Film
The Weeping Meadow
Τριλογία: Το λιβάδι που δακρύζει
1919: Greek refugees from Odessa found a village on a floodplain near Thessaloniki. Among them is Eleni, an orphan raised by the family whose son she loves. The film follows them from that settlement through three decades of Greek history, none of it kind.
About
Theo Angelopoulos conceived a trilogy on the Greek twentieth century and completed two parts of it before his death in a road accident in 2012. The Weeping Meadow is the first, premiered in competition at the Berlinale in 2004, and it is the fullest expression of the style he spent forty years refining: enormously long takes, a camera that moves like weather, and history staged as landscape.
Alexandra Aidini plays Eleni, orphaned in the flight from Odessa in 1919 and raised by the family whose son Alexis she will marry against her guardian's wishes. From the flooded village of the opening — houses on stilts, a funeral conducted by rowing boat — the film moves through the interwar years, the dictatorship, occupation and civil war, always at the same measured pace, always finding the image before the incident.
Yorgos Arvanitis and Andreas Sinanos shot it; Eleni Karaindrou wrote the score, as she did for everything Angelopoulos made after 1982. Reviews split between those who found it monumental and those who found it airless — Bradshaw thought the characters were chess pieces — but the film's standing has risen steadily since, and at 4.22 on Letterboxd it is the highest-rated Angelopoulos on the site. Slow, and worth the surrender.
Where to Watch
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Streaming availability via JustWatch. Last checked 2026-08-30.
Top Cast
Alexandra Aidini
Eleni
Nikos Poursanidis
Alexis
Giorgos Armenis
Nikos
Vasilis Kolovos
Spyros
Eva Kotamanidou
Kassandra
Awards, Festivals & Mentions
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Winner — FIPRESCI Prize — European Film Awards (2004)
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Nominee — Golden Bear — Berlin International Film Festival (2004)
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Nominee — European Film Award Best Director (Theo Angelopoulos, 2004)
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Berlin International Film Festival 2004 — In Competition
