Adonis Kyrou

Adonis A. Kyrou (Greek: Άδωνις Α. Κύρου, Adonis A. Kyrou; 18 October 1923 – 4 November 1985) was a Greek-French filmmaker and writer, whose works often appeared under the name Ado Kyrou. A member of the surrealist movement and a key contributor to the film journal Positif, he is best known for his books on surrealist cinema and eroticism, notably Le Surréalisme au cinéma and Amour-érotisme et cinéma (1957). He directed several short films and two features, including Le Moine (1972).

Biography

Early life and exile

Kyrou was born in Athens on 18 October 1923 into a prominent conservative family; his father, Achilleus A. Kyrou, was the owner of the major Greek newspaper Estia.

Following the assassination of the right-wing resistance figure , reprisals were carried out against EAM members; Kyrou was among those attacked, suffering a spinal wound from an assault by members of the right-wing nationalist student group ESAS and the collaborationist Special Security Directorate, and was rescued through the personal intervention of Ioannis Rallis.

In Paris, Kyrou completed a degree in literature at the Sorbonne while working as a correspondent for a Greek newspaper. In Athens he had already encountered the Greek surrealist Andreas Embirikos; in Paris, he met André Breton and was invited to join the surrealist group at the Café Le Cyrano. He argued that commercial and popular cinema — horror films, serials, melodramas — tapped into the subconscious more directly than high-art filmmaking, and that cinema was inherently a surrealist medium. This perspective was epitomised by his famous invocation to audiences: "I ask you, learn to go and see the 'worst' films; they are sometimes sublime."

His first major publication, Le Surréalisme au cinéma (1953), mapped a surrealist history of cinema, championing directors such as Tod Browning and claiming that film was the medium best suited to surrealist thought. His second feature, The Monk (1972), was an adaptation of Matthew Gregory Lewis's Gothic novel The Monk, from a screenplay originally written by Luis Buñuel and Jean-Claude Carrière. Starring Franco Nero and Nathalie Delon, the film was a Franco-Italian-German co-production, but did not achieve the commercial success hoped for.

Kyrou died in Paris on 4 November 1985, aged 62.

Publications Le Surréalisme au cinéma (Arcanes, 1953; revised edition, Le Terrain Vague, 1963; reissued Ramsay, 1985/2005) Amour-érotisme et cinéma (Éric Losfeld, 1957) Manuel du parfait petit spectateur, with illustrations by Siné (Le Terrain Vague, 1958) Luis Buñuel (Seghers, 1962) Un honnête homme (Le Terrain Vague, 1964) L'Âge d'or de la carte postale (Balland, 1966) Immalie et l'homme en noir (Éric Losfeld, 1971)

Filmography

Short films Year Title Notes 1957 La Déroute narrated by Jean Servais 1958 Porte océane 1958 Le Palais idéal Narrated by Gaston Modot 1959 Le Havre 1959 Parfois le dimanche co-directed with Raoul Sangla 1960 La Chevelure narrated by Michel Piccoli; after Guy de Maupassant 1962 Le Temps des assassins 1962 La Paix et la Vie narrated by Michel Piccoli 1963 Les Immortelles 1964 Un honnête homme Prix Louis Lumière

Feature films Year Title English title Notes 1965 To Bloko The Roundup Greek-language; special mention, Thessaloniki International Film Festival 1972 Le Moine The Monk screenplay by Luis Buñuel and Jean-Claude Carrière; starring Franco Nero, Nathalie Delon

Television Year Title Notes 1969 Allô police episode "Au diable la malice" 1969 Sial IV Swiss science fiction serial 1971 Face aux Lancaster series