Film: Eternity & A Day
Director: Theo Angelopoulos
Country: Greece
Released: May 1998
Runtime: 137 minutes
Genre: Drama
Studio: Guerilla Films
Influenced: Terrence Malick, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Lav Diaz, Aki Kaurismäki, Nadine Labaki
The seventh feature film by renowned Greek director Theo Angelopoulos, Eternity & A Day was inspired by a poem written by the Nobel Prize-winning Greek poet Odysseas Elytis. The screenplay, co-written by Angelopoulos, Tonino Guerra and Petros Markaris, was developed over several years. It's a complex narrative that combines past and present, reality and dream, as it weaves together a tapestry of poetic and philosophical musings. The film revolves around the character of Alexandre (Bruno Ganz), a famous Greek poet who is diagnosed with a terminal illness. As he comes to terms with his impending death, he reflects on his life and embarks on a journey through the streets of Thessaloniki, Greece. During this journey, he encounters various characters and experiences, including a young Albanian refugee boy named "The Poet" and a lost young girl.
One of the things I love about the film is its dreamy, unique sound editing and the use of music (including the occasional abrupt endings). The sounds of the sea, the wind and the city immerse the audience in the film's locations, while the soundtrack, composed by Eleni Karaindrou, is evocative and haunting. It complements the film's themes and moods, and many of the key moments involving Alexandre looking out to sea. I've never watched a film that made the Mediterranean Sea look so inviting. Eternity & A Day features dialogues in multiple languages, including Greek and Albanian, while Ganz delivered his lines in German and was later dubbed into Greek. Many of his musings are melancholy reflections on the passing of time, like when he says his biggest regret is to have not finished anything – he says he “left drafts everywhere” – and when he reads out his wife’s letter, we hear him talk about wanting to pin a moment from their early days as a family up on the wall, as if it were a butterfly.
The film's slow pacing and its use of silence are also integral to its storytelling. Extended moments of quietness and minimalistic sound design allow the audience to contemplate the images and themes on screen. Angelopoulos' trademark style includes slow tracking shots and intricate, meticulously composed frames, and a strong emphasis on visual storytelling and long, contemplative takes. This approach creates a sense of timelessness and reflection, and the film is rich in symbolism and metaphor, exploring the nature of memory, the passage of time and the human condition. From his conversations with his doctor, we discover that Alexandre's cancer is spreading fast, but amid this sadness life continues to bound on, notably in the evocative wedding scene, with its large crowd and raucous music.
Eternity & A Day was the first Greek film to win the prestigious Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1998. It also represented Greece as the official submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. The film's visual beauty, philosophical depth and powerful performances, particularly by the legendary Bruno Ganz, have since made it a classic of world cinema. Its influence can be felt on films like Malick's The Tree of Life (2011), which has a similar dreamy atmosphere and emphasis on eternal themes such as memory, time and the human condition. Eternity & A Day is also very contemporary in the way that it touches on the refugee crisis and the plight of Albanian immigrants in Greece, addressing social and political issues while maintaining its poetic narrative. The encounters between Alexandre and the young Albanian boy are pivotal to the film, as they symbolise the passing of knowledge, the struggle of refugees and the powerful bonds between generations. How long will tomorrow last? Eternity and a day.
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