Lysistrata's Speech

Second CLIP (1 min. 30 sec.)

Here we see that when the men are expelled they attack the women (even their own wives), but some men let themselves stay there, in the middle of this largely female audience. Lysistrata starts her speech by saying "Even though I am a woman, my tongue is not as sharp as men’s" showing us a bit of her good rhetorical skills (same as in the play). Next, she says that women are fed up of "dead heroes, historical characters" and she urges them to "be happy and make love with ease!" (actually, some of the demands remind us of the play, as lines 573-605). After some other considerations, she wraps up her address by saying that they are not going to ask anything from the Gods, but from men - which sounds very good for an audience of the 50’s. It is interesting to note that this scene reinforces something which had already been shown by other scenes - the rebellion does not change women’s status. The film, as well as the Greek play, reinforces and consolidates the view of women as lovers and wives. The "secret weapon", as Lysistrata says, that is "more powerful and more efficient" than any weapon worn by men is "sex". The end of the film highlights a corollary of peace: the affirmation of the wedlock and paternity. We see streets full of couples, arm-in-arm, taking children along.

Now let’s examine how this work of fiction about a group of Greek women revolted by masculine behaviour is connected to the two other stories from quite different and distant periods. One presupposition that holds here, I believe, is that of the universality of standards of female behaviour, at the same time that the temporal ordering allows the viewer to perceive these standards through a historical "evolution" (seen back to front). By linking three episodes from such different historical periods that deal with a topic that is so prevalent as war (and in the fifties we are in the midst of the cold war), choosing Lysistrata seems to be symptomatic. This play is frequently staged and film makers also seem to be very fond of it. Several movies have been made on the same subject after the fifties, including The second greatest sex (G. Marshall, USA, 1955); Lysistrata (G. Zervoulakos, USA, 1972); Lysistrata (Y. Negrepontis, Greece, 1987). Actually, as Duarte puts it ("O destino de Lysistrata" forthcoming in Letras Clássicas), "Lysistrata’s story on the large screen dates back to the days of the silent movies. According to Pantelis Michelakis, several Greek plays have been shot between 1908 and 1939, among them a version of this comedy (and only of this comedy)".¹

In the case of Destinées, the fact that Lysistrata’s actions are centered not on the occupation of the acropolis and control of the public treasury, but on the occupation of the main square and the home, always side by side with her husband, approximates the story to the profile of other women. Besides, in the film, it is not only the citizens who are on strike, but also the prostitutes, thus universalizing behaviors and feelings of female figures (Duarte also emphasizes this). The fact that this episode is called "inviting outcome" by the destiny figure reinforces its connection with the other ones. In all of the episodes the behavior and the struggles of the women are always guided by their love to men (Elisabeth and Lysistrata) or to God (Jeanne). The choice of creating this third episode with a comic character and presenting it with farcical language and settings seems to reveal an intention to following the Greek model of tragic plays followed by a satirical drama. Why not choose Antigone or Polixena for the third episode? They would certainly suit the dramatic tone of the first two episodes better. In modern times, however, the excessiveness of the woman in tragedy is much more difficult to deal with than the deviation of the woman in the comedy. In conclusion, Lysistrata is also an interesting subject due to the lack of serious consideration of the possibility of feminine revolt led by a woman.

¹ Cf. Early films adaptations of Greek tragedy: cinema, theatre, culture, in: http://www.apaclassics.org/AnnualMeeting/04mtg/abstracts.