Kavafis (1996)

Director:

Yannis Smaragdis

Writers:

Dimitris Katalifos (co-writer)
Dimitris Nollas (co-writer)

Release Date:

22 April 1998 (France)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

Loosely based on the life of Greek poet Konstantinos Kavafis. |

Plot Keywords:

Poet | Poetry | Bisexual | Gay Interest

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Dimitris Katalifos	...	Konstantinos Kavafis (young)
Vasilis Diamantopoulos	...	Konstantinos Kavafis (old)
Maya Lyberopoulou	...	Kavafis' Mother
Lazaros Georgakopoulos	...	Biographer
Alexandros Koukos
Vassilis Seimenis
Giannis Rigas
Maria Katsiadaki
Manos Meletiou	...	Mavroudis
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mirto Alikaki
Afroditi Al-Saleh
Vasilis Andreopoulos
Alexis Damianos
Babis Giotopoulos
Nikos Karathanos
Ahilleas Kyriakidis
Lakis Lazopoulos
Konstandinos Markoulakis
Giorgos Moshidis
Hristos Ninis
Alexandros Panagiotopoulos
Panos Sakellaropoulos
Fotis Sergoulopoulos
Tzoulia Souglakou
Vaggelis Theodoropoulos
Zannino

Also Known As:

Cavafy (France)
Kavafi

Runtime:

Greece:85 min

Country:

Greece | Cyprus | France

Language:

Greek

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Certification:

France:U

Company:

Alexandros Film

A masterpiece waiting to become a classic

This movie about the greatest modern Greek poet was met with criticism from Greek audiences on two grounds. It focuses almost exclusively on Cavafy's homosexuality (a topic the average Greek high school teacher still prefers to bypass) and it presents the peculiar innovation of having Cavafy not speak a single word throughout the entire movie. Many Greek viewers considered the latter device completely antithetical to the poet's eloquent verse. The only voice of the poet in the movie are his poems which are recited in the background over many scenes. I think both criticisms were unfair exactly because Cavafy's homosexuality is still quite taboo in the Greek educational system and the trick of having him speak only through his verses in a movie that deals primarily with same-sex desire works well. The movie does not cover all of Cavafy's life in detail but sketches the main episodes and definitely recreates the atmosphere of his poetry. The breathtaking cinematography is light years ahead of most films made in Greece. This is probably one of the best Greek films ever made and I hope it will be more appreciated as Cavafy's name becomes more and more known internationally. Everyone interested in the poet's work should watch it, but better read a short biographical note on him first because the movie itself is too poetic to follow a rigid narrative structure. Even if more films are made in the future about Cavafy, they may address some of the audience's criticisms by featuring a more conventional biographic narration, but I doubt they will be able to compete with Smaragdis' rendering of the Hellenistic homosexual fantasy world so vibrantly present in Cavafy's poetry.