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A video essay covering the sparse history of cinematic adaptations of Greek tragedies.

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25 centuries ago the ancient Greeks invented drama. The great Athenian playwrights Aeschyllus, Sophocles and Euripides mastered the art form and gifted the world with dramaturgical masterpieces such as "The Persians", "Oedipus Rex", "Antigone", "Medea" and "The Trojan Women".

As influential as these works are, it's rare to find films that use them as source material. In this video we'll go through the films that do and we'll examine how their styles transfer the plays to a new medium. Do they retain the strangeness of the original or do they try to tame it? A fun and healthy discussion on the translation principles of Foreignization and Domestication.

We'll open with the 1957 Canadian film "Oedipus Rex", directed by Tyrone Guthrie (and Abraham Polonsky according to IMDb, but I don't know about that), based on Sophocles' most famous play and most likely the most famous Greek tragedy of them all. This is the film that comes the closest to the actual unusual experience of Greek theater. Its masks, poses and proud theatricality make it one of the most unique films you'll find.

Then we'll visit the films of Zorba the Greek's director, Michael Cacoyannis. In Greek (modern Greek, not the ancient one, of course... I feel like it needs be said) he directed "Electra" (1962) and "Iphigenia" (1977). Both were based on Euripides and both got Oscar nominations for the Best Foreign Language Film of the year.

He also directed, in English, "The Trojan Women" (1971), a fantastic adaptation of another Euripides play and the film with the most star-studded cast (Katharine Hapburn, Vanessa Redgrave, Geneviève Bujold, Brian Blessed and the ubiquitous Irene Papas). It features a gorgeous translation by Edith Hamilton which is already worth reading on its own.

After Cacoyannis, we'll visit the highly singular career of Italian director Vittorio Cottafavi, famous (ok, strong word) for the most well staged peplum films ever made. He made four Greek tragedies for Italian television: Antigone (1957), The Trojan Women (1966), Antigone (1971) again and The Persians (1975) – the only Aeschyllus adaptation covered here.

Some may argue that these films don't count because they were made straight for television. Such people are not fun to hang out with.

Lastly we'll go through a third "Antigone", this time directed by arthouse darlings (for some reason) Jean-Marie Straub and Danniele Huillet. Their 1992 film is... something else. The text – adapted by Bertolt Brecht from Friedrich Hölderlin's translation – is worth a look though.

We'll take a quick look at a fourth Antigone and freer adaptations made by Lars von Trier (Medea) and Miklós Jancsó (Electra). It's quite a ride. Long live Greece!

#videoessay #filmhistory #ancientgreece


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