El Greco (2007) Reviews

• It is WORTH the cinema!!

  xerogo2007-11-28

  First of all, I don't think it is at all a DVD movie but an enjoyable film to watch at the cinema. The aesthetic of the film captures the audience's attention throughout the film. I personally think that the photography is excellent in the film as well as the direction. It tends to be a bit slow and without a lot of action but the audience understands that the film is not about action as it is an artistic and cultural film that tries (successfully) to bring out the souls of the characters to touch the audience. I agree that Dimitra Matsouka's performance was not strong enough but the performance's of Nick Ashdon, Laia Marull and especially Juan Diego Botto are well appreciated. The scenery and costumes are an accurate capture of the time period and beautiful to watch on screen. The plot is original as there are certain twists that one would not expect (for example El Greco's relationship with women)and the music is exceptional. The film is generally a great attempt on showing the potential quality of the Greek film industry throughout Europe. I think that there must be a good reason for 'El Greco' already winning 8 awards including best director in the Thessaloniki film festival!!

• Greek/Spanish co-production about the prestigious painter of the Spanish Renaissance , Doménikos Theotokópoulos , including a magic score by Vangelis

  ma-cortes2016-10-10

  An interesting story about the notorious painter , architect , sculptor and architect Domenicos Theotokopoulos, known to the world as "El Greco". El Greco was born in Crete , which was at that time part of the Republic of Venice, and the center of Post-Byzantine art . He trained and became a master within that tradition before traveling at age 26 to Venice, as other Greek artists had done. His works painted in Italy were influenced by the Venetian Renaissance style of the period, with agile, elongated figures reminiscent of Tintoretto and a chromatic framework that connects him to Titian . In 1570 he moved to Rome, where he opened a workshop and executed a series of works. During his stay in Italy, El Greco enriched his style with elements of Mannerism and of the Venetian Renaissance. In 1577, he moved to Toledo, Spain, where he lived and worked until his death. In Toledo, El Greco received several major commissions and produced his best-known paintings. El Greco's dramatic and expressionistic style was met with puzzlement by his contemporaries but found appreciation in the 20th century . El Greco is regarded as a precursor of both Expressionism and Cubism, while his personality and works were a source of inspiration for poets and writers . This is a costumer partially based on facts but predominates the slow-moving melodrama . Historic film about an uncompromising artist , El Greco/Nick Clark and his relationship to lovers and powerful people from Renaissance . The picture relies heavily on the loving relationships between El Greco and his women as Francesa/Dimitra Matsouka and Jerónima De Las Cuevas/Laia Marull as well as the patronage and subsequent confrontation to Niño De Guevara , the General Inquisitor/Juan Diego Botto , that was painted on a famous painting. This is a moving biography of the prestigious painter and fighter for freedom , including some fictitious elements . Glamorously as well as sumptuously photographed by Stavrou , and being lavishly produced by Greece and Spain . The motion picture was professionally directed Yannis Smaragdis and filmed with a pervasive melancholy that does for slow drama . The picture based on actual events , these are the followings : In 1577, El Greco migrated to Madrid, then to Toledo, where he produced his mature Works . At the time, Toledo was the religious capital of Spain and a populous city . In Rome, El Greco had earned the respect of some intellectuals, but was also facing the hostility of certain art critics . During the 1570s the huge monastery-palace of El Escorial was still under construction and Philip II of Spain was experiencing difficulties in finding good artists for the many large paintings required to decorate it. El Greco met Benito Arias Montano, a Spanish humanist and agent of Philip; Pedro Chacón, a clergyman; and Luis de Castilla, son of Diego de Castilla, the dean of the Cathedral of Toledo. El Greco's friendship with Castilla would secure his first large commissions in Toledo. He arrived in Toledo by July 1577, and signed contracts for a group of paintings that was to adorn the church of Santo Domingo el Antiguo in Toledo and for the renowned El Espolio. By September 1579 he had completed nine paintings for Santo Domingo, including The Trinity and The Assumption of the Virgin. These works would establish the painter's reputation in Toledo. El Greco did not plan to settle permanently in Toledo, since his final aim was to win the favor of Philip and make his mark in his court. Indeed, he did manage to secure two important commissions from the monarch: Allegory of the Holy League and Martyrdom of St. Maurice. However, the king did not like these works and placed the St Maurice altarpiece in the chapter-house rather than the intended chapel. He gave no further commissions to El Greco. The exact reasons for the king's dissatisfaction remain unclear. Some scholars have suggested that Philip did not like the inclusion of living persons in a religious scene; some others that El Greco's works violated a basic rule of the Counter-Reformation, namely that in the image the content was paramount rather than the style. Philip took a close interest in his artistic commissions, and had very decided tastes; a long sought-after sculpted Crucifixion by Benvenuto Cellini also failed to please when it arrived, and was likewise exiled to a less prominent place. In any case, Philip's dissatisfaction ended any hopes of royal patronage El Greco may have had . Lacking the favor of the king, El Greco was obliged to remain in Toledo, where he had been received in 1577 as a great painter. While "Crete gave him life and the painter's craft, Toledo a better homeland, where through Death he began to achieve eternal life" . On 12 March 1586 he obtained the commission for The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, now his best-known work. During these years he received several major commissions, and his workshop created pictorial and sculptural ensembles for a variety of religious institutions, as the commission of The Virgin of the Immaculate Conception and for the Hospital of Saint John the Baptist , creating notorious paintings as The Disrobing of Christ , The Assumption of the Virgin , THe Holy Trinity , The Virgin of the Immaculate Conception .. In his mature works El Greco demonstrated a characteristic tendency to dramatize rather than to describe and the strong spiritual emotion transfers from painting directly to the audience . El Greco's preference for exceptionally tall and slender figures and elongated compositions, which served both his expressive purposes and aesthetic principles, led him to disregard the laws of nature and elongate his compositions to ever greater extents, particularly when they were destined for altarpieces .

• Music & Cinematography excellent

  sallyheard2007-11-02

  I found the film annoying and typically absent of a dialogue worthy of an adult mind. El Greco's paintings have been a source of intellectual debate both on political and artistic merit for all who have been inspired by them. This film strips the artist of any personality worthy of interest let alone 'greatness'. As a film I found it a flamboyant show of theatrical characterisations intent on visually seducing the audience, instead of intellectually rousing them. It has been a long time since I burst out laughing at a scene intended to make me weep, and for this I feel strangely ashamed. Contradictions run rife throughout the film ending with a grand finale close to comical. I hasten to add that the leading actors did the best they could and there were two memorable scenes for me - but I came away feeling that a particular style of theatre had been taken to the screen - with a script gasping for help!

• Big budgets don't make great movies always.

  kewos2009-01-12

  I wanted to see this movie. The one with the highest budget in all Greek history. Well.. I still don't know where all that money was spent. It lacks of almost everything. No good dialogues, good actors wasted due to a, being good, a very poor script. It's a voice in off who tells you most part of the story... why do you want actors then I asked. Probably the customs, colours and music is the only thing you can remember after watching it but not enough. I wanted to stop the movie several times cause is so superficial. You don't get involved at all with any of the characters, not with the story. Actually you don't care about El Greco after 20 min watching it. I could feel the same frustration when I saw "El Capitán Alatriste". The Spanish movie with the highest budget ever in this country. Very, very disappointing. El Greco is, with all my respects, The Greek-Crap.

• Could be better

  giaourti2009-04-26

  Honestly i was expecting something much better. El Greco is one of the most important painters of Renaissance so, a film about his life should stress that importance. Instead ,we see a poorly written ,poorly acted film whose main focus is the costumes and the scenery. Almost all the actors have a terrible accent, which is understandable for their characters as they are Greeks/Spaniards/Italians etc. But then we have an El Greco, a Greek person mind you, who has a perfect British accent! Casting was poorly done and i'd rather see a Greek actor play El Greco. All in all, the film is watchable, but with all the money put into it, you'd expect something much, much better.