Zorba the Greek

Zorba the Greek

Year: 1964

Runtime: 142 mins

Language: Greek

Director: Mihalis Kakogiannis

DramaHumanity and the world around usPowerful poetic and passionate dramaCaptivating relationships and charming romancePassion and romance

Life. Lust. Love. Zorba. An uptight English writer traveling to Crete on a matter of business finds his life changed forever when he meets the gregarious Alexis Zorba.

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Timeline & Setting – Zorba the Greek (1964)

Explore the full timeline and setting of Zorba the Greek (1964). Follow every major event in chronological order and see how the environment shapes the story, characters, and dramatic tension.

Time period

Location

Piraeus, Crete (Cretan village near a monastery with a lignite mine), Chania

The story moves from the port of Piraeus in Athens to a small Cretan village. The village sits beside a monastery-owned land where a lignite mine is operated, shaping the economy and daily life. The port of Chania also features as Basil and Zorba travel to secure supplies, highlighting the archipelago's coast-to-coast connections. The setting contrasts rugged mountain scenery with close-knit village dynamics and a faded glamour from the past.

🏞️ Rural Greece 🧭 Island setting 🪵 Mining town 🏘️ Village life

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 16:47

Main Characters – Zorba the Greek (1964)

Meet the key characters of Zorba the Greek (1964), with detailed profiles, motivations, and roles in the plot. Understand their emotional journeys and what they reveal about the film’s deeper themes.

Basil (Alan Bates)

A staid, middle-class Greek-British writer, Basil is cautious, bookish, and outwardly reserved. He travels to Crete to reopen a lignite mine and, through his bond with Zorba, confronts his own fear of risk, longing, and failure. His inner conflict and reluctance to intervene in the village’s troubles complicate his relationships, revealing a humane but hesitant nature.

🧭 Inner conflict 💼 Bourgeois restraint 📚 Intellectual curiosity

Zorba (Anthony Quinn)

A former miner and exuberant, life-embracing force, Zorba wields charm and physical prowess to pull Basil into a world of risk, improvisation, and vitality. He bears a checkered past and a philosophy of rejecting nationalism, often using cunning and bravado to seize opportunities. His passion fuels both laughter and tragedy, culminating in a freeing yet destructive frankness about life and death.

🔥 Charisma 🧭 Adventurous 🗯️ Provocative

Widow (Irene Papas)

A beautiful, widowed woman who refuses to remarry, she becomes a focal point for affection and jealousy within the village. Her affair with Basil incites gossip and violence, exposing the town’s double standards and the risks of desire. She endures scrutiny and a tragic end to the love triangle intensified by communal judgment.

💔 Outcast 💖 Desirable ⚖️ Victim of mob justice

Madame Hortense (Lila Kedrova)

A glamorous former cabaret dancer who runs the Hotel Ritz, Hortense embodies glamour and nostalgia for a more cosmopolitan past. She is courted by Zorba and entangled in the villagers’ ambitions, ultimately succumbing to illness as the hotel is ransacked after her death.

💃 Glamour 💰 Wealth and exploitation 🕰️ Glamorous past

Mimithos (Sotiris Moustakas)

The village idiot who bears witness to the unfolding drama, Mimithos serves as a silent conduit for events. He relays Basil’s umbrella, mourns the widow’s tragedy, and is overwhelmed by the villagers’ reactions, remaining a distraught observer amid chaos.

💬 Witness 🤏 Marginalized 🌀 Innocence lost

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 16:47

Major Themes – Zorba the Greek (1964)

Explore the central themes of Zorba the Greek (1964), from psychological, social, and emotional dimensions to philosophical messages. Understand what the film is really saying beneath the surface.

🌀 Madness

Zorba’s exuberant, unrestrained energy clashes with Basil’s cautious, orderly temperament, driving their volatile friendship. The film treats moments of reckless joy as a form of liberation from social and personal constraints. Their schemes, culminated by dangerous stunts like the failed log transport, probe whether madness can truly break one free from fate. The finale’s dance on the shore suggests a dangerous, exhilarating release rather than tidy resolution.

🏛️ Community

The village acts as a living organism that both nourishes and judges its members. Outsiders—the foreign, wealthy Hortense and the British-Greek Basil—are drawn into village life, only to be scrutinized by gossip and mob mentality. The widow is ostracized for her independence, and the monastery’s authority becomes a tool for the townspeople’s ambitions. The story uses this microcosm to explore how communal norms shape personal choices and fates.

💔 Love and Jealousy

Basil’s reluctance to pursue the widow’s companionship contrasts with Zorba’s unabashed charm, sparking desires that destabilize both men. Hortense’s romantic fantasies are manipulated by Zorba, while the widow’s vulnerability makes her a target of communal anger. The entwined relationships reveal how love, longing, and jealousy can drive actions that have fatal consequences. The film uses romance to expose moral ambiguities and social pressures.

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 16:47

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Zorba the Greek Summary

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Zorba the Greek Timeline

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