I fotografia (1987)

Ilias Apostolou, a young furrier who has had a hard time under the dictatorship, leaves Castoria in 1971 to emigrate to France, where he hopes to join a distant relative of his, Gerassimos ... See full summary »

Director:

Nikos Papatakis

Writer:

Nikos Papatakis

Stars:

Christos Tsagas, Aris Retsos, Zozo Zarpa

Cast

Credited cast:
Christos Tsagas	...	Gerasimos Tzivas
Aris Retsos	...	Ilias Apostolou
Zozo Zarpa	...	Ilias' Mother
Despina Tomazani	...	Adonis
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Metaxia Deliou
Marina Delivoria
Yiorgos Kalantzis
Kostas Markopoulos
Stratos Pahis
Yannis Totsikas
Orestis Tsanakis
Hristos Valavanidis
André Wilms

Storyline

Ilias Apostolou, a young furrier who has had a hard time under the dictatorship, leaves Castoria in 1971 to emigrate to France, where he hopes to join a distant relative of his, Gerassimos Tzivas, who has been living there since 1950. With him, he takes nothing from his homeland but a photograph of a person that he finds on the pavement. He asks Gerassimos to help him in finding work in Paris. A misunderstanding around the photograph, however, sets off a series of dramatic events.

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Plot Keywords:

photograph | correspondence | flat tire | politics | rebuilding | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

France Greece

Language:

Greek

Release Date:

28 October 1987 (France)

Also Known As:

La photo

Filming Locations:

Greece

Company Credits

Production Co:

Greek Film Center, Ikones France (Paris)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

User Reviews

A story about obsession, framed by the sad events of the military dictatorship in Greece

I fotografia (The Photograph) is one of the most highly acclaimed Greek films but very few people have actually heard of the movie (even in its country of origin). What I enjoyed in Papatakis' film is the representation of the Greek society during the time when the Junta (Military dictatorship) was already governing the country (1971-1974). Except from the obvious focus on human obsessions and the psychological thriller turn of the film, we could clearly see the political comment on how hard it was to survive in Greek circles (within the country and abroad) if you were considered to be a communist.In Kastoria, the city where the story begins, all these banners in favour of the regime had "Greece of Greek Christians" or "Country, Religion, Family" written on them. These were the main slogans of the dictators. I found the storyline about the protagonist's (Yerasimos) love of an idea (a photograph)quite metaphorical and parallel to the Greek population's blindness towards the Junta.As Ilias characteristically says to his mother towards the end of the film "what we love about someone is their lie".