The Owl's Legacy

The Owl's Legacy

1989 1 Seasons ⭐ 9.0
Documentary

A 13-part documentary series by Chris Marker examining how ancient Greek ideas continue to shape modern Western thought. Each episode centers on a single Greek word—such as “democracy,” “philosophy,” or “mythology”—through conversations filmed in cities around the world. Combining symposium-style discussions with archival footage and visual motifs of the owl, Marker creates an expansive reflection on the enduring legacy of Greece.

Seasons

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1. Symposium, or the Received Ideas

1989-06-12

In Paris, Tbilisi, Athens and Berkeley historians have played with reconstitutions of the "symposium" - the Greek banquet - around tables laden with food and wine.

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2. Olympics, or the Imaginary Greece

1989-06-13 • ⭐ 8.0

Greece's inheritance was recomposed in contemporary mythology. This sometimes led to terrible misappropriations for the benefit of totalitarian ideologies - of which Nazism was bo…

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3. Democracy, or the City of Dreams

1989-06-14 • ⭐ 8.0

What exactly does the word mean “democracy” mean? Does it designates the ancient city-state or our contemporary political systems? What are the analogies or, on the contrary, the …

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4. Nostalgia, or the Impossible Return

1989-06-15

Ithaca is the iconic distant home that no one should forget: such would be the universal lesson of Homer's Odyssey.

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5. Amnesia, or the Sense of History

1989-06-16 • ⭐ 8.0

Built on the testimony or "autopsy" - which literally means "seeing oneself" - our conception of History has deeply shifted since Herodotus.

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6. Mathematics, or the Realm of Signs

1989-06-19

The geometrical space and the mathematical language constitute a universal legacy the Greeks have bequeathed us with. How do we articulate its perfect logic to the complexity of c…

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7. Logomachy, or the Root of Words

1989-06-20

All the meanings of "logos" originated from a small territory between Ephesus and Patmos. According to Aristotle the human animal fights with a specific weapon: speech... Logos' d…

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8. Music, or the Inner Space

1989-06-21

A cross between imitation and creation, the search for the beautiful and harmonious animates the artists' personal quests - including with cutting-edge technology - as well as it …

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9. Cosmogony, or the Use of the World

1989-06-22

This reflection over creation - divine cosmogony and man's creativity - takes us from the Greek statuary art to the Acropolis' Korai on show in Tokyo. This takes us on towards the…

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10. Mythology, or the Truth of Lies

1989-06-23

There are a set of myths to which we constantly refer ourselves. We will question their genesis, their place in psyche, their transmission, their nature.

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11. Misogyny, or Desire's Traps

1989-06-26

The Greek conception of sexuality was very different from ours. What did the Greek think of desire in a world where heterosexuality and homosexuality - far from being opposites - …

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12. Tragedy, or the Illusion of Death

1989-06-27

The great figures borne out of Greek tragedies help us fathom the founding mechanisms of human practices - all the way to a society like Japan, that is so apparently far from ours.

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13. Philosophy, or the Owl's Triumph

1989-06-28

Around the metaphorical - but also very real - figure of the owl; entwined reflections upon the place of thought in daily existence and public action - sometimes with and sometime…

Top Cast

André Dussollier
André Dussollier

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