The Genesis of a Myth
by Yiorgos Yiatromanolakis
I will refer to the way an ancient Greek novel was adapted to the screen. This novel is LongusΥ well-known pastoral romance Daphnis and Chloe also called Pastorals, written, based on all indications, in the second half of the 2nd century AD. As far as I know, no other ancient Greek novel has been made into a film since, even a few years ago, most of these texts had not yet been translated and were completely unknown to the public. However, Longus is famous: his work has been translated into modern Greek several times, he has received GoetheΥs eternal praise for its completeness and appeal. Longus has also inspired many musicians, painters and other artists.[Ι]
KoundourosΥs starting point is Longus and, primarily, the theme of the two young heroesΥ initiation to love. However, the setting, though also belonging to an earlier period, is completely different from LongusΥ bucolic surroundings. Even the title of the film bears no relation to Longus: Young Aphrodites define the directorΥs main concern. Koundouros uses a version of the "mythical method", known from poetry. Pastorals define the framework and his story is linked to the old romance, but the rest has little to do with Longus. Because of this, KoundourosΥs story could be read outside the context of Pastorals Π and it is read. However, since the archetypal story of the two young lovers dominates the film, the dimensions of Young Aphrodites overcome the temporary and the contemporary. Pastorals are the starting point; they provide the sensual atmosphere and the mystery of initiation, but the contemporary creator remains independent. The use of the past is now realised through a new story based on an old one; it is a new "mythology" based on antiquity. Therefore, we have the genesis of a myth Π as Elytis would say when commenting on the way the poets of his era used mythology. Obviously, this is extremely interesting, though this attempt had no successors.
The sexual instinct of the adults will be gradually steeped in the rocks and the sea, and spread even to the two young children, slowly shaping their vague sexual desire. This is the central element of the film: austere setting, costumes that reveal the bodiesΥ sexual nature, faces and gazes revealing loveΥs dominant presence. Nature-Earth, water and air Π and the bodies overcome the rudimentary myth and independently create their own romantic narrative. The continual rearrangement of bodies and spaces composes a constant renewal, which narrates the libidinal dialogue among bodies, between the elements of nature and between bodies and nature. Through a carefully created architectural construction, the audience is able to gradually distinguish pleasure and pain, serenity and violence, the whispers and the screams of contradictory, yet enjoyable, erotic discourse.

From the catalogue Twenty-five Years of Greek Cinema, Athens 1985