Michael Cacoyannis' earthy re-imagining of neo-realism as rebetika melodrama. Melina Mercouri's exuberant Stella is free to love and to suffer, but when bourgeois hypocrisy and patriarchy conspire to imprison her in a conventional marriage, she must decide her fate. Solid performances all-round with the gorgeous Mercouri an erotic whirlwind - the woman men dream about but meet only once. For real rebetika songs underpin the torrid passions on display, while the stark streets of 50s Athens bring true pathos to a simple story. Great cinema.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Stella (Greece 1955)
Michael Cacoyannis' earthy re-imagining of neo-realism as rebetika melodrama. Melina Mercouri's exuberant Stella is free to love and to suffer, but when bourgeois hypocrisy and patriarchy conspire to imprison her in a conventional marriage, she must decide her fate. Solid performances all-round with the gorgeous Mercouri an erotic whirlwind - the woman men dream about but meet only once. For real rebetika songs underpin the torrid passions on display, while the stark streets of 50s Athens bring true pathos to a simple story. Great cinema.
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