Title: Thanos and Despina
Authors: Papatakis, Nico,; Boffety, Jean, 1925-1988,; Guillouet, Christian,; Barbaud, Pierre; Grove Press.; Grove Press Film Collection (Harvard Film Archive)
Year: 1968
Subjects: Poor families Greece Drama.; Man-woman relationships; Patriarchy.; Self-preservation Drama.; Youth Greece.; Families.; Villages; Social change Greece.; Sex; Murder; Male domination (Social structure); Greece Social life and customs
Abstract: This modern Greek tragedy was filmed in Greece just prior to the coup d'etat of 1967. Due to its critical perspective on traditional Greek culture, Nico Papatakis' film was quickly banned by the new military junta. The story centers on a young woman's attempts to escape an arranged marriage in order to join the man she really loves. The two lovers steal the items they need for their escape and head for the mountains. There they are found by the girl's angry father and her fiancé. The young woman's lover and her fiancé struggle and the fiancé is killed. "I wanted to show in Thanos and Despina, that a man who is dying of hunger and fear can become bestial, fawning and self debasing. I have tried to describe the world of the humiliated with insight, but without sentimental humanitarianism." Nico Papatakis.