To meteoro vima tou pelargou (1991)

Director:

Theodoros Angelopoulos

Writers:

Theodoros Angelopoulos (idea)
Theodoros Angelopoulos
(more)

Release Date:

4 December 1991 (France)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Alexandre, a TV reporter, is working for a few days in a border town, where a lot of refugees from Albania...

Plot Keywords:

Border | Politician | Refugee | Crew | Love At First Sight

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Marcello Mastroianni	...	Missing Politician
Jeanne Moreau	...	The Woman
Gregory Patrikareas	...	Alexandre the Reporter (as Gregory Karr)
Ilias Logothetis	...	Colonel
Dora Hrisikou	...	The Girl
Vasilis Bouyiouklakis	...	Production Manager
Dimitris Poulikakos	...	Chief Photographer
Gerasimos Skiadaressis	...	Waiter
Tasos Apostolou	...	Perchman
Akis Sakellariou	...	Sound Operator
Athinodoros Prousalis	...	Hotel-keeper
Mihalis Giannatos	...	Shopkeeper
Christoforos Nezer	...	Parliament's President
Yilmaz Hassan	...	Hanged Man
Benjamin Ritter	...	Sound Operator
Konstadinos Laggos	...	Little Boy
Thodoris Atheridis	...	Married man (as Thodoros Atheridis)
Nadia Mourouzi	...	Alexandre's Friend
Photos Lambrinos	...	TV Program manager
Rodolphe Moronis	...	TV CEO
Freddy Vianellis	...	TV Reporter
Giannis Dantis	...	Accordionist
Dominique Ducos	...	Driver TV Team
Yannis Vranas	...	Orthodox priest
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Giannis Voglis	...	Missing Politician (uncredited)

Directed by
Theodoros Angelopoulos

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Theodoros Angelopoulos		idea
Theodoros Angelopoulos
Tonino Guerra
Petros Markaris
Thanassis Valtinos

Produced by
Theodoros Angelopoulos	....	producer
Phoebe Economopoulos	....	executive producer
Kostas Lambropoulos	....	assistant producer
Bruno Pésery	....	producer
Angelo Rizzoli Jr.	....	co-producer
Nikos Sekeris	....	assistant producer
Ruth Waldburger	....	co-producer

Original Music by
Eleni Karaindrou

Cinematography by
Giorgos Arvanitis
Andreas Sinanos

Film Editing by
Yannis Tsitsopoulos

Casting by
Harris Papadopoulos

Production Design by
Robert Boyle

Art Direction by
Mikes Karapiperis

Costume Design by
Giorgos Patsas
Rita Riggs

Production Management
Emilios Konitsiotis	....	production manager
Pierre-Alain Schatzmann	....	production manager
Serena Severini	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Takis Katselis	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Marinos Athanasopoulos	....	sound

Other crew
Marie-Christine Malbert	....	unit publicist

Production Companies

• Arena Films
• Erre Produzioni (co-production)
• Th. Angelopoulos Productions (co-production)
• Greek Film Center (co-production)
• Vega Film (co-production)
• ERTI (associate production)
• Canal+ (participation)
• Rai Due (participation)
• Greek Television ET-1 (participation)
• Schweizerische Radio- und Fernsehgesellschaft (SRG) (participation)
• La Ministre de la Culture et de la Communication (support)
• Département Fédéral de l'Intérieur (support)
• Eurimages (support)

Distributors

• 2001 Audiovisuel (1991) (France) (theatrical)
• Forum Distribution (1991) (France) (theatrical)
• Shibata Organisation (1993) (Japan) (theatrical)
• trigon-film (2012) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Atalanta Filmes (Portugal)
• Platina Filmes (2009) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Prodimag (2005) (Spain) (DVD) (DVD)
• trigon-film (2012) (Switzerland) (DVD) (special edition)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

143 min | Greece:126 min

Country:

France | Italy | Greece | Switzerland

Language:

French | English | Greek

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Portugal:M/12 (Qualidade) | Singapore:PG | Sweden:11

Filming Locations:

Florina, Macedonia, Greece

Company:

Arena Films

Trivia:

Part I of "A Trilogy of Borders".

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Yperoha plasmata: Sta gipeda i Ellada anastenazei (#1.7)" (2007)

A Soul in Suspended Animation

Having only ever seen one Angelopoulos film before - The Travelling Players, which thrilled me about as much as paint drying on a wall - I was unprepared for the revelation that is The Suspended Step of the Stork. Shot over a decade ago, this long metaphysical tale of desperate refugees and disenchanted politicians has become more contemporary with each intervening year. As if a lone Greek film-maker had somehow prophesied the horrors of Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq - and the creeping paralysis that has overtaken Western democracy.

It begins in a refugee camp on the Greek-Albanian border, where a TV journalist spots an elderly man (Marcello Mastroianni) and decides he is a leading politician who went missing years before. Tracing the man's 'widow' (Jeanne Moreau) the reporter gropes his way towards the film's central dilemma. What could make a progressive intellectual lose all faith in humanity, to the extent that he gives up not only his political career but also his very identity?

This sounds like dry stuff indeed, and so it might be without the alchemical power of Angelopoulous's camera. There are sequences here that beg for inclusion in an anthology of all-time cinema greats. The tracking-shot along a disused train, each carriage inhabited by a penniless refugee family. The wedding across the river, with bride and groom stranded on opposite sides by the arbitrary idiocy of national borders, which veers perilously close to kitsch but never succumbs.

Moreau is magnificent, Mastroianni his genial hangdog self, but neither actor could ever mistake this film for a star vehicle. If there is a star here, it's the soul of humanity itself. A soul neither living nor dead, but held in suspended animation.