THE WEEPING MEADOW

ELENI KARAINDROU

Rating:

Original Review by Peter Simons: Sometimes you would almost forget that films are not only produced in Hollywood. The Weeping Meadow, for example, is the latest film from Greek director Theo Angelopoulos. It is the first in an intended trilogy and tells a bitterly dramatic story of Eleni, a Greek immigrant from Russia, who is raising her two children alone while her husband is off to America in search of a better life for his family. This personal story unfolds against the backdrop of major 20th century events.

The nearly three hour long film oozes with poetic beauty, as fans of Angelopoulos will have come to expect, with carefully choreographed crowds, imagery that borders on the obscure, and acting techniques that draw inspiration from the classical Greek stage rather than modern cinema. The Weeping Meadow premiered at the Berlin Film Festival where it was a critical favourite. The film will likely appear and be successful at more festivals, though its commercial life may be restricted to art houses only.

Matching the poetry on screen is the musical score by Eleni Karaindrou, one of Greece’s most critically acclaimed film composers. Having been associated with Angelopoulos for over twenty years, The Weeping Meadow marks Karaindrou’s seventh collaboration with Angelopoulos after films such as Eternity and a Day and Ulysses’ Gaze. Born in an isolated mountain village in central Greece, Karaindrou’s parents moved to Athens when she was eight years old, where she studied piano and music theory at the Hellenikon Odion. She subsequently studied ethnomusicology in Paris and has since been an active campaigner on behalf of Greece’s musical resources. Apart from eighteen movies, she has also composed music for a dozen stage plays and ten television series.

Performed by a small ethnic-sounding ensemble that features, among other instruments, an accordion, violin, piano, harp, French horn and a Constantinople lyra, the score for The Weeping Meadow revolves around a central theme that, in its see-sawing motion, is ever so slightly reminiscent of Aram Katchaturian’s Adagio from his famous ballet, Gayane. It is first heard in the opening track, but it takes several listens to fully “get it”, as its syncopated performance, in an otherwise fairly simply 4/4 meter, can be quite confusing at first. Once familiar with the tune, it is hard to let go of it. Its many returns throughout the score are very welcome and lend the album a much appreciated coherency. “Much appreciated” because the music, like the film it accompanies, is evolving ever so slowly. There is a beauty in its simplicity and a sense of pervading melancholy throughout the album, which I personally find fascinating, though it is not unlikely that general audiences may find this score to be quite dull. At the basis of each track lie slow chords for strings, while any sense of excitement or urgency is only evoked through harp arpeggios.

“Theme of the Uprooting” and “Waiting” both contain variations on the main theme. “Waiting” especially is a deliberate, achingly slow paced cue that portrays beautifully a sense of sadness and longing. As the tracks progress the variations on the central theme become less obvious, and by the time “The Tree” makes its entrance it could be questioned whether the melody heard in this cue is yet another variation, as it does bare a strong resemblance to the titular theme, or whether its similarities are merely coincidental. I suspect the first though, as, upon further listen, it turns out that virtually every track is derived from Karaindrou’s central idea. In “Prayer” the composer introduces a soft male chorus, lending the cue the sense of spiritualism that the title indeed suggests.

There is a sense of minimalism to this score in that its beauty lies not so much in obvious statements of a theme, but rather in the slowly evolving composition. Comparisons to familiar Hollywood scores are hard to find, but if one is needed I would say that in style and atmosphere The Weeping Meadow slightly resembles Hans Zimmer’s The Pledge, where creating moods through sound design and orchestrations also seemed more important than having a multitude of themes.

As the album draws to a close Karaindrou refrains from presenting a final grand statement of her thematic material as if to indicate that life itself, which is what this film is ultimately about, does not always end with a big bang. That is not to say the ending isn’t satisfactory. On the contrary, the ending is totally appropriate. For all its understated melancholy and beauty the end, and the entire album for that matter, is more than rewarding.

Track Listing: Running Time: 44 minutes 05 seconds

ECM New Series 1885 981 3327 (2004)

Music composed by Eleni Karaindrou. Conducted by Antonis Kontofeorgiou. Featured musical soloists Maria Bildea, Renato Ripo, Konstantinos Raptis, Socratis Sinopoulos, Vangelis Skouras, Sergiu Nastasa, Angelos Repapis and Eleni Karaindrou. Recorded and mixed by Giorgos Karyotis. Edited and mastered by Yiannis Ioanidis, Petros Siakavellas and Manfred Eicher. Album produced by Manfred Eicher.

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