Stella (1955)

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Movie
German title Stella
Original title Στέλλα
Country of production Greece
original language Greek
Publishing year 1955
length 100 minutes
Rod
Director Michael Cacoyannis
script Iakovos Kambanellis
music Manos Hadjidakis
camera Kostas Theodoridis
occupation

The Greek feature film Stella (original title: Στέλλα) is the second directorial work by Michalis Kakogiannis . Melina Mercouri made her film debut in the title role ; Giorgos Foundas played the main male role . The script for the black and white film is based on the unperformed play Stella with the red gloves by Iakovos Kambanellis . The music was written by Manos Hadjidakis ; the stage design is by Giannis Tsarouchis .

The film premiered on April 4, 1955 and was the same year Greek competition entry at the Cannes Film Festival . In 1956, Stella received a Golden Globe in the Best Foreign Language Film category . As a variation on the Carmen theme, Stella is the first part of a trilogy about the role of women in Greek society in the 1950s. In the following two years, The Girl in Black and The Last Lie were created .

action

Stella, is a well-known rebetiko singer, but also a strong, independent woman in a very conservative post-war Greece. She works in “Paradisos”, a bouzouki tavern in Piraeus . Her lifestyle is always the talk of the town and her relationships with the most desirable men in Athens generate a lot of jealousy . However, she doesn't care if she makes a big splash.

Stella is with her boyfriend Alekos, but only until he tries to curtail her freedom and independence. Once she has the feeling that she can no longer determine herself, she leaves her partner. She always remains true to these ideals, even when she meets Miltos, a soccer player . With him it looks at first as if she can be tamed by him, since he is just as quick-tempered and temperamental as she is. But this traditional and possessive man is the last thing that Stella could accept. Although she loves him, she repeatedly refuses his proposals . When Miltos finally tries to force her to marry, Stella does not appear for the wedding , although Miltos has repeatedly warned her to kill her if she does not marry him. In fact, he ends up stabbing Stella.

template

The early stage play Stella with the red gloves ( Greek Η Στέλλα με τα κόκκινα γάντια I Stella me ta kokkina gandia ) by Iakovos Kambanellis served as the basis for the film. In the period between 1951 and 1954, Kambanelli's plays for the radio. Through this he came into contact with actors, among them Melina Mercouri. At her suggestion, the never-performed play Stella with the red gloves was created . Kambanellis wrote the play into a script himself.

Awards

At the Cannes International Film Festival in 1955, the film was shown as a Greek entry for the Palme d'Or , at the same time Melina Merkouri was nominated for best leading actress. When both prizes were missed, this sparked controversy among the jury, whereupon the jury member and actress Isa Miranda presented a special prize, the "Isa Miranda Award", to Merkouri.

The following year Stella received a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film .

criticism

“Somehow the game staged by Michael Cacoyannis doesn't have the same pace as its wildly enthusiastic star. The result is a severe, melancholy drama that is somewhat reminiscent of the silent film era, when the murder of the femme fatale was also often at the end . The only thing that saves the whole thing, especially for a demanding audience, is the involuntary humor that loosens up the gloomy solemnity. ("But somehow the screen play concocted by Michael Cacoyannis does not have quite the same surge of animation as the wildly enthusiastic star. It sets a grimly lugubrious drama, somewhat on the order of those we used to see on the silent screen, wherein the inevitable climax was the violent murder of the femme fatale. And the only thing that saves it - for a sophisticated audience, that is - is the unconscious spots of humor that brighten its dark solemnity. ") "

- Bosley Crowther , New York Times , June 11, 1957

literature

  • Elene Psoma: Filmland Greece - Terra incognita: Greek film history between politics, society and international impulses . Logos Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 3-8325-1618-2 , p. 281 .
  • Ιωάννα Αθανασάτου: Ελληνικός κινηματογράφος (1950 - 1967): λαϊκή μνήμη και ιδεολογία . Athens 1999, p. 186–210 ( Online Dissertation, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Olga Mamali: In the land of Kambanelli . Nuremberg 2003 ( Online as PDF [1.2 MB] - Dissertation, Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen-Nuremberg). P. 29.
  2. ↑ Mamali p. 111, footnote 370
  3. ↑ Trivia about the movie Stella on www.imdb.com (English)
  4. ^ NY Times June 11, 1957