This blog I will analyze the plot similarities between the films Ulysses' Gaze and Eternity and a Day , both of which capture the main character embarking on a journey with meaningful encounters with others to start a story.
In Eternity and a Day the old poet reflects on his life as he journeys, as he searches for the meaning of life in the day before he leaves. Alexander the poet encounters a young boy on his journey and decides to help the homeless boy, eventually sending him back to his homeland to complete his own salvation. The child seems to be the spiritual embodiment and anchor of the poet, and the brief warmth of the day is transformed into eternity. In the Ulysses' Gaze, the director returns home after the war to find the first film in the chaotic war-torn Balkans (Horton, 1997). He returns home to talk to his best friend about the years before his homeland, but the sight of the faithful holding torches reminds him of the brutality of war, and he eventually chooses to leave. On the way out, I met an old woman, just like the director who had left his hometown in those years. Out of the feeling of sympathy for each other, he decided to send her back to her hometown, but her hometown was no longer peaceful. The director had to embark on the next journey, meet the director of the film museum and meet his daughter.
Both films have contact with their own pasts when filming the main characters' journeys, and both have scenes that span the dimensions of time (Horton, 2010). As the poet's daughter reads the letter, Alexander comes to a time when he was young and reflects on his own problems at the time, his negligence towards those around him and his great remorse for the pursuit of his ideals. The director travels to a former home, time travels to a previous annual family gathering that lasted five years, and again links the past and present in the same space with great visual impact.
The scenes encountered by the protagonists on their journeys in both films are highly symbolic (Makrygiannakis, 2008), and the one that stands out in Eternity and a Day is the final tram journey of the poet and the child.
The three cyclists dressed in yellow leading the way symbolize the guides on the ideal path of life. The orchestra playing symbolize the good life. The verses of the prophetic poet symbolize philosophical reflection. In Ulysses' Gaze , the statue of Lenin on the banks of the Danube symbolize the shattering of communism.
The long shots recorded on the banks symbolize the change of time and space. A family gathering in the same scene symbolizes the changing political system. The projection of blank film symbolizes the passage of time. The message of each image carries a metaphorical idea.
Both films are plotted as stories in which the protagonists embark on a journey with one purpose in mind. The old poet has finally found the sign of the end of his life. The director's journey continues, and the further the journey goes, the more complicated it becomes, but eventually the inner answers will be found.
Word Count: 536
References List (APA)
Angelopoulos, T. (Director). (1998). Eternity and a Day [Motion Picture]. France: Canal plus.
Angelopoulos, T. (Director). (1998). Ulysses' Gaze [Motion Picture]. France: Roissy films.
Horton, A. (2010). Space and Time—Actual, Historical, and Mythical—in the Films of Theo Angelopoulos. The master of slow cinema , pp.23-27
Horton, A. (1997). The Films of Theo Angelopoulos: A cinema of contemplation . New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Makrygiannakis, D. (2008) The Films of Theo Angelopoulos: A Voyage in Time . (Doctoral Dissertation, The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom.) Retrieved from
Makrygiannakis2009.pdf
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