A Dream of Passion (1978)

Melina Mercouri plays an actress who is attempting a comeback with a staging of the Greek tragedy "Medea" (about a woman who kills her children) in her native Greece. As a publicity stunt, ... See full summary »

Director:

Jules Dassin

Writers:

Jules Dassin, Euripides (play)

Stars:

Melina Mercouri, Ellen Burstyn, Andréas Voutsinas

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Melina Mercouri	...	Maya / Medea
Ellen Burstyn	...	Brenda Collins
Andréas Voutsinas	...	Kostas
Despo Diamantidou	...	Maria
Dimitris Papamichael	...	Dimitris / Jason
Giannis Voglis	...	Edward
Faidon Georgitsis	...	Ronny
Betty Valassi	...	Margaret
Andreas Filippides	...	Stathis
Irene Emirza	...	Diana
Panos Papaioannou	...	Manos
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kostas Arzoglou	...	Bible Student
Savvas Axiotis	...	Soundman
Katerina Bourlou	...	Medea Chorus
Foteini Filosofou	...	Medea Chorus

Storyline

Melina Mercouri plays an actress who is attempting a comeback with a staging of the Greek tragedy "Medea" (about a woman who kills her children) in her native Greece. As a publicity stunt, she arranges a meeting with an American woman (Ellen Burstyn) who is serving a prison term for killing her own children. Features Mercouri performing "Medea" in the original, intercut with Burstyn narrating her crime.

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Plot Keywords:

women's prison | greek tragedy | greece | religious nut | chorus | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Greece Switzerland USA

Language:

English Greek

Release Date:

August 1978 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Dream of Passion

Filming Locations:

Greece

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bren, Melina Film

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Did You Know?

Connections

Version of Such Is Life (2000)

User Reviews

Dream of Passion is larger than ordinary life, as befits Greek Tragedies.

See this film. It is provocative. It dares to challenge conventional ideas about womanhood, love, motherhood. It removes a level of denial that keeps us distant from the underlying truths that Greek Tragedy speaks to, especially the tale of Medea.

We live in a society that attempts to dictate and control, through manipulation and legislation, the role of women, to punish women for being visible victims of the hidden agendas of male supremacy and chauvinism. It is a society that sadly fails to understand, much less respect the powerful, passionate love and instincts that inform and drive the feminine half of our humanity. This failure contributes to a degraded quality of life, to the violence and the pain we see around us.

See this film. Mercouri and Burstyn are magnificent, each in her own way. They represent aspects of the feminine goddess, played out through different cultural lenses.