‘Gorgona’ review: Dystopian Greek queer feminist fable is entertaining but uneven

Dir: Evi Kalogiropoulou. Greece/France. 2025. 96mins

In a Greek city-state dominated by shirtless macho males, adjustments are on the horizon as a girl positions herself to grow to be their new chief. Greek author/director Evi Kalogiropoulou’s debut characteristic Gorgona is a dystopian drama that takes inspiration from sources as completely different as Baz Luhrman’s Romeo + Juliet and Claire Denis’s Beau Travail. Kalogiropoulou is aware of her references, however by no means fairly manages to fuse all these parts into one thing distinctly her personal.

There’s an interesting aspect of spectacle concerned

That stated, a narrative of queer feminine empowerment ought to curiosity additional festivals following its Venice Critics Week premiere and subsequent Thessaloniki berth, and it may additionally entice the eye of streaming platforms.

Someday within the dystopian future, Greece has reverted again to the city-state system of yore. The movie’s location is a polis whose whole post-apocalyptic financial system is pushed by promoting oil from their refineries to different cities. Nearly all vegetation is both toxic or lifeless, with the locals buying and selling their oil for the fundamental requirements wanted by the boys working the town: meals and girls. Kalogiropoulou clearly establishes the patriarchal construction of the (male) ruling class which must be overthrown however by no means addresses many different points, like how they live on as a metropolis if girls must be imported. 

One of many girls traded for a barrel of oil is the fiery Eleni (Aurora Marion), a singer and intercourse employee introduced into the town in a costume comprised of golden chains and never a lot else (costume design is way from delicate) for the leisure of the ruling males. Their chief, the fiftyish Nikos (a buff Christos Loulis, Miss Violence), is affected by some type of terminal illness and has organised video games — what else is a Greek metropolis state to do? — to attempt to decide which of the boys will grow to be his successor. However to the shock of many, one of many contributors is the fierce Maria (Melissanthi Mahut), who’s in a relationship with Nikos that not everybody appears to concentrate on.  

Maria has the powerful job of going through all the boys and overcoming their hatred of ladies to attempt to grow to be their ruler and he or she finds an sudden ally in Eleni, the 2 girls changing into extra than simply mates. Their supposed love story is the least convincing a part of the narrative, making extra sense as an concept than as one thing convincingly pulled off by each the screenplay — co-written by the director and Louise Groult — and the performances. There’s additionally an actual sense that Kalogiropoulou can’t fairly deal with the tonal shifts required to make Gorgonà into each a convincing love story and a kick-ass feminist critique.

But there’s an interesting aspect of spectacle concerned in seeing a few robust girls tackle the patriarchy. The beats could also be acquainted and the ending considerably apparent however, at any time when it focuses on the town’s energy wrestle, there’s definitely some leisure worth on this modestly budgeted dystopian fable.