The Study of Rubaiyat attributed to Khayyam in Movies

Milad Minakar,Amir Hossein Chitsazian

doi:10.5195/cinej.2020.271

Abstract

Among the literati and men of culture of Iran, it is not exaggerated to call Khayyam one of the vaguest figures. One might recognize him certainly and resolutely through his philosophical and scientific works; however, it was his Rubaiyat attributed to him which created many arguments. This paper studies Hakim Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat in English and Persian language feature and non-biographical movies; hence, biographical movies depicting factual or imaginary life of Khayyam or any serials, TV productions, documentaries, non- English, non- Persian movies are not included. The aim is to expound any relationships between the film and Rubaiyat; therefore, according to the type of the applied quatrain, movie genre, plot, some categories are propounded to classify the movies in which Khayyam’s quatrains are quoted such as Transiency-Death, Transiency-Carpe Diem, Heaven and Hell, and Determinism. Indeed, these categories can be applied to the theme of the movies or a single scene in which the stanza is quoted.

Highlights

Hakim Omar Khayyam is, universally, one of the most elusive figures
Khayyam wrote little but his works are dense, original and written in very concise language” (Aminrazavi 31, 32). It was his enigmatic Rubaiyat which led to his universal fame. It seems that the approval of the authenticity of these Rubaiyat is impossible unless some quatrains to be discovered which dates back to Khayyam’s time for the earliest quoted Rubaiyat is around a century after Khayyam’death
In a scene when the protagonist, John Grant, is conversing with Janette, he quotes a distich from 14th quatrain of the first edition, “The moonlight “like snow upon the desert’s dusty face”” which is mentioned in the original story written by Kenneth Cook. This quatrain bears the transiency of life and seemingly is it pertinent to John himself, but it can be pertinent to Janette who has a false hope (“worldly hope”) to make love with John, “The choicest bit occurs at the beginning of the seduction, when Grant trots out a hackneyed line from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Summary

Introduction

Hakim Omar Khayyam is, universally, one of the most elusive figures. The Iranian polymath poet does not create any perplexities in his philosophical, astronomical, and scientific treatises but his Rubaiyat, which leads to a wide range of theories and hypotheses. In a scene when the protagonist, John Grant, is conversing with Janette, he quotes a distich from 14th quatrain of the first edition, “The moonlight “like snow upon the desert’s dusty face”” which is mentioned in the original story written by Kenneth Cook This quatrain bears the transiency of life and seemingly is it pertinent to John himself, but it can be pertinent to Janette who has a false hope (“worldly hope”) to make love with John, “The choicest bit occurs at the beginning of the seduction, when Grant trots out a hackneyed line from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. As Aminrazavi put in,” Khayyam sees the traditional descriptions of heaven and hell as metaphors which are reflections of our moments of joy and pain in this world” (Aminrazavi 122) Another movie which used Transiency-Carpe Diem and hedonistic reading of Rubaiyat is Unfaithful (2002) directed by Adrian Lyne which is loosely based on Claude Chabrol's La Femme Infidele (1969). The topic is even inserted into the poetry reading where the audience first sees Kathryn Railly” (Rosen 89)

Conclusion

The directors are as follows