Ο Άνθρωπος του τρένου, των Ντίνου Δημόπουλου και Γιάννη Μαρή: ιστορία, τραύμα και αφήγηση σε ένα μεταπολεμικό φιλμ νουάρ

Abstract

The Man on the Train (Dinos Dimopoulos 1958), based on a screenplay by Yannis Maris is considered as one of the best examples of Greek film noir with elements of the psychological thriller and emphasis on the female point of view. As a large part of the plot takes place during the Occupation, it deals with the topic of oblivion, of the repressed memory and the post-war imposed consensus, and it can be read as an allegory for the trauma and concealment of the memory of Resistance and Civil War. Taking as a starting point the consideration of the crime films as an expression of the historic and sociopolitical anxieties of their time, the essay explores the narration of the lived experience, the topic of the return to the period of Occupation as a major theme in Maris crime literature and the transfer of the generic conventions of the thriller to Greek ‘places of memory’ that deal with issues of cultural memory. Finally, I discuss this film in relationship to similar examples of European post-war art cinema.