L’éternité et un jour

On a rainy Sunday in Thessaloniki, the ageing writer Alexander prepares to leave his house by the sea where he has lived all his life. Next day he is to go into hospital. His doctor told him to go in when the pain became unbearable. It hadn’t been long, that much is clear from his monologue. As he clears up his things, he finds letters from his wife who died long before and he is gripped by all kinds of memories. He realises how much she loved him and how much he – a writer obsessed by his work – acted as if that was normal. Past and present are brought together when an unexpected encounter with an Albanian boy offers the writer an opportunity to relive moments of past happiness. He sets off to reunite the boy with his grandmother in Albania. This is the start of a mysterious journey and a special friendship.Eternity and a Day is clearly recognisable as an ‘Angelopoulos’, not last because of the lengthy and poetic shots and a beautiful soundtrack. For this film, Angelopoulos again co-operated with cameraman Yorgos Arvanitis and resident composer Eleni Karaindrou and eventually won a Golden Palm at Cannes with this, his eleventh feature. Eternity and a Day again confirms his status as one of the great masters of the film art.