| |
SINGAPORE : Hypatia is no Cleopatra, but the heroine in "Agora", the latest historical epic set in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, proved just as enigmatic and alluring to both the film's director and lead actress.
"How (come there are) many pictures about Cleopatra but not a single one about Hypatia? That struck me when we decided we were gonna tell this story," Spanish director Alejandro Amenabar, 37, told the press at the Cannes Film Festival last May.
His lovely lead star, Rachel Weisz, also turned slightly nerdy, chipping in nuggets of information about Hypatia, the character she plays with stoic conviction.
"There are fragments of her letters to her students that you can read - and she definitely edited Ptolemy's text with her father. There are actual palpable things that she wrote."
Er, so who is this Hypatia?
In the M18-rated "Agora", she's the odd female philosopher-astronomer in a sea of manly scholars back during the waning reign of the Romans in 391 AD, who spend their time either poring through the parchment scrolls at the fabled Library of Alexandria or waxing, er, Ptolemic as they discuss whether the earth is round or flat. (Duh)
Meanwhile, these pre-book bookworms are oblivious to the growing conflict between the Jews and the militant Christian group the Parabolani right outside the library walls. Oh, and there's also a love story in there somewhere between Hypatia and her slave.
It's heavy, epic-y and, to some, controversial stuff from Amenabar, whose roster of films include the Penelope Cruz-starrer "Abre los ojos" ("Open Your Eyes", which was later remade into "Vanilla Sky"), Nicole Kidman's "The Others", and the Oscar- and Venice Film Fest-winner Mar adentro ("The Sea Inside").
But read on and you'll see "Agora" gets heavier. Thank goodness our recorders were on so we could concentrate on just gawking at Rachel, who, in our books kinda looks like Cleopatra.
Agora opens in cinemas on Thursday.
Alejandro, you just made a film about a female Greek scholar. At what point did you go "eureka!"?
Alejandro Amenabar: Actually, I think it always starts when I go on holidays. When I did "Mar adentro" ("The Sea Inside" in 2004), I went to the sea and I felt I wanted to make a movie about the sea. This time, I went to the sea, but I was looking up to the stars. And I was really, really moved by the sense of depth - it was a very, very clear night. I started to research about astronomy and we studied about the different astronomers in history and found this fascinating woman.
It's quite a historical character, too.
Rachel Weisz: It's a pretty unusual story, that there was this woman who devoted her life to her work in the 4th century and was martyred by her beliefs. I can't quite believe that no one's done it before. That Alejandro was the first one to dig up her story and tell it.
And tell it in a rather contemporary way too. It seems like a prototype for the modern liberal feminist, no?
Rachel: It's something that Alejandro and I talked about in the beginning. We both felt very strongly that we didn't want people to be "Oh, I'm in a toga and I'm performing in a declamatory way". They're just human beings who happen to be living in the 4th century. We wanted them to be flesh and blood and be very, very naturalistic.
Any thoughts about how her life parallels how women are treated in certain parts of the world even today?
Rachel: It is set in the 4th century but one of the fascinating things when I read it was really, nothing's changed. We have huge technological and medical advances but in terms of people killing each other in the name of god, fundamentalism still abounds. And in certain cultures, women are still second-class citizens. In many places, not much has changed.
Would you say Rachel's character is a kind of martyr for "non-believers"?
Alejandro: You could interpret it as an anti-Christian movie. But actually, I think sometimes, it's a very Christian movie. There are some similarities with Hypatia and how she behaves, and Jesus and how he behaves. How she's open-minded and (was) tortured and killed because of her ideas. I've also tried to explore the nice side of Christianity - piety or compassion, which was something you can see in the beginning of the movie. But the movie is against fundamentalism. That's what the movie is clearly denouncing. Not Christianity itself.
There's a group of fundamentalists in "Agora" called the Parabolani. Were you thinking of any contemporary group during the shoot?
Alejandro: That's something that's come up. Actually I don't think we were thinking about (any) particular (group). We were trying to be very, very close to the descriptions of the Parabolani. But it's true (the Taliban) resemble the Parabolani. The interesting thing about it is how they represented the best, more charismatic side of the church in those times. They even helped the lepers. And then they became soldiers, the army of the church.
Phew, heavy stuff there. Let's end it on a lighter note. Rachel, how was it like working with Alejandro?
Rachel: I was a huge fan. We all fell so very madly in love with Alejandro. I pretty much would have taken any job he offered me. I was recently looking through some email that Alejandro and I had before we started the film, and I said to him, "Can't she just kiss Davus (Hypatia's slave) maybe once?" And he kept saying she's very completely devoted to her work and in love with her work. There've been so many stories about men who are obsessed (with) their work and no one would say "Why doesn't he get married?" It was fascinating to me how my own sexism came up.
- TODAY/sh
|
