Jóvenes Afroditas

I wail and gnash teeth in worry that my two VHS copies of this outstanding film will further degrade before the Lords of Film Preservation and Distribution pull this one from the oh so undeserved bin of neglect. Yes, another coming of age story. Yes, another love triangle. And yes, another oh so splendid example of what film can do! Lucent imagery, commanding black and white, classic movement, a story both exotic, ancient, and utterly timeless - integrally conveyed by images, images, images! A film to make you wish to be on some isolated Greek island, sitting mesmerized by the profound sea, and pondering the endless repetition of man's desire. Or rather, grateful to live in an age of film. A prayer to Mercury to speed this wonderful film to Criterion!

This Greek film was obviously marketed as a piece of soft-core porn about nubile young Greeks getting it off when, in fact, it's a reasonably serious, and incredibly boring, account of ancient Greek shepherds struggling to survive or at least cope with a lack of water, which may or may not be symbolic.

The "Young Aphrodites" of the title are rather comely maidens and certainly not the type to entice you into the porn cinemas of Soho or should that be downtown Athens and yet I am sure this is just the kind of 'art-house' movie that once upon a time was squarely aimed at what was affectionately known as 'the dirty mac brigade', at least here in the UK, (and if that were the case, they would have been severely disappointed).

There isn't much of a plot, (there isn't much of anything really), but at least it nicely shot in black and white and has an easy-on-the-ear score by Yannis Markopoulous. Still, I can't imagine when this was being made who the producers imagined their intended audience might be or that it won the Best Director prize at the Berlin Film Festival. I gave up before the end.

There will be two reactions from the average movie viewer. You will either think this is garbage or you will think this is the highest expression of movie-making. I fall in the middle.

On the one hand, the concept and creation of this film is flawless. It is a Greek film by Nicos Koundourou, one of the greatest directors to come from Greece. It is the story of the discovery and pursuit of love in a nomadic community in 200 B. C. There is minimal dialogue in the movie. With the minimal dialogue you will find yourself emotionally invested on the individual lives of the main characters. Dialogue, indeed, is not needed. The story is told through the movement of the actors. This is a very visual film. All one needs to do is look at the action and body language of the actors and you will know what is going on. In some ways this movie can be described as a limited silent movie. Moreover, Koundourou employed many non-actors in Young Aphrodite; many were actual shepards in real life. However, this did nothing to take away from the finished product. This alone gives an air of authenticity to the movie. Many parts of this movie are striking and compelling. A very unique movie experience.

On the other hand, the movie suffers in very accurately and laboriously depicting what everyday life is like for shepards suffering through a drought. As a result, a good part of the movie will show the tedium and boredom of a shepard's life intersperse between incidents of real action. Most will probably look at this tedium and dismiss the movie itself as boring. This is a mistake. This film is one of the best examples of an art-house film. Shot entirely on location, this can be viewed time after time and still be enjoyed.

I have 3 different DVD versions.

One is from CMVC which is dubbed in English. The dubbing is very good and non-intrusive. The picture quality lacks punch however and 6 minutes have been cut from the original.

From Amazon you can get the Cinema Epoch version. This contains the full uncut movie and uses English subtitles. There is more contrast to the picture. Yet the subtitles really litter up the beautiful images presented in this movie.

From EBAY I was able to get a copy from Greece. This version is uncut, with no dubbing or subtitles. It is in the original Greek. Since there is little dialog to begin with, this is really no big deal especially if you have watched it a lot. This version has the best picture quality. But the sound is not that good. There are parts where the actors voices seem to lose volume all of a sudden.

I would love to get a version which is uncut, with great audio and video.

Like the other reviewers above, I too was captivated by this movie upon it's initial (and seemingly short-lived) theatrical release. It must have been about 1968 or 1969 when I saw it at one of those 'arty' type cinemas in Sydney, and I am almost certain that that copy was overdubbed in English, which made it a lot more watchable, even if it did upset the lip-synch! I was enthralled from the very first frames, and all I can do is agree with an earlier reviewer who noted that he/she did not want it to end, and another reviewer who stated that it was like a beautiful dream that one wishes that one could have every night.

Sure, there are a few glitches in the continuity, and many more in the reasoning behind the screenplay (?) but the whole beauty of this little gem of a film is in the IMAGERY, supported mostly by the minimal dialogue, and gorgeous musical score. You can actually believe that you are looking through a time-window into an ancient coming together of opposing faiths and forces.

I have a subtitled copy on VHS, which was cross-recorded many years ago from my original copy on Beta (before the Beta died), but it was originally recorded from our SBS channel (still in its formative years in the early 1980's) and the quality leaves something to be desired. (Ghosting of the images, which leaves some scenes difficult to watch, and several picture rolls, due to the advancing age of the tape.) Even so though, it is still a powerful piece of work, and I would dearly love to have a crisp, clear copy on DVD.

As none seems forthcoming, I shall have to rely on the annual playing of my copy on VHS, and simply remember how achingly beautiful it was on the big screen, all those years ago..........