La mujer de negro

Ellie Lambetti's performance in "A Girl in Black" is one of the greatest performances by an actress in all of cinema and yet hardly anyone has seen it. Michael Cacoyannis made this film for virtually nothing on the Greek island of Hydra after achieving international success with "Stella". It's a beautiful looking film, (the great Walter Lassally was the photographer), and the simple island setting suited the simplicity of the style perfectly. Early in the film one of the character says that everything is exposed by the light, even men's sins and that is the theme of the film.

When two strangers arrive on the island their presence arouses passions among the locals that were always there but kept simmering just below the surface. Eleni Zafiriou is the widow who bestows her favours a little too freely, (the islanders are a very unforgiving lot), Lambetti is the daughter tainted by her sins, Anestis Vlachos is the son who is shamed by her, the better-known Greek actor Georges Foundas, (he was in "Never on Sunday"), is the fisherman who wants Lambetti and Dimitri Horn, the man from Athens, who gets her. It's a contemporary Greek tragedy on a small, but no less terrible, scale and it's heartbreaking. In America the film won the Golden Globe but it is seldom revived. See it at all costs.

I'm not fluent in Greek and I have never been there but I personally desire to go to the Greek islands just like the men from Athens do for a vacation. They rent a house with a woman in mourning and negative reputation among the locals. He falls in love with her of course and he wants to marry her and take her away to Athens but of course, there is a doomed tragedy that affects everybody on the island. I won't give away much more than that. This movie has great acting from it's major characters and the locals as well. The beautiful woman does an excellent job in her role. The scenery reminds me of Venice. It's first rate filmed on location in the Greek islands in the post World War II world. It's a good film! I only wished that I knew Greek.

This early black and white film by Michael Cacoyannis has a crude, highly melodramatic power. The initially idyllic island of Hydra gradually becomes the setting of a horror movie; the horrors come from the strict moral codes, the rigid gender roles, the class distinctions, the prejudices against "city slickers", etc. Ellie Lambeti is the star, and she is enchanting - when the film was over, I wanted to see more of her character. I wondered if she would ever find the happiness she deserves. **1/2 out of 4.

A film not so well known to the greek audience for reasons i cant explain.

Two well-to-do Athenians journey by ship to a small village. Pavlos (Dimitris Horn) is a writer, and Antoni (Notis Peryalis) is an architect and older friend. A native convinces the two to stay at the residence of a widow (Eleni Zafirou), rather than book a room at the hotel. The first woman they meet on the island is the widow's daughter, Marina (Ellie Lambeti), who wears a black dress throughout the film, as though in mourning. As Pavlos learns the history of her family, he starts to care emotionally for this sad-eyed woman.

Her mother was widowed years ago. Her looks fading, she (the widow) still longs for men, and has become an object of ridicule on this small island. Her son Mitso (Anestis Vlahos) is strong-headed in defense of his mother's virtue, but he lacks the physical strength to face down her detractors. In addition to her mother's woes, daughter Marina is tormented by her own memories. Marina's sister was not attractive, and, unfortunately, loved an egotistical braggard, Christos (George Foundas). He attempted to use the homely sister to get to the attractive one. His unwanted attentions toward Marina, and his unkind remarks about the sister led to the tragic suicide by drowning (of the sister).

The arrival of Pavlos intensifies Christos' desire/jealousy, and he attempts to play a practical joke on Pavlos. An unintended consequence of this prank is a horrible event, something so jarring that no one (including the audience) could have foreseen or imagined such an outcome.

This early film by Cacoyannis is photographed in b&w, with a very sharply focused foreground/background. Absolutely authentic in its setting, the movie is a landmark in Greek cinema. Ellie Lambeti (Marina) is natural looking, lovely in sad, unspoken ways, and very empathetic. Pavlos, so much more worldly, allows himself to be deeply touched by this simple, yet emotionally complex woman.