Ifigeneia

I saw this film two years ago in my history class, and have rented it five times since then. Irene Papas leads a strong cast in this adaptation of Euripides' play "Iphigenia at Aulis". The beautiful cinematography adds the perfect tone to Papas' frantic search for clarity in a moral dilemma. Papas displays her great talent as an actress, playing the noble queen, the betrayed wife, and terrified mother. A great film.

I was taken to see this movie by my sister when I was only 7 years old. It's amazing how, at that early age, I was able to sympathize with the plot, the mood, the tragedy...Just now, through IMDb, I was able to find out what was the movie that had so greatly affected my childhood.

Very fine performances and intelligent direction, memorable photography and music, with only some wordy speeches near the end by the titular character not quite ringing true. But the last ambiguous shot make up for this, and the end restored the films power.

'Iphigenia' is the great achievement of Michael Cacoyannis. This masterful play is masterfully adapted for the screen and brought to life by a wonderful cast. Cacoyannis achieved the impossible. He managed to film a Greek tragedy to screen without losing its effectiveness and importance. A stellar greek cast helps him in this. Newcomer Tatiana Papamoschou is extremely impressive as Iphigenia. Equally impressive is Irene Papas ,who even though she sometimes seems over the top, it is very realistic. A wonderful Greek film, beautifully adapted and directed by Michael Cacoyannis, with an excellent music score by Mikis Theodorakis which is ideal in every scene.

P.S. Rumours say that the film lost the best foreign language film Oscar by only 1 vote!!!

My interest was raised as I was flipping through and saw the name Iphigenia. My name is Eugenia so I thought OK, lets see what this is. I am so glad I stayed on the channel. What a wonderful, wonderful story. Drama, sadness, some over the top acting but a wonderful time to be had. I watch this and it makes me sad for all the drivel the movie industry puts out and these beautiful little gems get passed over. Give Iphigenia a try and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. I have even gotten my children (27, 25, 20 and 17) to enjoy it. It starts slow, however, the drama builds and you will be drawn in to the story. Watching this lovely film made me want to shroud myself in more Greek tragedy and pathos.