Iphigenia | Limited Edition | Blu-ray

It often feels like classic cinema didn't really have the ability to create movies about the classical world. The necessity of huge casts as well as elaborate costumes and sets mean that many movies about ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt, or parts beyond end up showing the limitations of their budget more than anything. Or, in the case of something like Cleopatra, become all about seeing the budget in every frame, and not all that much about the story being told.

Iphigenia, then, is something of a rare gem. The story of the daughter of Agamemnon (recently featured in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey), whom he sacrificed as an offering to the gods in order to gain favorable winds and sail his army to Troy. Mihalis Kakogiannis' telling of this tragedy is beautifully and lovingly rendered in remarkable detail.

Whether it's costuming or setting, every detail is perfectly in place. Irene Papas is unsurprisingly commanding in the lead as Klytaimnistra. A true hidden gem of a film for fans of old-world history.

Special Features (via radiancefilms.co.uk)

• High-definition digital transfer, on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK
• Uncompressed mono PCM audio
• New interview with Greek film expert Dimitris Papanikolaou on Michael Cacoyannis (2025, 25 mins)
• Archival footage of press conference at 1977 Cannes Film Festival (1977, 11 mins)
• Archival interview with director Michael Cacoyannis and actress Irene Papas (1977, 6 mins)
• Newly improved English subtitle translation 
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
• Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Vrasidas Karalis
  
• Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings