Z movie storyline. Yves Montand, a liberal politician, is assassinated by the right wing of the state in the demonstration of peace defenders. Immediately after the murder, the only thing that the state and army officials have done is to remove the evidence necessary to cover up the incident. However, the prosecutor, who is assigned to the case opened in accordance with the procedure, continues to search like a detective without hesitation with the unimaginable facts he encounters as he goes deep into the incident. However, the obstacles confronted during this research will come from the deepest authorities in the state.
Z is a 1969 Algerian-French epic political thriller film directed by Costa-Gavras, with a screenplay by Gavras and Jorge Semprún, based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Vassilis Vassilikos. The film presents a thinly fictionalized account of the events surrounding the assassination of democratic Greek politician Grigoris Lambrakis in 1963. With its satirical view of Greek politics, its dark sense of humor, and its downbeat ending, the film captures the outrage about the military dictatorship that ruled Greece at the time of its making.
The film stars Jean-Louis Trintignant as the investigating magistrate (an analogue of Christos Sartzetakis who later served as president of Greece from 1985 to 1990). International stars Yves Montand and Irene Papas also appear, but despite their star billing have very little screen time. Jacques Perrin, who co-produced, plays a key role as a photojournalist. The film’s title refers to a popular Greek protest slogan (Greek: Ζει, IPA: [ˈzi]) meaning “he lives,” in reference to Lambrakis.
The film had a total of 3,952,913 admissions in France and was the 4th highest grossing film of the year. It was also the 12th highest grossing film of 1969 in the U.S. Z is also the first film—and one of only a handful—to be nominated for both the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Foreign Language Film. It won the latter, as well as the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, the BAFTA Award for Best Film Music, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign-Language Foreign Film; at the 27th Golden Globe Awards, the producers of Z refused the award to protest against the film’s exclusion from the Best Motion Picture - Drama category.
Z (1969)
Directed by: Costa-Gavras
Starring: Yves Montand, Irene Papas, Jean-Louis Trintignant, François Périer, Jacques Perrin, Charles Denner, Pierre Dux, Georges Géret, Bernard Fresson, Marcel Bozzuffi, Julien Guiomar
Screenplay by: Jorge Semprún, Costa-Gavras (by Vassilis Vassilikos)
Production Design by: Jacques D’Ovidio
Cinematography by: Raoul Coutard
Film Editing by: Françoise Bonnot
Costume Design by: Piet Bolscher
Set Decoration by: Jacques D’Ovidio
Music by: Mikis Theodorakis
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Cinema V
Release Date: December 8, 1969 (United States), February 26, 1969 (France)
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