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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 Euripides' 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, Odysseus and Calchas, to further the plot and voice certain themes.

As in Euripides' original work, Cacoyannis deliberately renders the end of the story ambiguous. Though Greek myth states that Iphigenia was miraculously saved by the gods at the very instant of her death, this event is not directly depicted in either the play or the film, leaving Iphigenia's true fate in question. In Euripides' Iphigenia at Aulis, Iphigenia's rescue is described second-hand by a messenger. In Iphigenia, there is no overt reference at all to this event; the audience sees only the knife fall, followed by a shot of Agamemnon's shocked expression.

Directed by Michael Cacoyannis
Produced by Michael Cacoyannis
Written by Michael Cacoyannis
Euripedes

Music by Mikis Theodorakis
Cinematography Giorgos Arvanitis
Editing by Takis Yanopoulos
Running time 127 Min
Language Greek
IMDb profile

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