The best Kostas Arzoglou’s movies

Melina Mercouri plays Maya, a jet-setting Greek actress who returns to her homeland to undertake the role of Medea. Searching for inspiration and clues as to how a mother could kill the children she loves, Maya discovers Brenda (Ellen Burstyn), a bible-spouting American woman serving time in an Athens prison for that very crime.

A mysterious disappearance takes place during the shooting of a commercial on the beach in the early morning hours. An unknown man suddenly comes into the shot, then walks into the sea holding an umbrella and seizes to exist, before the bewildered eyes of the whole crew. After the police are notified, a confusing array of red tape manoeuvers begins, revealing the close affiliations of the Authorities with the advertising company manager and the whole mechanism of Mass Media, all of which are trying not to investigate the event but to conceal or even exploit it in their own interest. Only the musician involved in that commercial is trying to figure out what really happened.

Greek director Theo Angelopoulos takes the viewer on a tour through Athens in this episode of the TV series Capitali culturali d'Europa.

At the turn of the twentieth century a young merchant is abducted by a group of brigands who are sheltered in a remote mountainous area of Greece aiming to extract ransom from his wealthy family. The young man develops a kind of sympathy to the arch-brigand and realizes that the underground life and moral code of his kidnappers actually represent a more genuine expression of “New Hellenism” than his bourgeois well-being.

At midnight, on a deserted Athenian street, a beautiful woman named Eleni Chalkia is fatally stabbed by a stranger, who immediately disappears into the shadows. The murderer is Ioannis Zachos (Manos Logiadis), a young man lacking in both mental and sexual stability, who lives out his erotic fantasies through purifying violence. He often fantasizes about killing beautiful women, in this way compensating for his deficient manhood and satisfying his passion for power. When he is arrested, he immediately confesses his crimes, which is a relief to the police, who have been accused of gross ineptitude by the press. During the trial that follows, the relentless question, “who is ultimately guilty? Man or society?” is again raised.

After suffering a heart attack, a famous actor invites his two daughters to return to Greece and join him in a “Macbeth for three” performance. The rehearsals will reveal all their harsh truths and emotional traumas.

A group of intellectuals holidaying together at an isolated beach become mentally unhinged by the presence of a beautiful English nudist.

A burglar accidentally kills a wealthy businessman and assumes his identity. He finds life as a playboy very enjoyable, but the deceased man's sister (who lives far away from him) soon starts being suspicious.