«Theo Angelopoulos. The Time in Transition» is the title of the book by George Archimandrite, just published in France, which includes a series of discussions with the internationally acclaimed Greek director. The discussions were broadcast in 2009 by France Culture, the culture station of French Public Radio, as part of the programme «A voix nue». The valuable testimony is accompanied by Angelopoulos« filmography, fully updated. The recording of this rare material is the fruit of a collaboration between the French publishing house Actes Sud and the Lumière Institute, whose mission is to preserve and disseminate the cinematographic heritage. The book, which was published in Greece in 2013 by Patakis Publications under the title »In Naked Voice’, is addressed not only to connoisseurs and experts, but also to a much wider audience, which has an interest in quality cinema and more specifically in the history of Greek film production. The material is based on five half-hour interviews given by Angelopoulos, speaking at length to Archimandrite.
Asked about how he worked on his film ideas until they became flesh and blood and ended up taking the form of a film, «Theo» answers: «It's essentially a mystery. How is an idea born? There is always a period preceding it that is a bit strange and mysterious, where I feel that something is coming. It's a period of hypnosis, a state like between sleep and wakefulness, where everything takes on different dimensions. I hear a phrase, a song or a noise in a different way. It's like a pregnancy. Often a first clue emerges, which may be an image from the end of the film or an existing person who has already mutated into a character in the film. So every day different elements are added, which come to me between five and seven in the morning. I get up then and take notes...»
And what exactly is cinema? How exactly is the directorial gaze shaped and what can this mean for reality? «When we first set our eyes on the camera, we are not discovering cinema, we are discovering the world,» Angelopoulos answers Archimandrite, discussing the Manakis brothers« films, which Harvey Keitel, as his alter ego, was desperately seeking in the war-torn Balkans of the 1990s. »Despite the wars and suffering,« Angelopoulos insisted, ’the century was full of promise. In the end, however, there was utter disillusionment. It is unbelievable that the century should begin and end in the same way, as if there were no history, as if there were no history lesson, as if people had understood nothing of what had happened and continued to commit the same mistakes.».
In the book we also follow Angelopoulos« childhood during the Civil War, the ways he used to film »The Troupe« during the junta, the period of his film studies in Paris or the influence of people like Bertolt Brecht on his thinking. The director observes at another point in his conversations with the Archimandrite, revealing the extent of his involvement with historical events: »My life has been so marked by certain events that when I tell history, it is almost as if I am telling my own history. I am telling what I feel is absolutely necessary and which comes out of me automatically. All my films are choices. I never made a film just to make it, but because it was responding to an inner need, a dialogue with myself and the world. I think a big problem today is that people forget. Not only those who were responsible for certain things, but all of us who suffered history.".
A writer, inspirer of art and culture radio documentaries and journalist, George Archimandritis holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from the Sorbonne. He has served as Ambassador of Culture of Greece under the French Presidency in Europe and was recently appointed as the official representative of the Hellenic Foundation for Culture in Paris. He has been honoured by the French Republic with the title of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters, as well as with the title of Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters for his contribution to the field of culture in France and the world.
Β. Hadjivassiliou
