Itinerary of Endless Stories: the Odyssey of Living and Dying in Theodoros Angelopoulos’ Eternity and a Day

Abstract

This article examines Theodoros Angelopoulos’ Eternity and a Day (1998) in contrast to the Homeric Odyssey (8thBCE) to discuss how he reappreciates in his film an aspect of this poem often overlooked by most critics: its open-endedness. My central argument is that, although the Odyssey is normally considered a homecoming story, Odysseus’ journey does not end with his arrival back home, but with a journey away from home, a detail that the filmmaker masterfully explores anew in his narrative through the main character’s personal and circumstantial motivations towards life as a dying man.