Greetings gentle readers and welcome to another installment of the Sunday Morning Movie. Today it’s a cinematic retelling of a Greek myth, Iphigenia:
and next week’s movie, The Man Who Stole the Sun:
Reviews of Iphigenia:
Irish Film Critic says:
The movie is deliberately paced, slowly building toward its devastating conclusion. The actors do a fantastic job in their roles, especially Papas as the mother, who goes from elation at the idea of her daughter’s wedding to utter turmoil when the truth is revealed. Papamoschou, who was only 12 when filming took place, also plays her role very well, showing restraint and keeping things from becoming over-the-top. Despite the slow pace, this one kept me at attention throughout.
Mythlok says:
The 1977 Greek film Iphigenia, directed by Michael Cacoyannis, stands as a powerful retelling of one of the most emotionally charged stories in Greek mythology. Based on Euripides’ tragedy, the movie captures the tension, sacrifice, and human vulnerability surrounding the fate of Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. By staying close to the mythological source material while offering its own cinematic interpretation, the film immerses viewers in the moral and spiritual dilemmas of the ancient world.
At its heart, the movie revolves around the fateful decision of Agamemnon, the commander of the Greek army during the Trojan War. When the goddess Artemis halts the winds at Aulis, preventing the Greek fleet from sailing to Troy, a divine oracle reveals that only the sacrifice of Iphigenia can appease the goddess and restore their journey. This mythological premise is treated with a sense of realism and gravity, portraying how divine will clashes with human emotion, duty, and ambition. Unlike other adaptations that often emphasize the supernatural elements, Cacoyannis chooses to focus on the human tragedy, grounding the myth in palpable tension and familial conflict.
Dennis Schwartz Reviews says:
Based on the classic Greek tragedy of Euripides (485-406 BCE), Michael Cacoyannis’s (“Electra”/”The Trojan Women”) film is both stunning and moving. A talented cast, headed by Irene Papas, give first-rate performances and do wonders with this stirring ancient drama.
…
The film brilliantly captures the stark tragic mood of the myth and shows this classic Greek theater production in a memorizing way that’s never before been realized on the screen as powerfully as it is here.
My take:
A well-made and compelling film. The set and costuming bring to mind the “Sword and Sandal” fantasy films of the 1960’s. It’s gritty and realistic, everything and everyone in the army camp looks dirty, sweaty. The story is so sad, the young lady who is destined to be sacrificed is sweet and innocent and it tears at your heart to know that she is doomed. I’m awarding it ⭐⭐’s, it’s worth another watch or two.
Director: Michael Cacoyannis
Writer: Michael Cacoyannis, Euripides (play)
Plot (Spoilers!):
King Agamemnon has screwed up. Royally. He has accidentally killed a stag sacred to the goddess Artemis. She wants blood. Literally.
Artemis’s high priest informs the king that the life of his young daughter Iphigenia is forfeit. The king is heartbroken but there is a war on, and his ships cannot sail until Artemis releases the winds. Grudgingly, he accepts this grim fate.
His daughter and her mother are on their way to the army camp. They think they are going to offer Iphigenia to a man as his wife. Instead, they find that Agamemnon is preparing to turn her over to the high priest. Iphigenia manages to escape but is captured and delivered to the temple of Artemis. At the movie’s end we see Agamenon with a shocked expression on his face. His daughter is dead.
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Just a thought: Euripides, presumably based on older myths, has Artemis send Iphigenia to Crimea (Tauris) after these events…
I read in one of the reviews of the movie that in the original myth, Artemis intercedes at the last second.
How nostalgic, my Catholic school’s Latin teacher, who also taught a Western Mythology class, screened Iphigenia for us. Her grandparents were also Italian anti-fascists. I hope she’s doing well.
Thanks for saying so! I never considered that simply posting an older film could lead to pleasant memories.
Thanks!
Quite a production.
Not a Cacoyannis specialist I looked up Wiki. Wasn’t aware Cacoyannis was a scholar of sorts.
“(…)
Cacoyannis translated some of William Shakespeare’s plays such as Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, and Hamlet into Greek, and Euripides’ play The Bacchae into English. He directed the 1983 Broadway revival of the musical based on the film in addition to writing, directing, designing, and translating dozens of stage play and opera productions.
(…)”
Also this:
“(…)From 1959 to 1967, Cacoyannis was in a relationship with Israeli politician and author Yael Dayan, with whom he lived in Athens.(…)”
She was Moshe Dayan´s daughter and died 2 years ago.
Her brother Assi Dayan, who was an actor and director, is best known for his “LIFE ACCORDING TO AGFA” (1992).
The husband of their aunt (The mother´s sister – this too sounds all very Ancient Greek) was Ezer Weizman.
The mother was apparently an activist and founder of Israeli fashion house “Maskit” – Ruth Dayan.
Married to Moshe for 36 years until they divorced.
Being Wiki you find not a single dark spot in any of these biographies, of course.
But on the mother there is some activism recorded:
“(…)
Social activismDayan was an advocate of peaceful relations between Israel and Palestine.[3] She founded a Jewish–Arab social group, Brit Bnei Shem (Ibnaa Sam). She worked on behalf of new immigrants, the rights of Bedouins, and women’s causes. She was a lifelong friend of Palestinian poet and nationalist Raymonda Tawil, mother of Suha Arafat, who in 1990 became the wife of PLO leader Yasser Arafat. In 1977, she became a member of the Left Camp of Israel (Sheli), which focused on peace negotiations. She also was the seventh place on Sheli’s list for the Knesset election, but she did not get elected.[15] In 1978, Dayan and Tawil planted a peace forest in Neve Shalom, Israel.[16] Dayan was also a member of charity initiatives including founding Variety Israel, which supported abandoned children and children with disabilities.[3][2] Dayan would later join the Ratz and Meretz political parties.
(…)”
Back to the movie, DOP Giorgos Arvanitis is still among us (*1941). He is part of that little talked flock of artists behind the golden years of European art cinema – as I would put it – like Theo Angelopoulos´s movies. He also shot movies by e.g. Volker Schlöndorff, Dardennes Brothers, Marco Bellocchio or Catherine Breillat (the impressive “ANATOMY OF HELL”).