The Trojan Women
by Mihalis Kakogiannis
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Actor: Geneviève Bujold, Irene Papas, Katharine Hepburn, Patrick Magee, Vanessa RedgraveDirector: Mihalis Kakogiannis
Brand: Kino International
Cinematographer: Alfio Contini
Producer: Mihalis Kakogiannis
Writer: Mihalis Kakogiannis
Producer: Anis Nohra
Producer: Josef Shaftel
Writer: Edith Hamilton
Writer: Euripides
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 105 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-09-14
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Model: 3762
Studio: Kino Video
DVD Reviews of The Trojan Women
DVD Review: A Difficult Film to Watch
Summary: 4 Stars
I am conflicted about this film. On the one hand, it has a phenomenal cast: Katherine Hepburn as Hekabe; Vanessa Redgrave as Andromache; Irene Papas as Helen; Genevieve Bujold as Cassandra; Brian Blessed as Talthybius; and Patrick McGee as Menelaus. On the other, Euripides' play itself is static, consisting solely of the lamentations of the royal female captives after the siege of Troy.
I think it might have worked for a modern audience within the ritualized setting of a Greek Theatre, say, at Epidaurus, with a traditional production (e.g., masked actors, a stylized chorus, and Athena and Poseidon, who are absent from the film). Somehow thrusting Euripides into a 'realistic' setting, outside the walls of what was supposed to be Troy, paradoxically brought an artificiality to the drama, at times making Hepburn and Bujold seem as if they were tearing their passions to tatters--an impression enhanced by their grungy costumes. To me, Hepburn's portrayal of the Queen worked best when she was lamenting over the child Astyanax, or inciting Menelaus to murder Helen.
The performances that I really found compelling were those of Redgrave and Papas--the former in her role as the distraught mother and the latter as the beautiful schemer. Both women portrayed their characters with subtlety. It is Redgrave's understatement of her role that renders her ultimate howl of grief so heart-shattering. Similarly, Papas barely glances at her wronged husband Menelaus, but as she circles him we know that she is binding him with her plausible spell of honeyed words, and that he will never kill his errant wife.
Part of the difficulty of the play for a modern audience is that much of Euripides' script is based upon rhetoric. For instance, the confrontation between Hekabe, Helen, and Menelaus, is little more than a legalistic argument (Euripides' plays, according to Quintilian, were recommended readings for Roman attorneys, such as Cicero or Pliny the Younger.). Athenian audiences, who spent hours in the law courts, were mad about rhetoric and legalisms.
Another difficulty comes from the DVD, which has no closed captioning or subtitles. Significant sections of Hepburn's dialogue in particular become lost. The colour on the transfer is good, but because the costumes and desolate countryside are so dust-ridden, the film might have been more effective in black-and-white (But perhaps this was not the case when the film was shown on a large screen in theatres in 1971).To appreciate the poignancy of Euripides' play to its fullest, if one does not have access to the original Greek, a good translation is recommended, such as Philip Vellacott's, which can be found in Penguin's Euripides, "The Bacchae and Other Plays."
"The Trojan Women" did not win prizes when it was produced in 415 (perhaps because the Athenian audience did not want to face unpopular truths, such as their destruction of the island of Melos, earlier in the year--because the Aegean island wanted to opt out of a coercive alliance--and Athens' consequent killing of the male population and the selling the women and children into slavery.). Without its historical context, the tragedy is perhaps even more difficult to watch today, although its underlying message about the victims of war still resounds with a universal truth.
Description of The Trojan Women
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