mon 02/12/2024

Smyrna review - Greece at twilight | reviews, news & interviews

Smyrna review - Greece at twilight

Smyrna review - Greece at twilight

The appalling climax of the Greco-Turkish War inspires a misty-eyed dud

The end of times: Mimi Denissi (standing, third from left) and Rupert Graves (seated next to her) in 'Smyrna"KOVA International

The Smyrna Catastrophe of 1922, in which tens of thousands of Greeks and Armenians were slaughtered by Turkish soldiers, is a topical subject for our dark times. Unfortunately the intervening century hasn’t put an end to ethnic cleansing or to the plight of refugees.

Grigoris Karantinakis’s 2021 costume drama, originally released in Greece as Smyrna My Beloved, seems to be aware of uncomfortable historical parallels. It begins in 2015, Titanic-like, with a nonagenarian survivor rescuing something from the deep. In this case, Filio Williams (Jane Lapotaire), whose grandmother fled to Lesbos, greets Syrian asylum-seekers as they arrive on the same beach in small boats.

The surname of this character, and of the celebrated actor who plays her, will perhaps alert film buffs to an “international co-production”. For all its good intentions, Smyrna can’t help triggering memories of Europuddings of the 1970s in which a gallery of uninterested stars lent Hollywood or, in this case, Pinewood glamour (Susan Hampshire and Rupert Graves) by flying in to deliver dreadful English dialogue.

Most of the script, in Greek, was improbably written by the film’s divaesque leading lady (Mimi Denissi, pictured above), who plays Lapotaire’s grandmother. Under gathering clouds of war, this matriarch of a Greek merchant family hosts posh picnics and polyglot parties in the Byzantine jewel that was Smyrna (now Izmir) before its destruction.

What with the pince-nez and the parasols, and a subplot involving Denissi’s efforts to marry off her daughter (Anastasia Pantousi) to an English toff (Nathan Thomas), Smyrna will no doubt appeal to Merchant-Ivory fans: it’s essentially A Rum with a View with signature mannerisms of Greek television acting as a bonus. A long way from Dogtooth, in other words, but twice as absurd and only half as true. The final scenes, however, are a disgraceful indictment of Greek nationalism and nostalgia – and an insult to the memory of the victims of the Asia Minor catastrophe.

  • More film reviews on theartsdesk
'Smyrna' can’t help triggering memories of Europuddings of the 1970s

rating

Editor Rating: 
1
Average: 1 (1 vote)

Share this article

Comments

will no doubt appeal to Merchant Ivory fans”: I doubt it, unless Smyrna is infinitely better than this review claims!

Add comment

The future of Arts Journalism

 

You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!

We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d

And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

newsletter

Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday!

Simply enter your email address in the box below

View previous newsletters