Editing Never on Sunday

{{Short description|1960 film directed by Jules Dassin}}
{{About|the 1960 film}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Never on Sunday
| image          = Never on sunday423.jpg
| director       = [[Jules Dassin]]
| writer         = Jules Dassin
| starring       = [[Melina Mercouri]]<br />Jules Dassin<br />[[Giorgos Fountas]]
| cinematography = [[Jacques Natteau]]
| editing        = [[Roger Dwyre]]
| music          = [[Manos Hadjidakis]]
| production_companies = Melina Film
| distributor    = [[Lopert Pictures Corporation]] (United States)
| released       = {{Film date|1960|10|1|df=y}}
| runtime        = 91 minutes
| country        = Greece
| language       = Greek<br />English<br />Russian
| budget         = $150,000<ref name="tino">Tino Balio, ''United Artists: The Company That Changed the Film Industry'', University of Wisconsin Press, 1987 p. 127</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/variety-1961-11/mode/1up?q=%22brought+in+at%22|magazine=Variety|page=1|title=On $151,000 Negative Cost, Forsee 'Never On Sunday' Rentals of $8 mill|date=1 November 1961}}</ref>
| gross          = $4 million <small>(rentals)</small><ref>"All-Time Top Grossers", ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'', 8 January 1964 p 69</ref>
}}

'''''Never on Sunday''''' ({{langx|el|Ποτέ την Κυριακή}}, {{transliteration|el|''Poté tin Kyriakí''}}) is a 1960 Greek [[romantic comedy]] film starring, written by and directed by [[Jules Dassin]].

The film tells the story of Ilya, a contented Greek prostitute ([[Melina Mercouri]]), and Homer (Dassin), an earnest American classicist. Homer attempts to steer her toward morality while Ilya attempts to make Homer more relaxed. The original screenplay examines the impact of intellectual imperialism upon indigenous [[Joie de vivre]]. It constitutes a variation of the [[Pygmalion (play)|Pygmalion]] plus "[[hooker with a heart of gold]]" story.<ref name=bonano>Christopher Bonano, ''Gods, Heroes, And Philosophers'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=IXN1AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA53 p. 53]</ref>

The film's [[bouzouki]] theme became a hit and the film won the [[Academy Award for Best Original Song]] ([[Manos Hadjidakis]] for "[[Never on Sunday (song)|Never on Sunday]]"). It was nominated for Academy Awards for [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress in a Leading Role]] (Mercouri), [[Academy Award for Best Costume Design|Best Costume Design, Black-and-White]], [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]] and [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Writing, Story and Screenplay as Written Directly for the Screen]] (both Dassin). Mercouri won the award for [[Best Actress Award (Cannes Film Festival)|Best Actress]] at the [[1960 Cannes Film Festival]].<ref name="festival-cannes.com">{{cite web |url= https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/never-on-sunday |title=Festival de Cannes: Never on Sunday |access-date=2024-02-29|work=festival-cannes.com}}</ref>

==Synopsis==
Ilya, a self-employed, free-spirited [[Prostitution in Greece|prostitute]] who lives in the port of [[Piraeus]] in Greece, meets Homer Thrace, an [[American people|American]] tourist and [[Classics|classical scholar]] and passionate [[Philhellene]]. Homer feels that Ilya's [[promiscuity]] typifies the [[Epicureanism|epicurean degradation]] of Greek [[Classical tradition|classical culture]] and attempts to steer her onto the path of morality while Ilya attempts to relax him and avoid his getting into unnecessary arguments and fights.

==Plot==
Self-employed [[Prostitution|prostitute]] and free spirit Ilya, in the port city of [[Piraeus]], [[Greece]], has a dedicated following of preferred “clients” whom she entertains at weekly receptions on Sundays, a day she takes off from “business.” At the [[shipyard]], when Ilya impulsively strips off her clothes to dive in for a dip in the ocean in her underwear, she challenges the “slaves” to join her, and many workers enthusiastically dive in. On his first day, Tonio, a half-[[Italians|Italian]] worker, becomes infatuated with the beautiful Ilya. He learns that popular Ilya “sets no prices and only goes with a client if she likes him.” When Tonio asks Ilya if he has a chance with her that evening, Ilya teases him, saying she will be busy with the baker, the fruit man, and the butcher. Tonio becomes determined to win over Ilya exclusively for himself.

Homer Thrace, an [[American ancestry|American]] [[scholar]] of [[Ancient Greek|classical Hellenic]] culture, believes that Ilya personifies how Greek culture decayed due to living by [[Stoicism|Stoic]] and [[Epicureanism|Epicurean]] philosophies. According to [[Socrates]], [[Plato]], and [[Aristotle]], as Homer believes, the great happiness is the joy of understanding. By contrast, Ilya sees life through her own [[Idiosyncrasy|idiosyncratic]] perspective, filtering out the negative. When Homer accompanies Ilya to see a performance of the [[Medea (play)|classical drama ''Medea'']], Ilya sees [[Medea]] as a caring mother and wife who tricks her husband to win him back from a rival. Ilya refuses to accept that Medea is a ruthless wife who kills her own children to take revenge on her husband. Homer finds Ilya’s relentlessly upbeat perspective incomprehensible. Despite Ilya’s clients urging Homer to leave Ilya as she is, Homer sees himself as [[Pygmalion (mythology)|Pygmalion]], determined to mold Ilya into [[Galatea (mythology)|Galatea]], reforming the prostitute to a happy moral life.

“Noface”, whose naked face behind large sunglasses no one ever sees, owns apartment houses where prostitutes pay him high “rents” to work. The prostitutes threaten to [[Strike action|strike]] unless Noface lowers the rents. Noface considers the independent Ilya a bad example. Despo, leader of the striking prostitutes, appeals to Ilya, who has influence, to encourage all the prostitutes to stop working to join the strike. Noface offers to finance Homer’s experiment to reform Ilya, suggesting Homer “buy” Ilya’s time. Since they both have the same goal of putting Ilya out of business, though for different reasons, Homer accepts the money from Noface. To this end, Homer proposes to Ilya to conduct a two-week experiment, offering to pay her for her exclusive time to give her lessons in classical subjects and culture.

Ilya attempts to please Homer by studying the books and listening to the records he gives her but is bored. Meanwhile Ilya’s clients, including Tonio, are disgruntled when denied her services. When Ilya hears the whistle of a ship arriving, she is unhappy that she must study rather than party with the sailors.

At the end of the two-week period, when Noface pays Homer for his expenses, Despo sees the transaction and immediately informs Ilya. Ilya reacts by leading the other prostitutes in their strike against Noface, refusing to work and throwing their headboards and mattresses out the windows. The prostitutes are arrested, but Noface’s lawyer pays their fines and negotiates with Ilya to reduce the rents by 50%. Tonio and his friends arrive to get Ilya, taking her to their local bar, where typically, Homer is in trouble because the [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/know-it-all know-it-all] has told the guitar player that he is not a real musician if he cannot [[Musical notation|read music]].

Homer tells Ilya that she’s beautiful but dumb, and he laments that he wanted to save her. Tonio replies, "Ilya is not a [[symbol]], she’s a woman." Homer tells Ilya that indeed he wanted to make love to her but restrained himself. Tonio declares its “too late” because he is going to take Ilya back to [[Italy]] for a new life, sweeping Ilya off her feet and carrying her away. The bar owner tells Homer, “If anyone will save Ilya, it will be Tonio…because with love, it’s possible.”

Homer boards a ship back to the US, throwing away his notes.

"And they all go to the seashore!"

== Cast ==
[[File:Aankomst Melina Mercouri . Melina Mercouri tijdens de persconferentie, Bestanddeelnr 921-3508.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|Melina Mercouri plays Ilya, a free spirit seeing life through an idiosyncratic perspective, won by the lover who accepts her as she is.]]
[[File:Jules Dassin 1970.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|Jules Dassin as Homer Thrace, classical Greek scholar, who sees Ilya as Galatea and attempts to be her Pygmalion, failing miserably.]]
* [[Melina Mercouri]] as Ilya
* [[Jules Dassin]] as Homer Thrace
* [[Giorgos Fountas]] as Tonio
* [[Titos Vandis]] as Yorgo
* Mitsos Lygizos as The Captain
* [[Despo Diamantidou]] as Despo
* Dimos Starenios as Poubelle
* [[Dimitris Papamichael]] as Sailor (as Dimitri Papamichael)
* Alexis Solomos as Noface
* [[Thanassis Veggos]]
* [[Phaedon Georgitsis]] as Sailor
* Nikos Fermas as Waiter

== Reception ==
When the film was first released in Italy in 1960, the [[Motion picture rating system#Italy|Committee for the Theatrical Review]] of the [[Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism (Italy)|Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities]] rated it as [[Motion picture rating system#Italy|VM16]], not suitable for children under 16. The committee also demanded dialogue modifications and the excision of explicit scenes.<ref>[http://www.italiataglia.it/ Italia Taglia] Database of the documents produced by the Committee for the Theatrical Review of The Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, from 1944 to 2000.</ref>

[[Bosley Crowther]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' praised the movie as a "droll and robust spoof" and commended Mercouri's and Dassin's "superb" performances:<blockquote>It is the bouncing and beaming expansiveness with which Miss Mercouri endows this woman and the patience with which Mr. Dassin tries to urge her to simmer down, to assume a little moral decorum and abandon some of her non-intellectual and professional whims, that make for tremendous good humor.... **** While one might take some minor exception to the occasional illogic of the script, it's no use, since illogic is the human disposition most frankly acknowledged and happily applauded in this film.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1960/10/19/archives/the-screen-an-american-in-piraeusgreek-film-never-on-sunday-in.html|title=An American in Piraeus: Greek Film, 'Never on Sunday,' in Debut|first=Bosley|last=Crowther|date=19 October 1960|access-date=28 December 2024|via=NYTimes.com}}</ref></blockquote>
==Home media==
MGM released ''Never on Sunday'' on VHS in 2000 as part of its Vintage Classics lineup.

==Stage adaptation==
Dassin and Mercouri adapted the film for Broadway as a musical, titled ''[[Illya Darling]]'', starring Mercouri again in the title role.<ref>[https://www.concordtheatricals.com/p/44635/illya-darling Tams Witmark ''Illya Darling''] accessed 06/24/2023</ref> She was nominated for the [[Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical]] for her performance.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{IMDb title|0054198|Pote tin Kyriaki}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|1014832_never_on_sunday}}

{{Jules Dassin}}
{{Pygmalion}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Never On Sunday}}
[[Category:1960 films]]
[[Category:1960 romantic comedy films]]
[[Category:1960s sex comedy films]]
[[Category:1960s English-language films]]
[[Category:English-language Greek films]]
[[Category:1960s Greek-language films]]
[[Category:Greek black-and-white films]]
[[Category:Films about prostitution in Greece]]
[[Category:Films set in Greece]]
[[Category:Films shot in Greece]]
[[Category:Films that won the Best Original Song Academy Award]]
[[Category:Films directed by Jules Dassin]]
[[Category:Greek multilingual films]]
[[Category:Piraeus]]
[[Category:Films scored by Manos Hatzidakis]]
[[Category:Greek romantic comedy films]]
[[Category:1960s multilingual films]]
[[Category:Censored films]]
[[Category:English-language sex comedy films]]
[[Category:English-language romantic comedy films]]
[[Category:Greek-language romantic comedy films]]