The Beekeeper

The 60-year-old man marries off his daughter and leaves a broken marriage; he drinks with old friends and bathes in regret. When he meets a young hitchhiking woman, she makes him feel alive again. Obsession develops, culminating in bad lovemaking and metaphors with bees. Does this sound rather arthousey and purple? Well, there's fog coming out of the landscape, and master shots with crowds, and Greek architecture crumbling and falling down. And wouldn't all men like to be saved before they die?

8-

(Viewed on 7/09/10):The Beekeeper stands out in Angelopoulos' filmography for one simple reason: it deals with the problem of desire/sex, especially as an escape from an alienated, humdrum existence. Mastroianni is affecting as Spiros, a man who lives a life of quiet desperation, a relic of a bygone era rendered obsolete in modern Greece that cares not for history. His fling with a young woman reaches a powerful crescendo in an abandoned theatre, culminating in violent symbolic struggle.

Another captivating and beautifully poetic film from the masterful Angelopoulos, and I don't know about you, but I found this to be very funny. Mastroianni's terrifically muted performance can be seen as either a depressingly passive existence based on only animalistic urges or as an example of great deadpan humour.

This wasn't my film. The long slow shots are too boring. It was my first and probably last venture into Greek film . Obviously an acquired taste.