Catherine Deneuve and Sebastian Koch
Reviewed by James Karas
**** (out of
five)
God Loves Caviar is
the catchy title of Iannis Smaragdis’ film which premiered at the Toronto International
Film Festival on September 13, 2012. It is a biopic, a costume drama and an
adventure story that has a deep philosophical and perhaps religious substratum.
It presents the physical and spiritual journey of Ioannis Varvakis, an almost
unknown Greek historical figure, who lived from
the mid-eighteenth century until 1825.
Smaragdis, in addition to directing the film, is credited as one of the
four script writers and with the idea of the story. In other words, the film is
a reflection of Smaragdis’ ideas and ideals; it is a film by a philosopher
director.
The outward story of Varvakis’s life provides ample material for a film
full of adventures, love stories and displays of marvelous scenic tableaux and costumes.
Varvakis was an illiterate sailor who became a pirate in the Aegean
robbing and destroying Turkish ships. He was captured by the Turks and escaped
to the Russia of Catherine the Great where elegant manners, bewigged gentlemen
and bejeweled and begowned ladies abounded. The rough-hewn, penniless sailor found
a method of extending the shelf life of caviar and became extremely wealthy.
In his search for love, Varvakis married a woman (played by Olga
Sutulova) who not only did not love him but also betrayed him with his teacher
Kimon (played by Akis Sakellariou). (This treachery and infidelity will serve
as an example of Varvakis’s spiritual growth and magnanimity when he eventually
forgave both of them.)
Not having found love or any other fulfillment, our hero chucked everything
in Russia and returned to Greece in search of freedom. The type of freedom that
wealth cannot provide. At that time, Greece was in the throes of war against
the Turks and more seriously in the midst of a civil war. Varvakis tried to
help but he was considered dangerous for reasons that are not entirely clear and
shipped off to prison on the island of Zakynthos.
I give this summary of the “adventure” plot to indicate that although it
is a part of the film, it is not the main thrust of the movie. Smaragdis is
more interested in Varvakis’s spiritual journey. Varvakis is in search of
something much higher and deeper than the physical world around him provides. Inversely,
he is perhaps driven by a higher force outside the physical world that he
inhabits and to some extent controls.
At the outset of the film, Varvakis abandons his first wife and infant daughter
Maria to go seek his fortune or perhaps himself. After escaping death in the
hands of the Turks, he walks from Constantinople to St. Petersburg during the
winter with nothing but the clothes on his back. We have started moving away
from the strictly physical travel to the spiritual journey.
The events in Russia (second marriage, commercial success, reunion with
his daughter (played by Marisha Triantafyllidou) and death of his son by his
second wife) leave him unfulfilled and propel him towards further travel and
search. The journey leads him back home to his roots in Greece.
Greece and the movement towards Greek independence and always lurk in
the background. Varvakis keeps encountering a mysterious friend, Lefentarios,
whose loyalties seem to be shifting. We know that he represents the emerging
Greek nation in its struggle for liberation.
Varvakis encounters the even more mysterious Fisherman of God (Lakis
Lazopoulos) and his spiritual transformation continues. He is immersed under
water and his baptism and spiritual growth appears to be complete. Varvakis emerges
from this as an old, Christ-like figure who is about to go through his own
Passion.
On his return to Greece, as indicated, he ends up a prisoner of the
British on Zakynthos where he dies with nothing but the company of his servant
Ivan (John the Baptist, John the Evangelist?). He leaves his fortune to Greece
but the old adage about that country seems to be fulfilled: Greece eats its
children.
Smaragdis frames his film as a story told by Ivan to a few children on
the British-held island of Zakynthos. Varvakis has just been delivered there in
old age purportedly to a sanatorium but in reality to prison. Ivan acts as a
narrator throughout the film and in the end he takes Varvakis out on a rowboat
to die.
Smaragdis has assembled an international cast and as is almost
inevitable not all of them are ideal for the roles. The German Sebastian Koch
plays Varvakis. He has an expressive face and eyes that reveal his emotional
turmoil. His accented English is neither Greek nor German and makes him
Everyman. A stellar performance.
His assistant Ivan played by Russian Evgeny Stychkin is well done but I
had a small problem with his telling of the story to the children. The children
do not speak English and Ivan speaks a few words in Greek to them and then
translates himself and continues in English. It is a minor but avoidable
annoyance.
The Argentine-Spanish Juan Diego Botto plays Lefentarios, a mysterious
Greek who seems to be working for other countries but we know instinctively
that he is a patriot fighting for the liberation of Greece. The dapper Botto is
excellent in the role.
Catherine Deneuve brings star power and elegance to the role of
Catherine the Great. The German princess who became Empress of Russia speaks
with a French accent.
John Cleese as McCormick sits behind his desk listening to the story of
Varvakis and makes wry remarks. He is good but one wishes greater use could
have been made of him.
The cinematography of Aris Stavrou and the Production Design of Nikos
Petropoulos are quite stunning. From broad shots of the Aegean, to the court
and bordellos of St. Petersburg to the battle scenes on the Acropolis, the film
is a delight on the eyes.
Minos Matsas’ music is gorgeous and fitting.
The marriage of philosophy and adventure is not always easy to maintain.
Throw in politics, love and infidelity and you have a rich mixture of
ingredients fighting for prominence.
Smaragdis is largely successful in keeping all the elements afloat and
reasonably balanced in a film that is worth seeing and pondering.
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