Trilogia: To livadi pou dakryzei (2004)

Director:

Theodoros Angelopoulos

Writers:

Theodoros Angelopoulos (idea)
Theodoros Angelopoulos (screenplay)

Release Date:

20 February 2004 (Greece)

Genre:

Drama | History | Romance

Plot:

This is the first film of Theo Angelopoulos' trilogy. The story starts in 1919 with some greek refugees...

Plot Keywords:

Refugee | Village | Lake | First Of Trilogy | Musician

Awards:

2 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Alexandra Aidini	...	Eleni
Nikos Poursanidis	...	Mihalis
Giorgos Armenis	...	Nikos
Vassilis Kolovos	...	Spyros
Eva Kotamanidou	...	Kassandra
Toula Stathopoulou	...	Woman in the Coffee House
Thalia Argiriou	...	Danai
Smaro Gaitanidou
Mihalis Giannatos	...	Zisis
Grigoris Evangelatos	...	Teacher
Aliki Kamineli
Amdromachi Chrisomelli
Alex Moukanos
Dimitris Kolovos
Thodoros Teknetzidis

Also Known As:

Τριλογία 1: Το Λιβάδι που δακρύζει (Greece)
Eleni (France)
La sorgente del fiume (Italy)
La terre qui pleure (France)
The Weeping Meadow (Europe: English title)
Trilogie: Die Erde weint (Germany)
Trilogy: The Weeping Meadow (International: English title)

Runtime:

Greece:185 min | Canada:170 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | USA:170 min

Country:

Greece | France | Italy | Germany

Language:

Greek

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

Taiwan:PG-12 | Australia:PG | Netherlands:MG6 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Zurich) | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Thessaloniki, Greece

Company:

Hellenic Radio & Television (ERT)

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Nea Odyssos, to horio tou nerou (2004)

Soundtrack:

Eimai erotevmenos me ta matia sou

a Greek epic which becomes a tragedy

Theo Angelopoulos is one of the greatest directors working in films today. His last film, Eternity and a day proved that. This film is,likewise, a masterpiece. It begins in 1919 as a band of refugees returns to Greece from exile in Odessa. There are sepia colored photographs , and in this section of the film, the interiors are also sepia colored. The film then proceeds very elegantly for about the first third of its running time. He uses mostly long pans and tracking shots, and then may stop to focus on a scene as he gradually pulls the camera in closer, but almost never to a close up. His sense of mise en scene is superb, but even more he evokes a very specific time and place. His cinematography is superb, and often highly gorgeous. There is a superb scene at jusr about the end of the first third, where Eleni,the film's principal character, wants to leave and walks down to the water. She is suddenly surrounded by a group of men who begin to dance with her. That scene and the music in it are quite intoxicating. it reminds me a little of Fellini. The film then darkens drastically, becomes more political, and also somewhat fantastical, non linear, and rather mythic in tone. There are some beautiful, truly remarkable images here--the streets, the slaughtered sheep hanging from the trees, and a funeral procession in the water with the funeral party on a raft, surrounded by fishing boats all lite by lanterns. Then there is the final third of the film which takes us to WW2, but the style is quite abstract and elliptical, and where it is very difficult to pinpoint time. By the end her family is destroyed, and she becomes a figure of true Euripidean tragedy. It's devastating, and suddenly not only mythic but timeless.