France-Greece-Switzerland-Italy

TRILOGY: THE WEEPING MEADOW

CREDITS 

35mm - Colore - 170'

Direction: Theodoros Angelopoulos
Script: Theodoros Angelopoulos, in collaboration with Tonino Guerra, Petros Markaris, Giorgio Silvagni
Photography: Andreas Sinanos
Music: Eleni Karaindrou
Editing: Giorgos Triantafyllou
Sets: Giorgos Patsas, Costas Dimitriadis
Costumes: Ioulia Stavridou
Sound: Marinos Athanassopoulos
Cast: Alexandra Aidini, Nikos Poursanidis, Giorgos Armenis, Vassilis Kolovos Eva Kotamanidou, Toula Stathopoulou, Michalis Yannatos, Thalia Argyriou, Grigoris Evangelatos
Production: Theo Angelopoulos, Greek Film Centre, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation ERT S.A., Attica Art Productions (Athens), BAC Films S.A., Intermedias S.A., Arte France in collaborazione con Canal + (Paris), Classic SRL, Istituto Luce SpA, RAI CINEMA (Rome), NETWORK MOVIE Reinhold Elschot Peter Nadermann, ZDF/ARTE Meinolf Zurhorst

SYNOPSIS

The film is entirely set in Greece between 1919 and 1949. It begins with the entry of the Red Army into Odessa and the flight of the Greek community there and ends in 1949 with the end of the Greek civil war.

CRITICAL NOTES

"[...]Why masterpiece? Because in telling a poignant love story on the background of the Greek tragedies between 1917 and 1947, the master is confirmed to be a great landscape painter drawing from the high, solemn style which is characteristic to him: far-reaching scenes, always settled in pregnant atmospheres and organised with authentic photographer talent, taste of strong signs and symbols, suggestive settings, as for example the theatre of Thessaloniki adapted as shelter for the refugees. And the hallucinating images of the village flooded by the waters; or the tearing departure of the musicians for America. Why mistaken? For excess of generosity. Théo has biten off more than he could chew, overlapping the events to the detriment of drama; and, as to clearness, not all are able to catch the manifold references to Greek politics. The master has exaggerated with his usual classical references (‘The Seven Against Thebes’) or in self quotations; he has well represented melodrama more than epic poetry. Between inspiration and mannerism, his risk is to imitate Angelopoulos too much”. (Tullio Kezich)