Homer's Odyssey : a great masterpiece

Adaryn

Adaryn

The Living Force
I'm talking about Franco Rossi's (sadly ill-known) mini-series (8 episodes) version of the Odyssey, with Irène Papas and Behkim Fehmiu. It's from 1969. It was broadcasted on French TV in the 1980's and it remained in my memories as a compelling and haunting masterpiece.

This review from Imdb gives a good idea of the excellence of this series :
http://imdb.com/title/tt0064750/
As it was already put, the best version ever of Homer's epic. Entirely shot in natural locations in the Mediterranean. The sea and the sky are strikingly blue, the islands green and untouched. The clothing is linen, wool and fur, the settings stony and bare, everything is somewhat rugged and primitive, a bit what you would find in Cacoyannis or Pasolini movies, and it makes it all the more authentic. Although the story is based on myths and widely goes into supernatural, it gives us a good idea of what life in the 10th century BC might have been like.

The rhythm is somewhat slow and austere, but the whole is so beautiful that you quickly get into it. Actually, it is amazingly close to the original plot by Homer, if not to the text itself. Ulysses doesn't appear until the first hour, the start being centered on his son looking after him. Then he suddenly appears lost in a storm, lands on the island of the Pheacians where the royal family takes good care of him. His adventures are told in flashback as a narration to his hosts : the terrifying Cyclop, the magic world of Circe, the Underworld, the Sirens etc. He finally comes back to his homeland Ithaca after 20 years, and it all ends dramatically with the killing of the pretenders of his faithful spouse Penelope.

As a story, the Odyssey is an unparalleled metaphor of the struggles of a man's life. The cast is brilliant and international here. Irene Papas gives us a typical Greek tragedy style performance as Penelope, but most amazing is the Albanian actor Bekim Fehmiu as Ulysses. Really good looking and totally convincing, it seems the role was really made for him. Strange that he was never offered roles of this dimension afterwards. Also playing Nausicaa is Barbara Bach (as Barbara Gregorini) later famous as the James Bond girl in "The Spy Who Loved Me", and playing Athena is Michele Breton, who was otherwise noted in the strange movie called "Performance" with Mick Jagger.

As it was done 35 years ago, the series was actually quite an innovation for its time, as the first big European coproduction for TV (Italy,France,Germany and Yugoslavia). I have seen this mini-series in 8 parts on french television as far back as 1974. I was a kid back then, and although it was all in black and white, it left a very vivid impression. All my life long I wondered if I would ever get a chance to see it again, as it was never shown on french TV later on.

I recently found a copy on DVD (all in wonderful colour) through Internet. It is unfortunately only in Italian with no subtitles, although French and German versions existed back then. I never heard there was any English version of this film as it is widely unknown in the Anglo Saxon world, and it's quite a shame. If you ever get a chance to watch this, you are not going to forget it ever.

There were not many versions of the Odyssey before or after that. The one by Camerini in 1955 starring Kirk Douglas is a classic peplum like "the 10 Commandments", but not as impressive and very short for such a complex story. The one in 1997 by Konchalovsky is a meretricious Hollywood movie, based on special effects, sometimes quite gory, very poorly acted and grossly afar from Homer's story and atmosphere.
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I can only agree : I recently got a copy of the French version of The Odyssey, thanks to a Québécoise lady who had recorded it on TV. I was not disappointed to see it again. Unfortunately, as the reviewer says, only the Italian version (_http://dvd.kelkoo.it/sbs/149201/9455092.html) and a German version (_http://www.amazon.de/Die-Odyssee-DVDs-Bekim-Fehmiu/dp/B000GJ0IUW/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1197219894&sr=8-1) are on sale on the market. For people understanding Italian or German, I can only recommand it to you. For people understanding French, you can get a copy from this person : _http://annonces.rueducommerce.fr/paris/c-SERIE-L-ODYSSEE-FRANCO-ROSSI-EN-VF-X2FBpaidZ347922 (or you can contact me too, I'll be happy to send you a copy).

I've not found anyone proposing the English version on the Internet yet, but if I find that, i'll post it here. It really IS worth seeing!
PS : this site gives the distributors of the series for each country :
_http://www.eofftv.com/o/odi/odissea_1968_main.htm
 
One can see some pictures from this production here: _http://www.superstrangevideo.com/gallery.asp?prodID=3161&prodTitle=Odissea

From seeing those I seem to remember having seen (parts of) this series on Dutch TV, starting around August 1972.

From different Wiki's (languages) I gather the fact that in USA it has been broadcast by at least CBS: "...beginning with a run on the CBS Late Movie in 1972." [see among others: _http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L'Odissea].
 
Adaryn said:
I've not found anyone proposing the English version on the Internet yet, but if I find that, i'll post it here. It really IS worth seeing!
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Haven't seen any legitimate english copies (torrents only), but found subtitles which could be used for the German/French/Italian versioned DVD's
 
parallel said:
Adaryn said:
I've not found anyone proposing the English version on the Internet yet, but if I find that, i'll post it here. It really IS worth seeing!
Click to expand...

Haven't seen any legitimate english copies (torrents only), but found subtitles which could be used for the German/French/Italian versioned DVD's
Click to expand...

Currently, only the Italian and German version are on sale in DVD (with no subs, but maybe the Eng. subs available online can be adapted to the German or Italian DVDs). There's no other version (French or Eng.) available "officially", only copies recorded on TV. One can get copies of the French version from this person: _http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOIHc3yNu0o (who has the Italian official DVD, and did a great job of adapting the French audio (recorded on TV) to it).
 
I almost forgot. I saw this as a kid and it has made great impression. Maybe it is time to see it again.
 
I'm talking about Franco Rossi's (sadly ill-known) mini-series (8 episodes) version of the Odyssey, with Irène Papas and Behkim Fehmiu. It's from 1969. It was broadcasted on French TV in the 1980's and it remained in my memories as a compelling and haunting masterpiece.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much Adaryn; this is exactly the weekly TVserie (french version) I've seen in my early college years ('73/'74) while reading the book itself,and I now remember such a great impression too! :)

Got to get it again!Thanks for the links.
 
Vulcan59 said:
Assuming it's accurate, this is almost like singing - Listen to the Illiad in ancient Greek.

It's a one minute 30 seconds audio clip of a professor Steven Dates 'reading' in ancient Greek. :)
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Fascinating! Kinda gives ya the shivers imagining it being recited in ancient times.

A really good book about the bardic professionals in ancient Anatolia and Greece is "From Hittite to Homer: The Anatolian Background of Ancient Greek Epic" by Mary Bacharova.

https://www.amazon.fr/Hittite-Homer-Anatolian-Background-Ancient/dp/0521509793

https://fusiontables.google.com/DataSource?docid=1FwUE8xcuSCxYW1eD3aCIgpcAl7_czo0tc8Y2QDnx#rows:id=1
 
Vulcan59 said:
Assuming it's accurate, this is almost like singing - Listen to the Illiad in ancient Greek.

It's a one minute 30 seconds audio clip of a professor Steven Dates 'reading' in ancient Greek. :)
Click to expand...

That was something special to hear. Thanks for sharing, Vulcan. :cool2:

I did a little search to find that his name has been rendered faulty, as it should read Stephen G. Daitz. He was emeritus from City University of New York and he died two years ago (June 19, 2014).

I found a slightly larger snippet (6.22 min.) of Iliad here (with original Greek and English translation): http://www.rhapsodes.fll.vt.edu/iliad1.htm

He has a wikipage, but only in German: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_G._Daitz

This is his amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&text=Stephen+G.+Daitz&search-alias=books&field-author=Stephen+G.+Daitz&sort=relevancerank

His NY Times obituary: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?pid=171636050

According to this web page he did Iliad and Odyssey both in full:

http://library.icls.sas.ac.uk/audio-visual.htm said:
Homer. The Iliad of Homer / read in ancient Greek by Stephen G. Daitz. Part 1: Books 1-6. Part 2: Books 7-12. Part 3: Books 13-18. Part 4: Books 19-24.
24 sound cassettes with 4 facing booklets (1 for each part).
(The living voice of Greek and Latin series.)
Guildford, Conn. : J. Norton Pub., 1990

Homer. The Odyssey of Homer / read in ancient Greek by Stephen G. Daitz. Part 1: Books 1-6. Part 2: Books 7-12. Part 3: Books 13-18. Part 4: Books 19-24.
24 sound cassettes with 4 facing booklets (1 for each part)
(The living voice of Greek and Latin series.)
Guildford, Conn. : J. Norton Pub., 1995-8
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Short Bryn Mawr review here: http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/1991/02.05.07.html

To finish off I also found a short (2.30 min.) YT clip with the following:

Published 31 jan. 2014
Sappho's Hymn to Aphrodite, read by Prof. Stephen G. Daitz, 1981, including reconstruction of Ancient Greek tonal inflections. Image from Aphrodite's legendary birthplace in Paphos, Cyprus.


Remarkable man. :grad:
 
Hi

I've been reading: "The Odyssey" by Homer, Alexander Pope on Kindle (its free on Amazon). I find it a very difficult read to follow but every now and then I read something that makes me think and wonder.

One section I've read recently was:

"Say from what city, from what regions toss'd,
And what inhabitants those regions boast?
So shalt thou instant reach the realm assign'd,
In wondrous ships, self-moved, instinct with mind;
No helm secures their course, no pilot guides;
Like man intelligent, they plough the tides,
Conscious of every coast, and every bay,
That lies beneath the sun's all-seeing ray;
Though clouds and darkness veil the encumber'd sky,
Fearless through darkness and through clouds they fly;
Though tempests rage, though rolls the swelling main,"

If this was written today; it will sound "normal" to have planes on auto-pilot taking you to different destinations. Even if this was written as a metaphor, then the use of helms, pilots, wondrous ships are interesting. I know this was re-written in 17th century from the original Greek supposedly from the 10th Century BC but even this more "modern" version makes you think and wonder where this ancient knowledge comes from.

Ian
 
Hi Ian,

The forum's notification system brought your post to my attention. I have two remarks to make:

First, when citing a passage from any work it's customary to give precise details about the exact location within the work (Book number, verse number/s, etc.) in order to know the context of the citation. The context can help explain the intended meaning of difficult passages.

Secondly, just in case you don't know -- we have a very long thread (34 pages) about the Odyssey here: The Odyssey - Manual of Secret Teachings?

Reading it might give you the needed background info and some extra clues regarding what the poem is all about.
 
Thank you for the original Odessey link.

I can recall reading the thread a couple of years ago but for some reason couldnt find it when I wanted to post this.

With regards to references; I always do use reference details but in this case due to using my Kindle, the references were unique to my reading settings.
 
Parallel said:
Adaryn said:
I've not found anyone proposing the English version on the Internet yet, but if I find that, i'll post it here. It really IS worth seeing!
Click to expand...

Haven't seen any legitimate english copies (torrents only), but found subtitles which could be used for the German/French/Italian versioned DVD's
Click to expand...

Update: I've found out that L'Odissea/Homer's Odyssey miniseries by Franco Rossi is now available with English subtitles on YouTube (in 4 parts). It's an unofficial version made available thanks to the work of a passionate amateur, who embedded English subtitles in the French version.
1st part here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjN_merCA0Q&t=28s

Highly recommended!
 
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