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The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea

The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea

Movie · 2019 · 11 people

Drama and thriller meet horror and surrealist elements in this 2019 film by Syllas Tzoumerkas, who wrote the screenplay with Youla Boudali. The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea (Greek: To thavma tis thalassas ton Sargasson) is a Greek film. Besides Greece, the production involves Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden.

The story is set in the poor, small Western Greek town of Mesolongi. It centers on two women, a police officer and a worker at an eel hatchery, who both live solitary lives. Their paths cross when a circle of violence breaks out in the town. Angeliki Papoulia, Youla Boudali and Christos Passalis lead the film, with Laertis Malkotsis, Christos Simardanis, Thanasis Dovris, María Filíni, Thanos Tokakis and Laertis Vasiliou in the wider ensemble.

Tzoumerkas's third feature after Homeland (2010) and A Blast (2014), it had its world premiere in the Panorama section of the 69th Berlinale. At the Greek Film Academy's 2020 Iris Awards it won two prizes: best director for Tzoumerkas and best actress for Papoulia.

DirectorSyllas Tzoumerkas
Production companyArte

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Laertis Vasiliou Laertis Vasiliou Actor · 52 years old Angeliki Papoulia Youla Boudali Christos Passalis Laertis Malkotsis Christos Simardanis Thanasis Dovris María Filíni Thanos Tokakis Alkistis Poulopoulou Katerina Helmy

Through different eyes

AI-assisted editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives. They are not reader reviews; those are below.

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Tzoumerkas's film refuses to settle into one genre: drama, thriller, horror and surreal elements are woven into the same story. It is a bold choice, and the path from the Berlinale's Panorama section to a best-director prize at the Greek Film Academy bears that boldness out. A structure that follows two lonely women separately before bringing them together inside the violence gives the narrative a solid spine. The risk lies in the shifts of tone: a film that slides from realist small-town drama into the surreal has to win the viewer over again at every turn. Papoulia's award-winning performance looks like the strongest support carrying those shifts.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

The film's setting is no accident: Mesolongi, a poor, small town in Western Greece. The two women, one a police officer representing the state and the other a worker at an eel hatchery, stand for different layers of provincial life, yet what unites them is loneliness. The narrow space women are squeezed into in small places, the way economic stagnation seeps into human relationships, and how violence suddenly surfaces within a community are the questions that feed its social reading. Films like this, which look at lives outside Europe's big cities, are valuable for giving a voice to places left on the margins.

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

The label says thriller and horror, but don't mistake it for a pacy genre film. Here violence works less like an explosion and more like pressure building over a long time. The atmosphere is heavy, scenes unfold slowly and the film is in no hurry. For anyone expecting chases and quick payoffs it can test your patience; for fans of dark, mood-driven thrillers it is the right pick.

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