From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Stella (1955 film)

1955 Greek film

Field	Value
name	Stella
image	Stella film.jpg
caption	DVD cover
director	Michael Cacoyannis
writer	Iakovos Kambanelis
Michael Cacoyannis
starring	Melina Mercouri
Giorgos Fountas
Alekos Alexandrakis
music	Manos Hadjidakis
distributor	Joseph Burstyn Inc. (United States)
released
runtime	100 minutes
country	Greece
language	Greek

Michael Cacoyannis Giorgos Fountas Alekos Alexandrakis Stella () is a 1955 Greek film retelling Carmen, featuring Melina Mercouri. The film was directed by the Greek Cypriot Michael Cacoyannis and written by Cacoyannis and Iakovos Kambanelis. The music was composed by Manos Hadjidakis and Vassilis Tsitsanis.

Stella was originally intended as a stage play with the title Stella with the Red Gloves, but it was never staged. It has been claimed that this story was the perfect vehicle for the thirty-five-year-old Mercouri's film debut. Indeed, it was the hit that Melina Mercouri needed. The film sparked great controversy, and although it was initially rejected by Greek critics, it has since been considered one of the five greatest Greek films.

At the 1955 Cannes Film Festival, where the film was screened, Melina met Jules Dassin, her future husband, mentor, and director. He helped her to secure major roles in such films as Topkapi, Never on Sunday, Phaedra, and 10:30 P.M. Summer, which became major international successes.

Plot

The story of a fiercely independent and uncompromising young woman. Stella, a rembetiko singer at Paradise nightclub, lives a guiltless, turbulent life. Her innate independence and assertive nature lead her to numerous passionate love affairs. While with Aleko, son of a wealthy family, she decides, as is her habit, to break up before the relationship wears off. Once she meets Miltos, a young soccer player, she seems to change. At first, she avoids his advances, but, later, gives in to him. However, she can only be with him on her own terms. No matter how much she loves him, she mostly values her freedom. Things turn complicated when she is called to choose. She repeatedly rejects Miltos' marriage proposals. When Miltos finally forces her to accept the idea of marriage, Stella does not appear in church, despite Miltos repeatedly warning her that he will kill her if she doesn't marry him. (The wedding day shares a date with the day that Greece rejects Mussolini's demands to let his fascist forces enter Greece.) Miltos kills her with a dagger at the end of the film and awaits his arrest by the police.

Cast

Melina Mercouri as Stella
Giorgos Fountas as Miltos
Alekos Alexandrakis as Alekos
Christina Kalogerikou as Miltos' Mother
Voula Zouboulaki as Anetta
Dionysis Papagiannopoulos as Mitsos
Sofia Vembo as Maria
Costas Kakavas as Antonis (as Kostas Karalis)
Tasso Kavadia as Alekos' Sister
Michael Cacoyannis as Wedding guest

References

"Festival de Cannes: Stella". festival-cannes.com.
(2005). "From Stella to Iphigenia: The Woman-Centered Films of Micheal Cacoyannis". Cinéaste.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1955-films 1950s-greek-language-films 1955-drama-films 1950s-feminist-films films-directed-by-michael-cacoyannis films-set-in-greece films-shot-in-athens films-scored-by-manos-hatzidakis greek-drama-films 1950s-greek-films greek-black-and-white-films

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Stella (1955 film) — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report