Overview
A filmmaker's journey to uncover lost history becomes a quest for self-discovery and artistic clarity.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Glacial
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Dense
- Violence
- Brutal
- melancholic
- austere
- contemplative
- serious film study
- quiet reflective evening
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as an ambitious, visually commanding meditation on cinema and Balkan history, though its austere length and opaque style divide viewers.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
A pursues the mythical undeveloped reels of the Manakia brothers as both an artistic object and a record of Balkan life.
A travels through Albania, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Greece while the search becomes an encounter with regional collapse.
Angelopoulos's journey is shaped by sustained compositions, deliberate pacing, and images of landscapes and crowds burdened by history.
The film links Balkan ethnic conflict with questions of national identity and the recovery of shared pre-national histories.
Films like Ulysses' Gaze, and why
The Passenger
meditative road movie structure, fractured national identity, and mournful historical memory
The Silence
politically charged Balkan journey, existential alienation, and formally austere filmmaking
Cinema Paradiso
cinema as cultural memory, contemplative pacing, and melancholic reflection on history
The Ascent
elliptical art cinema, war-torn landscapes, and a filmmaker confronting historical trauma
Movie Details
- Director
- Theo Angelopoulos
- Release Date
- 1995-10-12
- Runtime
- 169 min
- Rating
- 7.5 / 10 (132)
Cast
- Harvey Keitel
- Erland Josephson
- Maia Morgenstern
- Thanasis Veggos
- Giorgos Mihalakopoulos
- Dora Volanaki
- Mania Papadimitriou
- Giorgos Konstas
- Thanos Grammenos
- Alekos Oudinotis
Common questions
- What is Ulysses' Gaze about?
- An exiled Greek filmmaker crosses a war-scarred Balkans in search of a lost cinematic origin, only to confront the collapse of memory, history, and his own ability to see.
- What is Ulysses' Gaze like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Ulysses' Gaze as glacial, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as dense.
- Is Ulysses' Gaze violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Ulysses' Gaze as brutal.
- What did critics think of Ulysses' Gaze?
- Critics broadly regard the film as an ambitious, visually commanding meditation on cinema and Balkan history, though its austere length and opaque style divide viewers.
- Which films are like Ulysses' Gaze?
- Films with a similar feel include The Passenger, The Silence, Cinema Paradiso, and The Ascent.
- How long is Ulysses' Gaze?
- Ulysses' Gaze runs 169 minutes.
