Randy Blasing & Mutlu Konuk) This is the link for the book, in case someone is interested. www.amazon.com/Poems-Nazim-Hikmet-Revised-Expanded/dp/0892552743 *Instead of "Thank God" he actually wrote something like "Thankfully", as an atheist.

They're both two of the greatest artists this world has ever seen. I truly hope one day " the overcoat" will be available for people to enjoy and cherish as they have for decades.

Easily the most moving animation I've ever seen, I'm instantly a fan of Yuriy Norstein. I've never seen so much emotion put through animation before, you don't even need subtitles to feel what is going on.

Thank you for the video! How nice that anyone can see this now. Very thoughtful of you to put notes explaining things us non-Russians wouldn't understand.

His wife drew everything. He then puts it altogether

Saw the revival review in the 3/18/19 New Yorker and viewed "Tale of Tales" today for the first time, 40 years on. Looked into the pictured triangle letters and found they were folded that way by Soviet soldiers, and recipients immediately knew when they received one that their loved one was still alive. (Paper shortages and the ease for state censors to view them made them popular.)

The song at 5:55 and later throughout the movie is called "To ostatnia niedziela", written by Petersburski (music) and Friedwald (original Polish lyrics). I wish this was mentioned in the credits. The Russian translation, "Утомлённое солнце", indeed became popular in the USSR.

Hayao Miyazaki or Isao Takahata is definitely a good animation director. But Yuri Norstein is a genius. From Japan.

This is a video poetry. Masterpiece.

The greatest animation ever made: thought and emotion provoking.

I love Russian cinema, Tarkovsky, Klimov, Alexei German, but I never heard of this wonder. Spasiva, Alexandra, for sharing this masterpiece. Muchas gracias.

From an aesthetic point of view, this animated film is a stunner. Archaic, raw, surreal. It reminded me of Chaïm Soutine, whose art I adore, especially the fleeting superposed houses & the couple on the bench. It conveys a lot of emotion, not sure I understand the symbolism in it, except perhaps the most obvious parts about the war. Still, it is beautiful & melancholic & I loved it. Thank you ♡

I know this tango. My father was born in 1950 in East Germany. I know this song in Polish. My mother is Polish. I lived in a village when young. I am in my late twenties. My brother was in his mid 30s he was killed two years ago. My father is old now and may die soon. All I see in this world is the repeating of the old wars happening again and again. Everyone killing each other for no reason. Wars. I know the feelings in this film. It brings good memories but also very sad ones. I want to take the wolf with me.

Thank you for your kind comment on Russian culture, which is hard for foreigners to notice. Thanks to it, I enjoyed this masterpiece more abundantly.

Yuri and his wife franchesca do some of the most detailed work I've ever seen. To the point that it's scary how much patience and obsession you need to do it

Thanks for your time and effort in sharing and translating this gem to the wider english speaking audience. It is very important to preserve these creations in today's digital age, especially those that are hard to find.

I've been hankering to see a subtitled copy of this masterpiece for years. Alexandra, you are an angel!

Okay, the reflection on the hub cap was IMPRESSIVE

This is exactly like a nightmare. I know people say this about stuff a lot but this is genuinely like a surreal and uncomfortable nightmare.

Truly a masterpiece.

I remember seeing this short in 2006 when I was a kid, I watch it in Canal 11 (a broadcast channel here in Mexico).

Pure art! I've never seen anything like it!

I watched this animation about 25 years ago in Japan, and it is still unforgettable. I am so fascinated with Yuriy’s painstaking beautiful work, and J.S.Bach’s piano melody. This film has lots of implications, and I love to know about them. I think the apple is the key of the story, but what does it stand for? What does the bull’s skipping rope imply? Thank you so much for your English subtitle, it helped me to understand this beautiful film better. Love xxx

lucho por encontrar palabras que describan genuinamente mi admiración hacia esto!! por lo cual, interpretare mi bloqueo como un profundo respeto de mi lado más emocional que se encuentra extasiado.... la musica el dibujo el cuento la interpretación, todo muy encantador de entender. Sí, es Arte, en mayusculas

a masterpiece, beautifull, poetic and bitter sweet, melancholic and peacefull. Exactly what we currently need on Earth

Thank you Alexandra for your help in understanding this. It was Utomlennoe solntse (original Polish Tango Ostatnia niedziela) which brought me here. I had never seen this masterpiece short film before. I don't know why I was drawn to the music in the first place, speaking neither Russian nor Polish, but I am glad I wound up here.

You can hardly make out what's going on in the screen, but that just makes it more charming honestly

So moving. I almost cried. So beautiful. And the amount of time put into this art piece...

thank you for uploading this and providing notes! it's going to stick with me for a long time, i think. i feel like i just witnessed someone's dream. i hope one day i'll be able to make an art piece as memorable and haunting as the little wolf's face.

This is the stuff that keeps me from offing myself... thank you Yuri.

Beautiful !!! As an artist, this is a mini-masterpiece !!! Thank you for showing and sharing !!! All the best !!!

Thanks for the subtitles Alexandra. I first saw this masterpiece 30 odd years ago, and was captivated. The subtitles are a bonus, but in truth, the film speaks for itself - indeed Norstein was quite vocal expressing his view that art doesn’t and shouldn’t have to explain itself, to be relevant. Art (and this is high art) transcends literal explanation, it also transcends language in the literal sense.

Alexandra Pryakhina: thanks for the subtitles and clues. I doubt it is so, but the artist figure reminds me of Prokofiev, and the bull reminds me of Where The Wild Things Are. Are either of those even possible (never mind likely). And then, more persuasively, the boy in the snow with the apple and the birds--the imagery reminds me of a similar passage in Tarkovsky's Mirror, which seems (is?) modeled after a painting. So, is Norstein (or, rather, Petrushevskaya) referring to the painting as well, if not Mirror. [BY the way, I know the artist is supposed to be, strictly speaking, a poet, but he still also seems musical to me: the lyre notwithstanding!.] In any case, the film owes much to Mirror, in the best possible way. (Mirror, by the way, is my #1 movie of forever.) Thanks again for posting.

this is beautiful but bloody hell there is so much misery in Russian film

Cant believe my luck finding this!good quality, too! Thank-you 🌻

I don't understand what I just saw but it's beautifulllllll and the wolf is literally too cute. Going to search for explanations now on the internet.

Absolutely wonderful! Watched it twice.

thank you so much for uploading this

Thank you so so much for the amazing subtitles you have provided, as the background you provide is essential in viewing this amazing piece of art for non-Russians such as myself. I have some theories as to what some of the imagery I did not quite understand may symbolize that I can write at a later date. For now I want to postulate a few ideas: 1.) Maybe the dream sequences another commenter mentioned, perhaps they tae place in a picture book or story book? Maybe that man at 21:48 is a children's book author? I mean goodness, this whole film looks like a children's book. 2.) Maybe the crying baby symbolizes the Russians/Soviets themselves, seeking some kind of comfort from the real world, the one where the adults such as the parents in the film are suffering from, and the wolf is trying to bring some much needed comfort to these people. I am not an artist, and I suck at drawing. Every single frame looks like it would take someone such as myself an entire lifetime to make, just a single frame, let alone a masterful, dreamlike meditation on war, loss, and national identity. This was on Sight and Sound's 250 list of films; without that list I would never have found this film. Thank you so much again for the upload! My regards, Paul

Beautiful. The music video for Girl and The Sea by the Presets took a lot of inspiration from this

This is incredible. Thanks for uploading this-- it blew me away.

Thank you so much for sharing this. I only learned about Tale of Tales yesterday from a documentary about Yuri Norstein and Franchesca Yarbusova and their 40 year work called The Overcoat. I just wish I was able to understand more of what the film was about/what the meaning of things were. A beautiful film.

Very emotive video. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks for uploading this! It's awesome to see what's inside of people's minds in this way, I think this story could have more meaning than what I think

удивительно, русские люди, вы прекрасны

emormous and wonderful compelling work, filled with emotion and detail. thanks

Thank you for posting this. Always liked it. Beautiful animation!

Can´t thank you enough! So beautiful...so moving...such inspiring flow of sound and images.

Beautiful animation...

Thank you, this was amazing!

Watched the whole thing, realized I didn't turn the subtitles on. Oops. Guess I'll watch it again properly tomorrow. Beautiful imagery.

I love the atmosphere of norstein’s work. There’s something apocalyptic about it. It kind of reminds me of melancholic horror like silent hill, ring, everywhere at the end of time, Blair witch. Just expressing emptiness as something to see.

This is beautiful!!!

Chere ele c'è petit film e Tres poetique et Tres sensibile sensibile gros bisous Eva ,merci .

delightful !! thank you for sharing!

old is gold 🙏

Thanq so much Alexandra 💙💙

Aha! So beautiful So nice What a work!

Thank you for this, lovely

This is stunning

desde un punto de vista puramente estético, ya me parece una obra sumamente única de por sí. me encanta esta especie de efecto stop-motion y las texturas ásperas que tienen los elementos de la obra, es muy bello. adoro especialmente la escena del bebé amamantando, capturaron muy bien el movimiento gentil de las mejillas. no sé mucho de historia rusa más allá de lo escencial así que qué significa qué cosa se me escapa, pero se puede ver que el tema principal es la melancolía de perder algo, tal vez intentaron ligar la pérdida de la inocencia que se da al crecer con la pérdida de la guerra. siento que el lobito representa algo muy fundamental, puede que él sea la necesidad de aferrarse a como fueron las cosas en el pasado antes de los cambios (o la guerra) por eso es que parece existir solo dentro de la memoria de la casa, e intenta llevarse al bebé para preservar la inocencia que existe en ese recuerdo. de todas formas es una obra muy bella, y a nivel técnico ya es fascinante de por sí, muy lindo de ver, aunque como varias de las caricaturas rusas de este tiempo tiene un aire deprimente.

For years this anmation scared me and I thought was a Mandela effect of my childness, now continues proving me creepy by the technique using.

Thank you for the explanations within the subs!

Thank you very much

a remarkably insightful animation. The Yuriy Francessca coupling is unparalled

Buena animacion, saludos desde mexico 🇲🇽 😊

Wonderful. Thank you

Thank very much very uploading this and for your subtitles. The following essay may help viewers make sense of this richly enigmatic short film. Or, at least, outline the contours in which the senses of the film's multi-layered meanings may be discovered. "The film has visited several different worlds, delineated in part by the style of animation employed; it has presented fragmentary episodes that are interpretable as micro-narratives; it has slipped in time within its different worlds, and has juxtaposed one world with another, one episode with another, with little apparent sense of purpose. We sense that there is some connection between them - after all, the little wolf seems to inhabit them all in one way or another - but an overarching narrative, if any, appears elusive, and perhaps even illusory. What we seem to be presented with is ‘what is’ rather than ‘what happened’, a multi-layered meditation that crosses narrative genres (Slowik, 2014). We are left with a series of questions: Who is the little wolf, what is he doing, and why? What is the significance of the old house? What, where, when and why is the delicately-drawn fantastical world? Who is the family in the snow? While the departing warriors and telegrams are evident allusions to the Great Patriotic War, how do they - and the tango dance that they interrupt - relate to the other strands of the film? Does the film present a narrative or is it just a congeries of fairy-tales and folk-tales? Is the film actually subversive? And so on . . ." journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/17468477221114596

Magnificent! Cheers!

Beautiful wee film

Thank you.

I find most of this to be very unsettling, but especially the wolf. To me, the wolf looks like it could be something out of a horror game.

Wonderful ❣️

This is wild imagery! A gold mine!

hauntingly beautiful

This is where the world is.

Thank you!

Too beautiful for words

Beautiful.

16:15 - 19:15 Beautiful sequence.

Спасибо большое!

Beautiful

this is perfect

I'd love to see the masterpiece they've been working on for decades if they finally finish it in my lifetime.

gracias!!!

I love this story .. i love this animation 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜.