Cannes. "Agora"

By David Hudson on 05/17/2009

[Updated through 5/26]

"Christianity gets a bad rap in Alejandro Amenabar's 'Agora' [site], a historical epic in which the early church is shown violently oppressing other faiths, science and women in its bid for political power," writes Mike Goodridge in Screen. "An enormously ambitious attempt to recreate the conflicts of 4th century Alexandria, many of which are still raging today, 'Agora' ultimately fails to hang together narratively and does not engage on the same grand emotional level as the sword and sandal epics of old - 'Quo Vadis?,' 'Ben-Hur' et al - which it is clearly trying to reinvent."

Introducing his interview with Amenabar for the Los Angeles Times, Patrick Goldstein tells us first how the director became interested in Hypatia, "who lived in Alexandria during the 4th century AD, in the waning days of the Roman Empire. The daughter of Theron, the last director of the famed Library of Alexandria, she was not only a brilliant theorist in astronomy, but a mathematician and philosopher.... It's the story of Hypatia, who is played by Rachel Weisz, that Amenabar tells in 'Agora'... It's a fascinating film, crammed with both stirring visual images and intellectual ideas. The film is at its most compelling when Amenabar shows the once-stable civilization of Alexandria being overwhelmed by fanaticism, perhaps because the bearded, black-robe clad Christian zealots who sack the library and take over the city bear an uncanny resemblance to the ayatollahs and Taliban of today."

"Amenabar gets most of the epic staples out of the way relatively early: flatly acted scenes of textbook exposition, overly earnest extras, main characters who wander unscathed through hordes of butchery and, of course, frequently swelling music." Natasha Senjanovic in the Hollywood Reporter: "The story then becomes a timely parable on religious intolerance, inexorable fundamentalist violence and the powerlessness of reason and personal freedom in the face of both."

"Amenabar, the director of visually memorable features such as 'The Others' and 'The Sea Inside' clearly aimed to make an old school epic of Cecil B Demille proportions, and ended up with a hollow reflection of one," writes Eric Kohn at indieWIRE. "It's worth noting that 'Agora' looks fantastic, with magnificent virtual camera movements that swoop down from space to a large scale replica of Alexandria, taking full advantage of the wide screen canvas. Frequent cutaways to the cosmos, which underscore Hypathia's lectures, would look great on IMAX. In the context of the movie, they overshadow the rest of the narrative."

The Hollywood Reporter interviews Amenabar.

Screening Out of Competition.

Updates: "'Agora' has more on its mind than most costume pictures, and most other films, for that matter," writes Variety's Todd McCarthy: "mankind's place in the universe, the human need to understand the cosmos and the debate over the existence of a single deity.... While the dramatic sweep of events gives 'Agora' a natural momentum... the personal dramas never really connect with the desired force. Partly, it's because the two younger men proposed as potential matches for Hypatia aren't remotely in her league; moreso, however, it's because Hypatia is pretty remote herself, with her head in the intellectual clouds and oblivious to the political realities thrashing beneath her feet. Weisz goes a long way to drawing the viewer to her, but Amenabar and co-scenarist Mateo Gil haven't entirely cracked her dramatization."

"Clocking in at almost two hours, the epic is told smartly and efficiently. Although it's unavoidable for Weisz to come off as being sexy (uh, she just is), she manages to play the role of Hypatia sexless - no low-cut togas here." David Bourgeois also has notes from the press conference at Movieline. Amenabar, for example: "I think now the United States is the Roman Empire. We are now in a political crisis, an economic crisis. So this is time for change. I don't think we'll go back to the Middle Ages, but we can feel that something is just not fitting right now."

Cannes has audio and video from the press conference.

"'Agora' hits all of its marks with precision and grace, succeeding both as education, social commentary and entertainment," writes Todd Brown at Twitch. "In a perfect world this would be assured of success on a scale to match the scope of the film itself but the sad reality is that the film embraces a blend of high cost and high concept that will make it a very hard sell in the multiplex. Basically Amenabar's backers are likely to lose their collective shirt on this film but, man, are they ever going to look good while doing it." Also: "No, this is not an anti-Christian film though it is very definitely an anti-extremism film, the message driven home in a very pointed scene in which Hypatia demands of the arrogant Christian leaders why her conversion to Christianity should be a foregone conclusion, as they claim it is. After all, has their god proven any more just or merciful than any of the others that they have overthrown and replaced."

Updates, 5/18: Brian Brooks reports on the press conference for indieWIRE.

"Amenabar's film, an English-language Spanish production that was shot in and around Malta, seems to me like the most thoughtful and intellectually-talky big-screen epic ever made, although there's a fair amount of strife and sword-stabbing and mob violence all through it," writes Jeffrey Wells. "The intense conflicts, exacting and cultured dialogue, dashing visual energy and top-notch performances from Weisz, Max Minghella, Oscar Isaac, Rupert Evans, Ashraf Barhom and Michael Lonsdale make 'Agora' more than gripping for its entire 141 minutes. I was surprised, really, that it moved as fast as it did."

Update, 5/19: "Handsomely realized, the film's big idea is to set the 'perfection' of the stars against the imperfection down here on earth," writes Little White Lies. "Cue jaw-dropping cuts from outer space down into the streets of the city, and a kind of musing, dialectical vibe. Unfortunately, 'Agora' suffers from poor acting across the board (Max Minghella is no movie star), while its Euclidean sense of space asserts itself in a circular narrative that spends an age going nowhere. In essence, Agora is about a bunch of religious fanatics acting like c*nts. Who'd have though it, eh?"

Update, 5/26: Online viewing tip. FirstShowing's Alex Billington talks with Amenébar.

Coverage of the coverage: Cannes 2009.

[Photo: "Agora," Telecinco, 2009]

Tags: Agora, Alejandro Amenabar, Cannes 2009, Rachel Weisz