‘Ulysses’ Gaze’ – Film Soundtracks
The music that is probably most often played in our home is Greek composer Eleni Karaindrou‘s score of the film Ulysses’ Gaze. The evocative, haunting sound of her music invites you to stop, sit still and listen with your whole being. We just love the gentleness of her atmospheric music – it stands well on its own without the moving pictures.
I got to know her music through the films of Greek director Theo Angelopoulos, one of my most admired and favorite filmmakers of all times. Karaindrou wrote the film music for a whole string of his most famous films like The Beekeeper (1986), The Suspended Step of the Stork (1991), Ulysses’ Gaze (1995), Eternity and a Day (1998), The Weeping Meadow (2004) and The Dust of Time (2009).
Ulysses’ Gaze is a masterpiece, a major cinematic accomplishment. It is not an easy watch with its duration of almost three hours. Even renowned reviewers like Roger Ebert have given it a thumbs down. But I rather side with the reviewer who calls it “a mesmerising work of arresting beauty and impressive emotional power”.
Ulysses’ Gaze is the story of a Greek-American filmmaker (named A) who returns to Greece after 35 years. He is in search of three reels of undeveloped film made by cinema pioneers at the beginning of the 19th century. His quest takes him to Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania and through Belgrade ending in a devastated Serajevo of the 1990s. He encounters people and places that carry memories and make him face painful episodes of his past. His journey through the Balkans with its ethnic strife and tension becomes a personal odyssee. He has that same unstoppable drive to keep pushing to come home and clear his gaze that the original Ulysses had. Whatever happens around him and to him, he has to accomplish his mission hoping, that that might free him from the troubled and unclear shadow of the past.
If only for this, see the film for its music and Elena Karaindrou will be more than a name for you!
Rinus, Nov 2019
*image posted under fair use of copyright material
in recommendation of the film
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I have never heard of this composer…I look forward to the adventure of hearing this new music. Thanks for sharing.
I’ve downloaded a number of Eleni Karaindrou’s albums and will be living in her sonic world for this upcoming season. I love the space and emotional richness of her music. It’s also a music that straddles eastern and western sensibilities, which is especially interesting for me as a westerner living in the east.
Shared joy is a double joy!
Thanks for this Rinus. I am always looking for music that transports and often I find it in film scores.