Iphigenia (film)

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Iphigenia is a 1977 Greek film directed by Michael Cacoyannis, based on the Greek myth of Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra who was ordered by the goddess Artemis to be sacrificed. Cacoyannis adapted the film, the third in his "Greek tragedy" trilogy (after Elektra and The Trojan Women), from his stage production of Euripedes' play Iphigenia at Aulis. The film stars Tatiana Papamoschou as Iphigenia, Kostas Kazakos as Agamemnon, and the legendary actress Irene Papas as Clytemnestra. The score was composed by Mikis Theodorakis.

Iphigenia was nominated for one Oscar, Best Foreign Language Film. It was also nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Iphigenia received the 1978 Belgian Femina Award, and received the Best Film Award at the 1977 Thessaloniki Film Festival, where Tatiania Papamoschou also received the Best Leading Actress Award for her role as Iphigenia.

Cast

Tatiana Papamoschou as Iphigenia
Irene Papas as Clytemnestra
Kostas Kazakos as Agamemnon
Costas Carras as Menelaus
Christos Tsagas as Ulysses
Panos Mihalopoulos as Achilles
Dimitri Aronis as Calchas

Divergences from the original play

Cocyannis made a number of changes to Iphigenia at Aulis in order to adapt it to modern cinema, some of them significant diverges from the original plot. Cocyannis does away with the traditional Greek tragic chorus, originally employed to explain key scenes, and replaces it in some cases with a chorus of Greek soldiers. He also adds new characters who were not present in the original play, Ulysses (Odysseus) and Calchas, to further the plot and voice certain themes.

In potentially the most significant plot divergence, Cacoyannis also renders the end of the film ambiguous. While Iphigenia is replaced by a deer and safely whisked away by Artemis in Iphigenia at Aulis, in Iphigenia, Iphigenia's fate is not shown. Instead, only Agamemnon's shocked reaction is shown, leaving the film's ending open to interpretations that she may have lived or died.

Iphigenia (film)

Cast

Divergences from the original play

See also