Der Bienenzüchter

It is amazing that it is only on two occasions that the great Greek director Theo Angelopoulos [1935-2012] chose to cast major film stars of international reputation in his films. In 1995, he directed "Ulysses' Gaze" with one of American cinema's greatest actors Harvey Keitel. The Beekeeper/O Melissokomos was his first film with a major star,Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni who is known to all those who appreciate great cinema. It is interesting to note that in both these films, Theo Angelopoulos has extracted unglamorous performances from these two actors who are known to ordinary cinema audiences as mere 'film stars'. The decision to cast Marcello Mastroianni must be viewed as an artistic challenge for Angelopoulos as he was already a middle aged man when he was paired against a young girl in a film about hopelessness, uselessness wherein one comes to realize the futility of one's drab existence. Through his film about a man and his passion for bees, Theo Angelopoulos teaches us that happiness is fleeting. One learns the most crucial lesson in life that even though bees are sweet for honey their bite is extremely dangerous. This is precisely the lesson which the film's protagonist experiences after a series of minor incidents which happen in his life when he travels across Greece in the company of a young girl. The notion of "So near yet so far" appears to be this film's leitmotif as even though the protagonist stands near his wife for a photo shoot, discontent is always visible on their faces. This notion makes its second appearance when the protagonist meets a young girl who is hitch hiking across Greece. Lastly, no film director has attempted to show the love felt by a young girl for an old man in an extremely personal manner as depicted by Angelopoulos in "The Beekeeper" as mutual respect is the key element in this film.One could also state that the young girl allowed herself to be treated well by the old man. This is the reason why the young girl feels that the old man is the only person who has treated her well.

I came via this film by way of leading man Marcello Mastroianni, in many of Fellini's greats, though I actually preferred his performance alongside Guilietta Masina in Ginger and Fred, actually made/released the same year as this, 1986 than in my comparative example, 8.5

I bought the DVD of The Beekeeper cold, not knowing of, or having seen this Greek director's work before. I don't think I was under the illusion that it was going to be all holiday sun and gaiety - indeed, it is not. We, in the U.K are not used to seeing Greece in the winter, with remnants of snow and greying landscapes that hint at times passing, of buildings in slight dilapidation and overtones of regret and slight bitterness. One scene in spring IS in full colourful sunshine, the remainder at night or on grey, rather oppressive days.

Spyro (Mastroianni) leaves work for the last time and disillusioned, wants to finally devote all his time, love and energies to his faithful friends, his bees. With them in their hides, on the back of his truck, he drives off, in search of pollen for them and a new meaning for himself. After a chance pickup of the beautiful hitch-hiker (referred to in the IMDb credits simply as 'The Girl'), left behind after her previous lift (or boyfriend?) holds up a shop and drives off sharpish, without her, Spyro seems to be too polite/worn down/shy, or whatever, to pick up on her lead.

In fact, it is not for an hour and half until he finally - and abruptly, succumbs, clumsily and badly. She had already picked up a young soldier, just discharged. Spyro has rescued her from him. Now, will she revive his spirit, his bittersweet, nonchalant view on the human world, or will she wither with him? The last scene but one, outside the old run-down movie theatre where they have been sleeping, a speeding trains hurtles, as if like moving film itself, very fast, transient, timeless, golden, against a Hollywood backdrop of romance, from the '30s or 40's.

I found this a sober, absorbing and never boring film that gave space and time to allow one to think outside of what was happening. The life-cycle, struck me as being (maybe) that of that of the queen bee and her workers. The beautiful, unnamed stranger who mates with the worker (Spyro) and then moves on, ready for the next one. The final scene, spine-tingling in its portrayal (I'm NOT going to spoil it!) re- emphasises that, for me.

There is a little humour and gentle light relief in amongst all this, as Spyro meets up with old friends and his daughter along the way. If you want a frilly popcorn film, forget this one, but for adult, thought- provoking and unpretentious - and mostly, a different, experience, as well as for Marciello's masterful and understated performance, this is most satisfying world cinema.

It's strange to imagine, truly, that in a look shared above a tray of broken dishes, a person can radiate such an overwhelming sense of guilt, of emptiness and quiet sorrows that the entirety of the film could be unraveled but from that single, wordless glance.

Marcello Mastroianni helms The Beekeeper (O Melissokomos), a low-key yet profound picture set in a contemporary Greece, one fraught with winding highways and steeped in violet mists, littered throughout with fragments of a ravaged, not-so-distant past. It is a tale of being adrift, of reminiscence, shot in hazy shades of dawn and told through lingering eyes and bursts of anguished emotion.

Spiros (Mastroianni) rides along the pale hills, tending to his beehives strewn across the country, washed in silent resignation, lost along the border of nostalgia and despair. A young girl (Nadia Mourouzi) travels at his side, a girl who's just as lost as he, equally resigned to that inexorably cruel fate of simply not knowing.

It's a quiet piece, but whenever the players opt to break the silence, it rings lyrical and true. There is little music, though when it spirits past those lonely, crumbling streets, it's haunting, strange and powerful.

Throughout these one hundred and twenty minutes of mystical, almost ethereal and yet still so fundamentally real images I am enraptured, completely, fully succumbed to the beauty of this vague and poetic journey. A masterfully crafted film, one that captures these illusive thoughts and gestures with poignancy, feelings that are so impossible to describe yet nevertheless permeate our lives through every restless, stifled hour.

A beekeeper, Spyros, having just married off his daughter, who seems to be the only person he has any humanly connection with, embarks on a journey with his bees across the country as part of his profession. A journey during which he encounters a free spirited young girl who hitches a ride on his truck.

This movie quite brilliantly explores loneliness from two levels. One, from the aging beekeeper, who with the marriage of his daughter and the separation with his wife, has nothing for himself and seeks to fill this void through revisiting aspects from his past. The second, is from the young girl, whose loneliness is manifested through a destructive and meaningless attachment to whatever brings her instant gratification with no regard for consequences in the future. And the movie explores how the pairing of the two can lead to nothing but despair.

Theodoros Angelopoulos is a filmmaker who speaks through silence, where the unspoken is always the most expressive. And fittingly, the Beekeeper is a movie engrossed in a sense of yearning; either towards something you once had, or for things you think you should have. The tragedy of one's hopelessness in the world of Angelopoulos, lies not in one's choices, but in their unchangeable state of loneliness they so desperately try to escape.

What's not to love here?

A sad and extremely poignant movie from the unique, and sadly late, director Theodoros Angelopoulos. Is there such thing as the male menopause? Yes, there is, and Angelopoulos in this movie, portrays the subject through his main character with unique emphasis on the basics of human emotions of infinite sadness, loneliness, futile aspirations, rejection, desperation, ....