Search - Young Aphrodites on DVD

An enigmatic, disturbing film

bookloversfriend | United States | 06/17/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This film is a mixture of realism and myth. There are hints of Daphnis and Chloe, but this is not their story at all.

A naive and good young boy (played by a blonde boy of about eleven) travels with a group of sheepherders. At one of their stops, he wanders off and finds a mysterious young girl of about 13 or 14. He falls in love with her, but she plays hard to get and sets tasks for him to do in order to win her. At one point, she teases him wearing a loose garment off one shoulder. There are several shots in which her young breasts are visible, but the twilight is dim. At the end (spoiler coming), an older boy of his group sees the girl, throws her to the ground and rapes her. She screams and resists at first, then throws herself into it. The boy is totally disallusioned, and we see him walking off into the sea dragging the albatross that has been a bond between him and the girl throughout the movie.

That's really it. You make of it what you will, but few people will be able to watch this movie and not have strong mixed feelings of one kind or another.
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Engaging !

John Costanza | PHX, AZ | 05/14/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Overall, a very well made movie. But the most fascinating aspect of this film--- which I believe indeviduals who give this film a bad review forget--- is that the film is based on an ancient Greek myth, and interpreted by modern Greeks. That is why I have given this film 5 stars; because from the music to the actors, the whole production is authentically Greek. And after all, that is the point of viewing foreign films! The erotic aspect... well, any boy who has gone through puberty should be able to understand the almost hapless.. I mean helpless state of the boy in the film. Truly the story of us all."

Retsina Makes her clothes fall off

John M. Bishop | 12/21/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The appeal of this film is 12-year-old Kleopatra Rota's inability to keep her body covered with the wisp of a garment provided by the costume department. However the film as a whole has a haunting beauty and the feeling of a bleak fairy tale. it begs to be read allegorically. You have men in the wilderness with their animals, women behind the wall of a village. A mature woman longs for the freedom, sexual and otherwise, the shepherds enjoy and struggles with her desire personified by a mature shepherd. A young girl struggles with her emerging sexuality in an innocent game with a boy just feeling his hormones, and is raped and surrenders to a somewhat older boy so besotted with hormones he can't speak. Taken together, the five characters represents, stages, motivations, and possibilities of the never ending dance between men and women. But this is all done visually, with a subtle story arc, so that you feel the motivations without having them articulated. The characters are fantastic, the music great, everything a bit exotic. Way better than all the david hamilton films put together."

"Desperation which is described in beautiful blue waters of

Galina | Virginia, USA | 04/13/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The film The Young Aphrodites is loosely based on Daphnis and Chloe , one of the best known early Greek romances, precursors to the modern novel. It has been reinterpreted in music and art by Ravel and Chagall and in cinema by Nikos Koundouros in 1963.

Written by Longus in the second century A.D, Daphnis and Chloe is a classical romance involving the adventures of two foundling children raised by adopted parents who are humble shepherds in the idyllic setting of the Isle of Lesbos. It is a famous love story that captures the awakening of a first love between two teenagers who don't know what is happening to them. The novel that was written almost two thousand years ago is surprisingly modern; it is erotic, tender, romantic, sensual, and simply beautiful.

The ancient but forever young tale of the sexual awakening as adapted and retold by Nikos Koundouros in Young Aphrodites, takes place on a poetic island that might have came from ancient times. The film it full of symbolism, innocence, and darkness of desire and longing. Young Aphrodites, may and will disturb some or perhaps many viewers who are uncomfortable with the subject of youth sexuality, especially by the very young age of two actors, and by (even if artfully done) nudity of a young actress playing Chloe, Comparing to the novel of Dafnis and Chloe, the film is much darker and its ending can be viewed as dramatic even heartbreaking loss of innocence and first overwhelming love. The film creator, the Greek Director Nikos Koundouros refers to it as a film of desperation - "Desperation which is described in beautiful blue waters of Aegean Sea, with two young kids exploring their bodies. Desperation because we had discredited, abolished, and immobilized ourselves, we who had fought, who had raised our voices, who had demonstrated for a new world. There was nothing for us to do. In my desperation, I decided to work on nothingness. This is a film about ideological nothingness." The reason for making this movie might have been nothingness and desperation but the result nevertheless is sensual, young, and at the same time joyous and sad.

Very sadly, the film is almost unknown to the modern audiences. There is no discussions, thoughts, and very few comments on it on on the major film forums. I found it an amazing, beautiful, and one of the most erotic movies ever made. It is a delightful gem which has stayed with me since I had pleasure to watch it.

4.5/5
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