Cairo Fest

Slaves in Their Bonds

 (Greece)

By JAY WEISSBERG

Read other reviews about this film

Powered By

An NIK-S Movies, Multichoice Hellas-Nova, ERT (Hellenic Broadcasting) Corp. production. (International sales: Greek Film Center, Athens.) Produced by Nikos Sekeris. Directed by Tonis Lykouressis. Screenplay, Ioannis Maroudas, Lykouressis, Maria Vardaka, based on the novel by Konstantinos Theotokis.
 
With: Rinio Kyriazi, Yannis Fertis, Akis Sakellariou, Dimitra Matsouka, Irini Inglessi, Christos Loulis, Konstantinos Papachronis, Yorgos Voutos, Eleni Kokkidou, Lena Papaligoura, Yorgos Tzortzis, Yorgos Spanias.
 

An aristocratic Corfu family propels itself toward rack and ruin in helmer Tonis Lykouressis' pedestrian adaptation of Konstantinos Theotokis' classic novel, "Slaves in Their Bonds." While the book's theme of uncontrollable social change at the start of the 20th century has parallels with Henry James and Edith Wharton, Lykouressis' uninspired direction turns the story into a Harlequin Historical romance populated by stock figures in over-filtered environments. Though selected as Greece's foreign-language film Oscar entry, the pic has zero chances offshore.

Unpleasant landowner Count Ofiomahos (Yannis Fertis) is up to his ears in debt and decides basically to sell his daughter Evlalia (Rinio Kyriazi) off to social climber Dr. Steriotis (Akis Sakellariou). Though in love with a worthier suitor, she reluctantly agrees to save the family's honor -- a concept her weak or wastrel siblings find difficult to get on board with. Presumably poorly translated subtitles fail to convey the book's richness, resulting in lackluster dialogue further hampered by undistinguished thesping. The performers aren't to blame, as Lykouressis fails to muster any energy in the overlong running time. Budgetary restrictions appear to have restricted shooting largely to small interiors.

Camera (color), Panayotis Salapatas; editor, Yorgos Triantafillou; music, Minos Matsas; production designer, Konstantinos Zamanis; costume designer, Bianca Nikolareizi. Reviewed at Cairo Film Festival (competing), Nov. 14, 2009. Original title: Sklavi sta desma tous. Running time: 133 MIN.