Table Of ContentTheo Angelopoulos
i
PHILOSOPHICAL FILMMAKERS
Series editor : Costica Bradatan is a Professor of Humanities at
Texas Tech University, USA, and an Honorary Research Professor of
Philosophy at the University of Queensland, Australia. He is the
author of Dying for Ideas: The Dangerous Lives of the Philosophers
(Bloomsbury, 2015), among other books.
Films can ask big questions about human existence: what it
means to be alive, to be afraid, to be moral, to be loved. The
Philosophical Filmmakers series examines the work of infl uential
directors, through the writing of thinkers wanting to grapple with the
rocky territory where fi lm and philosophy touch borders.
Each book involves a philosopher engaging with an individual
fi lmmaker’s work, revealing how it has inspired the author’s own
philosophical perspectives and how critical engagement with those
fi lms can expand our intellectual horizons.
Other titles in the series:
Eric Rohmer , Vittorio H ö sle
Werner Herzog , Richard Eldridge
Terrence Malick , Robert Sinnerbrink
Kenneth Lonergan , Todd May
Shyam Benegal , Samir Chopra
Douglas Sirk , Robert B. Pippin
Lucasfi lm , Cyrus R. K. Patell
Christopher Nolan , Robbie B. H. Goh
Alfred Hitchcock , Mark William Roche
Luchino Visconti , Joan Ramon Resina
Other titles forthcoming:
Leni Riefenstahl , Jakob Lothe
Jane Campion , Bernadette Wegenstein
ii
Theo Angelopoulos
Filmmaker and Philosopher
Vrasidas Karalis
BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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First published in Great Britain 2023
Copyright © Vrasidas Karalis, 2023
Vrasidas Karalis has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, to be identifi ed as Author of this work.
Cover image: Landscape in the Mist (1988), dir. Theo Angelopoulos
(© New Yorker Films / Photofest)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior
permission in writing from the publishers.
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any third-party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given
in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher
regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased
to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN: HB: 978-1-3502-4535-8
PB: 978-1-3502-4536-5
ePDF: 978-1-3502-4537-2
eBook: 978-1-3502-4538-9
Series: Philosophical Filmmakers
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iv
T he book, with all its anxieties, is dedicated to the
memory of Robert Joseph Meader (1958–2022),
who left unexpectedly for the realm of shadows
v
Contents
List of Illustrations viii
Preface: Or Against the Historicist Imprisonment of Art x
1 The Quest for Existential Poesis: Or Prelude
to Theo Angelopoulos’s Iconosophy 1
2 On First Encountering Theo Angelopoulos:
Or On the Existential Grounding of Films 25
3 On Seeing Films Philosophically: Or From
Politics to Existence 51
4 On Being, Loss, and Memory: Or The
Social Ontology of Historicity 83
5 On Redemption: Or Saving the Phenomena and
the Dread of Shadows in E ternity and a Day 113
6 The Risk of Being Tempted by D é j à Vu :
Or On the Ontological Sublime 151
7 Visual Essay: The Discovery of the Psyche 169
Notes 175
References 177
Index 185
vii
Illustrations
Visual Essay: The Discovery
of the Psyche
1 & 2 From Metaphysics to Physics. L andscape in the Mist (1988)
directed and written by © Theo Angelopoulos. All rights reserved.
Produced by Greek Film Centre, Greek Television (ERT-1), Paradis
Films (Paris), Basicinematografi ca (Rome), and Theo Angelopoulos
Productions.
3 The Challenge of Modernity. M egalexandros (1980), directed and
written by © Theo Angelopoulos. All rights reserved. Produced by:
R.A.I., Z.D.F., Greek Film Centre, and Theo Angelopoulos
Productions.
4 The Call of Secular Mystery. Landscape in the Mist (1988) directed
and written by © Theo Angelopoulos. All rights reserved.
Produced by Greek Film Centre, Greek Television (ERT-1), Paradis
Films (Paris), Basicinematografi ca (Rome), and Theo Angelopoulos
Productions.
5 Out of Plato’s Cave. E ternity and a Day (1998) directed and written
by © Theo Angelopoulos. All rights reserved. Produced by Theo
Angelopoulos Productions, Greek Film Centre, Greek Television
ERT-1, Paradis Films, Intermedia S.A, and La Sept Cinema.
6 The Question of Suicide. T he Beekeeper (1986) directed and
written by © Theo Angelopoulos. All rights reserved. Produced by
Greek Film Centre, ERT-1 TV (Greece), Paradis Films (Paris),
Basicinematografi ca (Rome), and Theo Angelopoulos Productions.
viii
Illustrations ix
7 The Reality of Death. M egalexandros (1980), directed and written
by © Theo Angelopoulos. All rights reserved. Produced by: R.A.I.,
Z.D.F., Greek Film Centre, and Theo Angelopoulos Productions.
8 The Redemption of Poetry. E ternity and a Day (1998) directed and
written by © Theo Angelopoulos. All rights reserved. Produced by
Theo Angelopoulos Productions, Greek Film Centre, Greek
Television ERT-1, Paradis Films, Intermedia S.A, and La Sept
Cinema.
9 At the Still Point. T he Weeping Meadow (2004) directed and
written by © Theo Angelopoulos. All rights reserved. Produced by
Theo Angelopoulos, Greek Film Center, Hellenic Broadcasting
Corporation ERT S.A., Attica Art Productions (Athens), BAC Films
S.A, Intermedia S.A, and Arte France.
10 The Gathering Gaze. Ulysses’ Gaze (1995) directed and written
by © Theo Angelopoulos. All rights reserved. Produced by Theo
Angelopoulos Productions, Greek Film Centre, MEGA Channel,
Paradis Film, La Generale d’Images, La Sept Cinema, with the
participation of Canal+, Basicinematografi ca, Istituto Luce, RAI,
Tele-Muenchen, Concorde Films, Herbert Kloider, and in
association with Channel 4.
