Original subtitles

LONDON, UK 1950

You invited me here to talk...

about the poet Constantine Kavafis

I'll begin by reading these lines ...

from one of his poems in the language

in which he wrote it.

Poem: In 200 b.C.

We; the Greeks of Alexandria, of Antioch, of Seleucia and .....

the numerous rest of the Greeks of Egypt and Syria....

And the Common Greek Language we carried to the heart of Bactria...

......to the Hindus

We emerged; a great new Greek world. A great world !

CONSTANTINE KAVAFIS (Greek Poet 1863 - 1933)

Starring: Dimitris Kataleifos

Vasilis Diamantopoulos

Maya Lyberopoulou

Lazar Georgakopoulos, Alexander Koukos, Vasilis Seimenis

Costumes Damian Zarifis

Music by Vaghelis

Writer - Director Yannis Smaragdis

Alexandria, Egypt 29/April/1933

You have a visitor

At last, Europe begins to appreciate your work

Kavafis is a modern poet

A poet of future generations

The rare poets, like Kavafis....

will occupy first place in a world..

much more spiritual than ours today

"" Draft notes on the Life and Work of K. P. Kavafis ""

I brought the notes that I promised you, for the Preface

For any errors and omissions, could you....?

Alexandria, a hospitable trade center of Egypt....

gave birth on 29/April/1863 to the Greek poet Constantine Kavafis

The Kavafis family was rich....

His parents were Peter John, a merchant and Hariklia Kavafis nee Fotiadis

Poem: I've brought to Art I've brought to Art desires....

.......and sensations

I've brought to Art things half-glimpsed, faces or lines

...certain indistinct memories of unfullfilled love affairs

Let me submit to Art

My youngest one, my little honey

Let's make s short stop. The boys are thirsty

Alexandria, 1871

Poem: When they are roused Try to guard them, poet

However few they are that can be held

Hair as though stolen from Greek statues,

always lovely, even uncombed

and falling slightly over pale foreheads

Figures of love, as my poetry desired them

Constantine ! ?

Come ! We still have a long way to go....

Sham el Nessim is the Egyptian Spring Festival

something like our Ash Wednesday

At the local Fair, we' ll see African girls dancing naked

Why are you silent ?

How can you be so secretive ?

There is a gap in narration here

Could you talk to me about your youth ?

Or write about it, perhaps ?

Tennyson's poem was very touching. Barrell's biography was entertaining...

a masterpiece, like a novel by Alexander Dumas as you said

your beloved Shakespeare was a bit tiresome

as for McCauley, you will lend him to me again during the vacations

But here you are.....something better than the pages you bury yourself in

Only, don't let our mothers find out !

Let's go to your room

Mike....... the waltz that you promised me !

Constantine !

Isn't my partner having any fun...?

The Arabs have revolted, burning shops and houses

They are going to take over the Cityhall (= 1882 AD)

Have you found a coach ? (carriage)

My uncle will take you to port for 20 Lira

OK OK take these out.....out.

OK mother, we did it. Holders of British passports may leave.

We'll sail with the ship "Castore"

Something is screaming inside my head

Quickly !

Constantine ! Hurry up !

I'll miss you....

Constantinople, 1882

My dear grandson.....

What have I promised you ....?

Turn it over, on the other side

Your family tree

It starts here.....15th century AD Five centuries ago !

After the fall of the Byzantine Empire, at the Armenian-Iranian border (=1453)

The Kavafis family were always at the periphery (border), never in the Center

This is your great-grandfather John, 1701 - 1762 AD

He was governor of the city of Iasi in Moldova, a periphery (border)

Then, here.....

George Kavafis 1745 - 1792

Highpriest of the Church of Antioch, in the periphery again....

And myself, your grandfather George Fotiades from the island of Hios

once upon a time, merchant of diamonds !

Your mother, the Center of everything !

Constantine !

Another family member, George, son of aunt Amalia

George would like to take you out, to show you Istanbul

He is an Apollo ! An Apollo ! (= Greek God of male Beauty)

When the mother returned from Istanbul to Alexandria with Constantine...

their homecity was not the same as when they had left....

but also the Kavafis family were not the same anymore....

they were living in a house at....

Typhus is rampant in Alexandria

I am very sorry !

And all in war with time....

for love of you....

as he takes from you....

I engraft you new

(Shakespeare Sonnet 15)

Poem: Return Return often and take me beloved sensation

return and take me !

when the memory of the body awakens

and an old desire runs again through the blood

when the lips and the skin remember

and the hands feel as if they touch again

My Lord.......the Soul..... (=reads in Classic Greek)

in the month of Athyr

Lefkios...... went to sleep...

Him....Our tears...Grief...Sorrow...

I thought that....

our ancestors lived only to enjoy their pleasures...

and not for their sorrows

Something is screaming inside my head

- 100 English Pounds - 100 Pounds ? For all these ??

Life without money is a big nothing, my dear son

As from today....

Mr Kavafis will also be working with us

The gentleman is Greek

Coming back to Alexandria....

the bankruptcy of the family, force Kavafis to go to work

He's hired as an extra scribe at the Egyptian Irrigation Company

He'll work there for 33 full years !

For a long time he'll be just a text scribe with no salary

His first salary was 7 Lira

At an old age, Kavafis.....

informs his supervisors that for personal reasons...

he didn't wish to renew his contract.

Poem: Far Off I should like to relate this memory

but it is so faded now

scarcely anything is left

because it lies far off

in the years of my early manhood

A skin as if made of jasmine

that night in August

was it August ? -- that night ...

I can just barely remember the eyes

they were, I think, blue

Ah yes, blue; a sapphire blue

Madam has not slept yet

It's not enough

It's not enough

I succumbed again. There is no hope at all.

Unless I stop....

I wish to have my picture taken

You are the only one who will weep for me

Athens, Greece 1901

Ancient Agora (Market)

Cape Sounion - Temple of Poseidon

Thission - Temple of Hephaistos

....of the Gods....

....succumb to desires.....

In 1901 the poet visits Greece for the very first time

He saw all the monumets in a way that very few people do that today.

In Athens he meets and befriends certain intelectuals and artists

One of them....

is the young poet Mavroudis

Good day !

- I'm sorry I'm late.. - As always Mr Mavroudis.....

- You see it's this sudden rain... - This is Mr Kavafis.

Pleased to meet you

This is Antinoos ! A beautiful young man from Vithynia

The beloved of the Emperor Hadrian

According to the tradition, he drowned in the river Nile in 133 AD

Poem: Ionian Just because we've torn their statues down

and cast them from their temples

doesn't for a moment mean the gods are dead

Oh Land of Ionia, they love you yet (Ionia=cradle of Classic Greek Art)

their spirits still remember you

When an August morning breaks upon you

a vigour from their lives stabs through your air

and sometimes an ethereal and youthful form

in swiftest passage, indistinct

passes up above your hills

There isn't only statues in life

Come !! There is no better place than this !

Return to Alexandria

Poem: The Satrapy What a misfortune, although you are made...

for fine and great works

this unjust fate of yours always

denies you encouragement and success

that, base customs should block you

and pettiness and indifference

Your soul seeks other things, weeps for other things

the praise of the public and the Sophists

the hard-won and inestimable Well Done

the Agora, the Theater, and the Laurels

How can Artaxerxes give you these ? (=Artaxerxes : King of ancient Persia)

where will you find these in a satrapy ?

and what life can you live without these ?

"The Regiment of the Senses " (prose)

" All of morality's laws .... "

"poorly understood and applied ...."

"are nil and cannot stand"

"when the Regiment of Senses parades"

"with music and with banners "

Your duty is to give in to Desires

Athens , 1903

Poem: September 1903 And yet I came so close so many times.....

And yet how paralyzed I was, how cowardly

why did I keep my lips sealed

while my empty life wept inside me

my desires wore robes of mourning ?

I admire your poetry....

but.......

Please, leave the room !

It is distressing that he lost the capability to speak

This man, who was such a fascinating speaker

Anyway, when he was able to speak, Kavafis always said what he wanted

And not what others wanted him to say

What do you mean ?

Mr Sekopoulos, you are the person closest to him.....

I'm sorry, but there is nothing we can do anymore

I think it'd be wise to call the Greek Orthodox Patriarch

My wife has already gone to inform him

So, he was finally convinced to accept him

I mentioned the name Mavroudis to him and he was very upset

Is it true that Kavafis.....?

My dear sir, Kavafis keeps his secrets to himself only !

Poem:Sculptor of Tyana

I've handled a lot of stone in my time

and in my own country, Tyana, I'm really quite famous

Poem: Myris We'd known of course that Myris was a Christian

But he lived exactly as we did

more devoted to pleasure than all of us

his friends were not Christians

Poem: Tomb of Iasis You know the pace of our life

its fever, its absolute devotion to pleasure

Poem: in the Tavernas Living a vile life I wallow in the tavernas

Not long ago, he was asking me to go again to the library

He wanted some info on the ancient city of Antioch...

in order to finish a poem

(priest voice): This is the last Holy Communion for the servant of God.....

May all your sins be atoned and may you earn eternal life

"" Bring me some water. I'm in pain ""

"" Only gods know the future. They only and uniquely possess the Light ""

"" Time ""

"" Our minds are on Charmides "" (=book by Greek philosopher Plato)

"" Draft notes on the Life and Work of K. P. Kavafis ""

Poem: ITHACA As you set out for Ithaca

hope that your road is a long one

full of adventure

full of discovery

The Laistrygonians, the Cyclops (=mythical monsters)

and angry Poseidon - don't be afraid of them

ask that your road is a long one

may you gain fine things

mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony

sensual perfumes of every kind

as many sensual perfumes as you can

Keep Ithaca always in your mind (Ithaca = homecoming after a journey)

Arriving there is what you're destined for

But don't hurry the journey at all

Better if it lasts for years

so you're old by the time you reach the island

wealthy with all you've gained on the way

not expecting Ithaca to make you rich

Ithaca gave you the marvellous journey

Without Ithaca, you wouldn't have set out

She has nothing left to give you now

And if you find her poor, Ithaca won't have fooled you

Wise as you will have become, so full of experience

you'll have understood by then what these Ithacas mean

K. Kavafis died in Alexandria in 1933, on his birthday 29/April