Eternity and a Day (1998)

95% of critics liked it
(21 reviews)
90% of users liked it
(3,529 ratings)

Theo Angelopoulos (Reconstruction) directed this 1998 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or winner about a famed author nearing the end of his life. Alexander (Bruno Ganz) lives in his old seaside family home near Thessaloniki, but his daughter and son-in-law plan to sell the house, slightly damaged by an… More Theo Angelopoulos (Reconstruction) directed this 1998 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or winner about a famed author nearing the end of his life. Alexander (Bruno Ganz) lives in his old seaside family home near Thessaloniki, but his daughter and son-in-law plan to sell the house, slightly damaged by an earthquake. Seriously ill, Alexander thinks if he checks himself into the hospital, he'll never check out. Awash in nostalgia, he recalls his late wife, Anna (Isabelle Renauld), seen in flashback, and he lets his daughter read a letter her mother had written to him right after her birth. Alexander's current project involves completing the last unfinished work of a 19th-century poet, but he puts that aside in order to spend time finding a home for his dog. Since his son-in-law won't take the dog, Alexander gives it to his servant. After rescuing an Albanian boy (Achileas Skevis) from a gang that sells children to wealthy Greeks who can't adopt legally, Alexander intends to return the youth to his grandmother in Albania. However, the child lied, and Alexander is unaware the boy has no grandmother. The old man and the boy set forth on a journey, and the other bus passengers include several musicians and the 19th-century poet (Fabrizio Bentivoglio). Bruno Ganz was dubbed into Greek for this Greek-French-Italian co-production. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 2 hr. 14 min.
Directed By: Theodoros Angelopoulos
Written By: Theodoros Angelopoulos, Tonino Guerra, Petros Markaris
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: May 28, 1999 Limited
On DVD: Aug 15, 2006
Studio: Westdeutscher Rundfunk

Critic Reviews

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
I was moved and captivated throughout its 132 minutes.
Stanley Kauffmann, New Republic
What had been a realistic work, lyric but realistic, slides into ostentatious symbolism.
Janet Maslin, New York Times
Angelopoulos' meditation on the meaning of one man's life is genuinely hypnotic in its way of transcending ordinary narrative.
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
Angelopoulos has created another masterpiece, one that recalls such classics as Bergman's Wild Strawberries and Kurosawa's Ikiru.
Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle
A gorgeous elegy of a film.
James Berardinelli, ReelViews
This is not a masterpiece, but it contains moments of rare beauty and its contemplation of life, death, regret, and memory has a subtle power.
Sandra Contreras, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Thought poets were a dying species, did you?
Geoff Andrew, Time Out
Its long, fluid takes escort us through space and time, to universal themes and broader topicalities, effortlessly fending off charges of hermetic aestheticism.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
Precisely controlled and confidently poetic.
Stuart Klawans, Nation
Why put up with so much that seems insufferable? Because at the end of Eternity and a Day, Angelopoulos somehow translates a character from the world of dreams to the world of reality instantaneously, before your eyes.
David Sterritt, Film Scouts
It has a great deal of somber beauty to recommend it.
John Mount, Sight and Sound
The quiet, hypnotic intensity of the cinematic journey one experiences in Eternity and a Day is a rare and lasting pleasure.
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
Invites and encourages us to reap the blessings of true connection with others.
Peter Henne, Film Journal International
For at least half of its length, it is quietly revelatory, luminous and invigorating, and for those reasons it makes essential viewing.
Harvey S. Karten, Compuserve
A deeply felt character study.
Wesley Morris, San Francisco Examiner
Makes a somber redemption song out of melancholy and infinite sadness, one whose eloquence transcends its stark Andrei Tarkovskyian dankness and somnambulism.
Russell Smith, Austin Chronicle
Consider giving this worthy anachronism a couple of hours of your time. If you can tune into its somber, hypnotic wavelength, you may be surprised at the raw emotional impact it delivers in key scenes, and at its ability to provoke your imagination.

Read all 17 critic reviews

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Cast

Bruno Ganz
as Alexander
Isabelle Renauld
as Anna
Achileas Skevis
as The Child

Despina Bebedeli
as Mother
Iris Chatziantoniou
as Daughter
Eleni Gerasimidou
as Urania

See full cast

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