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HISTORY AND PSYCHOANALYSIS ON GREEK NEW WAVE CINEMA

Greek “Weird” Wave: How Does Lanthimos and Koupras reflect the tragedies from the Greek Culture

and make psychological statement by re-creating these?

As Greece is known as the world’s one of the most beyond the spectacle of ancient Greek

theater, the film industry is flourishing among the new generations. Greece’s ancient theatre and

knowledge is now being replaced by a new alternative cinema, Greek New Wave The contemporary

crisis and the political and social problems have created a new wave of directors, each with their own

distinctive voice, whose work transcends national boundaries. These films by these directors mostly

make the audience uncomfortable because most of them don’t let you identify with the character/plot

but you are more aware and watching the subconscious and conscious elements of human mind.

These films somehow connects to the Greek tragedies and philosophy, their story and inevitable chaos

of the legends. The films I analyze by this perspective is Yorgos Lanthimos’s “Dogtooth” and Panos H.

Koutras ‘s “Strella” or also known as ”A Woman’s Way”.

“Dogtooth”, original name “Kynodontas” is a greek black comedy film by Yorgos

Lanthimos,was released in 2009, and won Cannes Film Festival’s ‘Prix Un Certain Regard’ award and

was nominated for ‘Best Foreign Language Film’ in Academy Awards. It is about a family that isolates

the children, two sisters and a brother with no names, who haven’t stepped out of the high fenced

family property and raised at home by the dominant father figure and a mother who somehow goes

along with whatever the father does. These teenage children have no connections with the outside,

apart from the security guard Christina who the father pays for satisfying his son’s sexual need. The

father is the only one leaving the house since he is “strong, mature and ready” to go out with a car

and protect himself by the dangers out of the house. However the children are not allowed to go out,

they are allowed to leave the house by themselves, when their dogtooth falls out, and learn to drive
and go further with a car when the new one comes out. Until then they have to go out to the garden

with each other and stay in the house which of course will last forever since it’s a myth created by the

father to keep them prisoned. The film doesn’t give us the reason and motivation behind the father’s

action, but by doing so, it puts emphasis on what is actually important; the way he keeps them away

from the outside and doesn’t want them to escape the limits he set for the children.

The most crucial element that forms the children’s identity and traps them inside, physically

and metaphorically, is language. They have a very different vocabulary compared to us, since the
father and mother teaches them and even uses the new vocabulary while talking to the teens agers.

This new language is the main reason that limits them and keeps them to stay where they are and

obey the father. The film starts with a scene where they listen to “New Words” from a homemade

cassette, which is apparently voiced by the mother. First, the words’ are defined and then used in a

sentence to make the meaning stay in their minds more easily. The words are “sea”, “motorway” and

“excursion” is respectively defined as “a leather armchair”, “a strong wind” and “a resistant material

used to construct floors”. Any word that signifies sexuality or genitalia is converted too. Like a

women’s genitalia is a keyboard where as a “cunt” is a large overhead lamp. Anything can signify

another thing other than its real meaning in Dogtooth.

The film, when looking at

this manipulated and isolated

environment, has a strong

connection with greek philosopher

and Mathematician, Plato’s famous

metaphor of a cave. In the allegory,

Plato likens people untutored in the

Theory of Forms to prisoners chained in a cave, unable to turn their heads. All they can see is the wall

of the cave. Behind them burns a fire. Between the fire and the prisoners there is a parapet, along

which puppeteers can walk. The puppeteers, who are behind the prisoners, hold up puppets that cast

shadows on the wall of the cave. The prisoners are unable to see these puppets, the real objects, that

pass behind them. What the prisoners see and hear are shadows and echoes cast by objects that they

do not see. (Cohen, 2006) When we look back at the narrative and the characters of Dogtooth, there

are a lot of aspects which may originate from the allegory. Here, the cave is the house, isolated from

the real world, the puppeteers are mother and father, father being the most dominant since he

actually can go out where reality is. The shadows in the cave represent the altered reflections of

reality, which are just like the manipulated words and behavior that are taught to the three siblings.
 For Freud, the unconsciousness is already there and its hidden, can’t be controlled, however

for Lacan, linguistics and or the law of the father is the key in shaping the unconsciousness, it is not

just there, it is shaped by what you are exposed to. “Rather than denoting a neuropsychological

concepts that indicates an area of the mind housing primitive instincts or individual repressed

memories, The Lacanian unconsciousness names the other, the laws of language and society that

control each individual.” (Elsaesser and Buckland, 2002) So when we look at this altered language, the

Lacanian psychoanalysis is more suitable for explaining the impact of what’s going on in the 3 siblings

life and a supportive theory for the Cave allegory, since the mind is controlled through that.

“The Symbolic” for Jacques Lacan is the shaping of the ego in imaginary, and acquisition of the

language. The language is the element that shapes the individual. Therefore in “Dogtooth” we clearly

see how it can change the children’s development and identity. “The Symbolic order exists before the

Subject: being born into a world of language, a child must choose to submit to the Other, to accept a

discourse that is not his or her “own”, in order to become a Subject.” (Tyrer, 2012) Their vocabulary is

limited with materials around them and any word that is not approved by the father is connected to a

simpler and different signifier around the property. With this “new” language, we can see how it

shapes their perception, thinking process, and actions. Like they are playing games where one of them

pretends to drown, the two of them save that person and perform a CPR or where they test their

endurance by putting their legs in hot water. When talking about this “game”, they are unable to set

the games mechanics and unable to even name the activity. Their understanding of entertainment, a

need for human, is limited by what they have learnt by their parents.

The equilibrium that is kept by the father’s strict regulation, is disrupted when allowing

Christina, who is a stranger into his house, and gives the big sister things from the “outside” the father

forbids them to have. In the end, the older sister has found there are things to learn beyond what the

father pushes, she gets eager to go out, deciding to not wait for the dogtooth to fall for itself. With an
unnatural courage, she hits herself on the mouth with a dumble, making her teeth fall out, which

oddly satisfy even though she looks like a mess.

On the other hand, Panos H. Koutras ‘s “Strella”/ ”A Woman’s Way” is a drama, and was

released in 2009. The director is The film is about Yiorgos, who is released from prison after 14 years

because of the murder he committed in his small Greek village. He meets a transsexual prostitute,

Strella, in the cheap motel he is staying, and starts a close relationship with her. Meanwhile he tries

the track down his son, and tries to find him by looking at the phone books and asking around. In one

of his visits to his little village he used to live in, he hears the rumors of the villagers, and learns that

his son became a transsexual prostitute. The two of them confront each other, the father finds out

that he has been in love with his child, and Strella has been waiting for him and knowing who he is, but

was not waiting for such a relationship.

This film on the other hand, has a strong connection with is a more suitable film for a

Freudian psychoanalysis, Oedipus complex which is connected to the famous Greek tragedy, Oedipus

the King by Sophocles. The film actually refers to Sophocles, Mary, an old, dying transsexual acting as

Strella’s mother, admits to having had a sexual relationship with her uncle, while warning her

“daughter” that, according to ancient Greek sissies of the likes of Sophocles and Euripides, sexual

union with one’s father is “hubris” (an insult to the gods). (Cinematek, 2017)
 The famous tragedy by Sophocles involves Oedipus as the main character. It is about killing a

group of people on his way to Thebes, marrying the Jocasta, the Queen of Thebes after saving the

town from Sphinx and becoming the new king because of the absence of the former king, as he was in

the search for his real family and the murder of the King before him. Later, it is revealed that he did

find his family, the person he killed on his way was his biological father and was the King of Thebes,

and the wife was his mother. The mother, Queen, hangs herself, while Oedipus stabs his eyes with

pins from her robe after finding out the truth.

Here, Oedipus the King and the film, Strella has common grounds when we first compare

them, however, the differences are crucial and important. As a start, their names are specially picked,

which gives the reader or the viewer a foreshadowing of what will happen. Oedipus’s name is

translated to “swollen foot”, which may indicate his long journey, wondering and anguish from these

journeys. In the beginning of the film, the name Strella, combination of Stella and Trella, is especially

emphasized. Stella, “first name, feminine” and Trella “ (greek noun), Madness, Lunacy, Extravegance”

which can explain Strella’s both personality, actions and the choices she has made with her life and his

father. In addition, madness, lunacy, and extravagance is what makes a Greek tragedy.

As one of the most important similarity between the two protagonists, Strella and Oedipus are

in search for a family on their own, a real family regardless of the obstacles the family members cause
them. Oedipus leaves his family after learning that they are not his real family, to go and find the

family that has left him in the first place. Strella, follows and waits for his fathers release for 14 years,

even though he was responsible for committing murder of his nephew, beating Strella up, and

reacting for who she really is after seeing his nephew and Strella getting close. Even before his

imprisonment, Strella points out that he was never really there with him, and after his imprisonment

Strella leaves the village they lived in, leaving it all behind. In addition to Strella, her father, Yorgos is in

the search for peace, quiet, a new life and his son he left behind, who is right there with him all along.

Strella, as a part of the LGBT community, not expected to be a part of the society, however,

she is multi-talented and has close friends from her community. In the movie, she tells that the family

is a trouble for trans people, and that her roommate is worth ten real families to her. Yet, we see that

her and her father still think about each other after their violent confrontation, like Yorgos brings their

house food when Strella and her house mate is away.

The play is a tragedy and full of ironies because of its “not knowing the truth” and the

situations taking turns that would never happen if the truth was already known. The more the mystery

piles up, the more tragic the consequences get. Strella is a parallel story, involving the mystery of not

knowing, but it changes as the story develops. In Oedipus it is all about the prophecies and people

running away from them, and actually making them come to reality. Like the prophecy of Oedipus and

his family was one of the most crucial thing that brought all of them and lead the family to inevitable

disaster. However, in Strella, Strella actually knows who she has to avoid, she is just curious about her

father so she follows him, while Yorgos, her father is in search for his son, Strella, and believes that

Strella is just a beautiful coincidence.

 In addition, Freud’s Oedipus Complex theory involves opposite genders; the male child is

closer to mother and sees father as a competition. Just like the mother and son, Jocasta and Oedipus,

Strella and Yorgos start a relationship, which, is already complex without its transgender and

homosexuality part. Here, the male child and father is in a relationship, and the mother is absent, so

there is no competition. In fact, Strella is in a conflict in this situation, she confesses that she doesn’t

really know Yorgos, so it would be okay. However, when Yorgos starts beating him up, she is yelling,

‘Dad’ instead of Yorgos, begging him to stop. Like Freud defends, the mind is uncontrollable, so even

though Strella claims she doesn’t see Yorgos as her father, in the unconscious part of the brain, he is

still the father, so her first instinct to protect herself and stop Yorgos, was to yell ‘Dad’.

Strella continues this relationship while her father does not know who she really is. Unlike the

tragic end Oedipus has, Strella and Yorgos struggles after the truth comes out, but in the end, they are

together again after a long time of silence, celebrating. “The subjective view of gay auteur director

Panos Koutras, as well as traditional plot with a beginning and an end, seem to be lost within the

heterogeneity of genres and the irony of an apparently happy end which would never be possible in

the grandiose formalism of the auteurs of New Greek cinema.” (Cinematek, 2017)

In conclusion, Greek “Weird” Wave cinema is still developing and shaping itself as new films

are made, and because of this weirdness is not random, they get recognition. In these two films, we
can see the impact of the plays, philosophy and culture of Greeks, as if they are used as a guide for the

stories and making a psychological statement by using them, yet they are given a much newer and

unusual perspective nobody dares to give. For Panos Koutras, it is about using the classic play, Oedipus

the King and make the viewer think about Freud’s theory, Oedipus complex from a different angle,

where the relationship is between the son and father instead of the son and mother, and the

awareness of the father Strella has that Oedipus never had. On the other hand, Yorgos Lanthimos

makes the viewer think about language, isolation and manipulation through the unusual family order

where the father and mother are the ones constructing a new reality for their children just like Plato’s

allegory of a Cave with prisoners and manipulated reality, and emphasizes and support Lacan’s theory

about language.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Brinkema, Eugenie. "e.g., Dogtooth." World Picture 7:Autumn (2012). © World Picture 2012.

• Elsaesser, Thomas, and Warren Buckland. Studying Contemporary American Film: A Guide to Movie
Analysis. London: Arnold, 2002. Print.

• Tyrer, Ben, This Tongue Is Not My Own: Dogtooth, Phobia and the Paternal Metaphor, London,
2012

• Fisher, Mark. “dogtooth: The Family Syndrome”. Film Quarterly 64.4 (2011): 22–2

• Vellis, Erasmia. "Greek New Wave Cinema: Giorgos Lanthimos & Panos Koutras."Culture Trip. N.p.,
28 Nov. 2015. Web. 05 May 2017.
• A Bigger Wave in Modern Greek Cinema- The “Weird”, The “Social Realist”, The “Post Modern
Flaneurs” Retrieved from:
http://www.cinematek.be/mailings/1f3202d820180a39f736f20fce790de8022814/index.html

FILMOGRAPHY

• Strella (2009, Panos H. Koutras)

• Dogtooth ( 2009, Yorgos Lanthimos)