The review for movie Sappho
I’d probably express the common view if I suggest that everybody wants to be free. Yet, “freedom” means different things to different people. I would say that this movie is about a difficult way of finding out what are your internal boundaries of freedom; how far can one go until he or she feels that it’s too far.
The movie is set in 1926 on the Greek island of Lesbos. The central character is Sappho, a young American lady, a namesake of a famous ancient Greek poetess, who glorified this island some 2500 years ago. Sappho egocentric, selfish, brush, sassy, capricious and moody gal. She just got married and arrived at Lesbos for their honeymoon with her husband Phil — a post-impressionistic artist. Her husband is her first man, as in the very beginning of the movie we witness her defloration. As we will see further, sexual relations and fining your own sexuality will become a key issue in the movie.
Sappho is completely sybaritic — has no hobby or any kind of business that occupies her mind. Surrounded on the island by a conservative Greek Orthodox people, Sappho cares little about their opinion or, for that matter, about any other opinion, including her husband’s. She’s in a quest for self-discovery and, in this quest, she’s acting boisterously and, in the frame of reference of 1926, appears as though she trumps morality.
She meets a young woman by the name Helen. Unlike Sappho, who is the daughter of an American stock market tycoon and therefore is money spoiled, Helen is the Russian immigrant, the daughter of an archeologist, who excavates a historical site on the island. For Sappho this island is a breath of fresh air as she’s far from New York and people whose opinion she might have mattered. (Like her father for example)To the contrary, Helen, this island is a prison. Because of the revolution in Russia she’s stuck here without much perspective and feels lonely and board.
On the side note, an actress who plays Helen is indeed Russian. Unlike many American movies, that depicts Russians as a grotesque caricature, Helen looks very much like an actual Russian gal, has a slight but a distinguishable accent, she’s cultured, sophisticated and is free from social dogmas.
Helen familiarizes Sappho with the history of the island and the poetry of her ancient Greek namesake. She even seduces her into a lesbian encounter. Sappho does not intend to hide her affair from her husband and, as Helen finds Phil attractive, offers him a threesome. That offer makes Phil feel uneasy. Being a “wholesome” heterosexual male, he, on one hand, can’t resist the opportunity of havingtwo women concurrently, but opposes the idea of them loving each other as well.
At this point in the story, the soul of ancient poetess as if transcends into Sappho’s body. Her behavior starts being more and more erratic and brush. Without giving out too much of the movie plotline, I only want to mention that at the climax of the movie the choices that each of the characters made exposes their moral stand vividly. Inadvertently, a viewer starts commiserate with the overall situation, putting him or herself in the shoes of the characters and ponder over how he or she would behave in Sappho’s, Phil’s or Helen’s shoes. At least, it inadvertently down on me. 😊
Sappho’s character, therefore, can draw polarized interpretations. Some people could view her a real bitch and a whore, while others see her as an ultimate and uncompromising free spirit, manifested through boundless physical love and denying life without it.
Watch the movie on Youtube here:
