Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #73439 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-08-12
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Colour, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .40 pounds
• Running time: 175 minutes

Customer Reviews

Helen of Troy, Greek tragedy, great film!
Question: If you want to watch one film about Helen of Troy, should it be this one or Troy? Answer: This one and here is why. It is better scripted and more faithful to the original than Troy is.

The chemistry between Paris and Helen is real and palpable (I have seen more chemistry in a plate of cold custard and rhubard than between Diane Kruger and Orlando Bloom in Troy).

This film takes the time to give Helen's and Paris's back story and explains why she is so irresistable, it is not a plot spoiler to reveal that she is the daughter of the Father of the Gods, Zeus and Leda, whom he raped. Sienna Guillory is not drop dead gorgeous but she makes Helen real and believable. Matthew Marsden is also good as Paris and portrays him as he is in The Iliad, a brave man who like Helen, is used by The Gods for their own ends, their love is tender and passionate and beautifully portrayed.

This film also includes the Gods, but does not overdo it. Much is suggested rather than seen but the viewer is left in no doubt that this tragedy is in large part the creation of those Gods at their most capricious.

Agamemnon is played by Rufus Sewell in a performance that is charismatic, powerful and brutal. He shows us a man so ambitious he is prepared to do anything, no matter how dreadful, to get his own way, and who is not prepared to admit that he could have chosen another path, that part of this tragedy is of his own making.

James Callis plays Menelaus and also narrates the story, his is a skillful performance that eventually leads us to respect a man who initially, seems almost as repulsive and coldblooded as his brother Agamemnon.

The film is almost three hours long, but it takes its time to tell the story properly and give reasons as to why the people, but not The Gods, act in the way that they do. It is entertaining,believable and thoroughly watchable, the scenery and costumes also deserve honourable mention.

I'd wait for the Troy DVD
This film was a very unexpected arrival and to be blunt, I wasn't expecting much from it. It's a very low-budget English film with very English actors but they do at least do a good job.
It tells the story of Helen of Sparta (Sienna Guillroy) in depth, more so than in Troy, which is interesting. The film's advantage is that it's very accurate. It tells of how Menelaus (James Callis - the poof in Bridget Jones' diary) met Helen and how he married her, leading to the war. It's a very odd portrayal and the characters are very different to how you imagine them in the myths. Paris (Matthew Marsden - Coronation Street - hahahahahaha) is brave and deeply irritating. Agamemnon (Rufus Sewell) is young and cut off from the world but plays his role well, showing his own attraction to Helen. King Priam of Troy (John Rhys-Davis - Gimli) is very well played, nearly as good a Peter O'Toole in Troy but a different type. It's other characters, who are more minor, like Hector, Odysseus, Achilles and Cassandra (Emilia Fox), are rather strange. Cassandra is well played and one of the parts which was missing from Troy, but the other three were laughable. Hector's infamous death is not in any depth - he merely challenges Agamemnon to a duel but is faced by Achillies (who hilariously wears skin tight leather straps) and is killed in a cowardly way. Odysseus is somehow not as good as Sean Bean and is not as powerful.
What again makes this film is the accuracy. It is set over 10 years (Troy felt ike it was set in 10 days) and, though the action is crap, the duel between Paris and Menelaus is very loyal to the Illiad, getting it all down to almost exact detail (except Menelaus takes pity of Paris). It uses the real name of Paris (Aleksandros) which is a nice touch and tells how Helen became what she was and why she was so hated by her father. Stellan Skargaard plays Theseus of Athens (that's right the one who killed the Minotaur), the one who tells her of her family's past but is killed.
Helen's decision to run with palace is cast by her apparent (though she doesn't show it) humiliation when she is made to walk naked among the Greek kings. Although more of a sprightly character in the film, Sienna Guillroy is now where near as good looking as Diane Kruger in Troy, so most men would be disappointed by her.
This film is only for buffs of Greek myths who would appreciate it and is very much a film that would be shown in a secondary school to the children because the teachers are too stingy to buy Troy.

Great
This is a great film where the charaters are very well casted. Although, i found the "Troy" movie to be a better version of events. I feel this way because only two things let "Helen of Troy" down, 1) The special effects are not as good as "Troy", 2) In "Helen of Troy" Achillies' character is not mentioned or shown a lot, plus you do not find out much of his back story, unlike "Troy".