Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #92595 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-07-05
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: Greek
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 101 minutes

From the Back Cover
A talented but unsuccessful writer (Dimitri Horn) visits the sun-drenched island of Hydra for a short holiday and takes up residence in the large, neglected house of an impoverished widow. On the day of his arrival, the woman and her family are publicly disgraced when she is caught in the arms of a lover. The bitter persecution that follows arouses the sympathy and concern of the young writer who falls in love with the widow's timid daughter Marina (Ellie Lambetti). But bitter feuds and rivalries stand in the way of their happiness together, and the couple finds themselves the targets of local hostility. Shot in eight weeks on a limited budget and using only one camera, A Girl In Black brought international attention t the Greek film industry, directory Michael Cacoyannis and its star Ellie Lambetti.

Customer Reviews

Absolutly magical and emotional
The Girl in Black "reveals Elli Lambetti as an actress of truly tragic stature." The story of a young Athenian writer on holiday who falls in love with a girl of impoverished gentility and is unable to respond to her. A disaster provoked by spiteful peasants shocks him into a new awareness of his own involvement in life. The film has a simplicity and a vibrancy that make it stand out from even the best of foreign films.

A Masterpiece...
This low-budget little film received international acclaim due to it's excellent acting and haunting & simple photography. The film is set on the island of Hydra and tells a tragic love story.
There's never been anyone like Ellie Lambeti since, this is a true Gem.

michael cacoyannis: A girl in Black
In this film two Athenians, an architect and a novelist, on holiday in a Greek island, are confronted with an archaic society merciless in the double standards it applies to men and women it sees as sexual offenders, in this case a love-starved widow and her bragging seducer. The novelist's wooing of the widow's daughter (the Girl in Black) stirs up trouble with the girl's rejected suitor, and their rivalry leads to a situation of almost unbearable suspense and a tragedy that neither could have foreseen. The harsh world of the island, beautifuly and appropriately filmed in stark black and white under the relentless glare of the Mediterranean sun, forms the backdrop to a tale of extreme cruelty mitigated only by the empathy that is one of Cacoyannis's most appealing characteristics. His direction is largely responsible for the success this magnificent film enjoyed in its day, as is the photography of Walter Lassally, who performed prodigies of skill with the one camera that was apparently allotted to him for this low-cost film made entirely on location. The director is well served by a trio of sensitive actors, Dimitri Horn, George Foundas and, last but not least, the poignantly beautiful Ellie Lambetti, who plays the title role.

Despite the archaism of the society it depicts, "A Girl in Black" has lost none of its interest today and it is hard to explain why this masterpiece is not better known.