Z

A pulse-pounding political thriller, Greek expatriate director Costa-Gavras’s Z was one of the cinematic sensations of the late sixties, and remains among the most vital dispatches from that hallowed era of filmmaking. This Academy Award winner—loosely based on the 1963 assassination of Greek left-wing activist Gregoris Lambrakis—stars Yves Montand as a prominent politician and doctor whose public murder amid a violent demonstration is covered up by military and government officials; Jean-Louis Trintignant is the tenacious magistrate who’s determined not to let them get away with it. Featuring kinetic, rhythmic editing, Raoul Coutard’s expressive vérité photography, and Mikis Theodorakis’s unforgettable, propulsive score, Z is a technically audacious and emotionally gripping masterpiece.

Film Info

  • Greece, France
  • 1969
  • 127 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.66:1
  • French
  • Spine #491

Special Features

  • New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by cinematographer Raoul Coutard
  • Audio commentary featuring film historian Peter Cowie
  • New interviews with Costa-Gavras and Coutard
  • Archival interviews with Costa-Gavras; producer-actor Jacques Perrin; actors Pierre Dux, Yves Montand, Irène Papas, and Jean-Louis Trintignant; and Vassilis Vassilikos, author of the book Z
  • Theatrical trailer
  • New and improved English subtitle translation
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Armond White

    New cover by Eric Skillman

Purchase Options

Special Features

  • New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by cinematographer Raoul Coutard
  • Audio commentary featuring film historian Peter Cowie
  • New interviews with Costa-Gavras and Coutard
  • Archival interviews with Costa-Gavras; producer-actor Jacques Perrin; actors Pierre Dux, Yves Montand, Irène Papas, and Jean-Louis Trintignant; and Vassilis Vassilikos, author of the book Z
  • Theatrical trailer
  • New and improved English subtitle translation
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Armond White

    New cover by Eric Skillman
Z
Cast
Yves Montand
The Doctor
Irene Papas
Hélène, the doctor's wife
Jean-Louis Trintignant
The Magistrate
Jacques Perrin
Photojournalist
Pierre Dux
The general
François Périer
Public Prosecutor District Attorney
Charles Denner
Manuel
Georges Géret
Nick
Credits
Director
Costa-Gavras
Co-producer
Jacques Perrin
Co-producer
Ahmed Rachedi
Based on the book Z by
Vasilis Vasilikos
Screenplay
Jorge Semprún
Screenplay
Costa-Gavras
Music
Mikis Theodorakis
Cinematography
Raoul Coutard
Editing
Françoise Bonnot
Production design
Jacques D'Ovidio

Current

Costa-Gavras on Political Filmmaking
Costa-Gavras on Political Filmmaking
Having made such urgent, ripped-from-the-headlines, international dramas as Z, The Confession, State of Siege, and Missing, it stands to reason that the Greek director Costa-Gavras is often referred to as a political filmmaker. But in this excerpt fr…
Z: Sounding the Alarm
Z: Sounding the Alarm
Costa-Gavras’s 1969 political assassination thriller Z appeared at the end of a decade of burgeoning cultural change and rampant paranoia. In the United States, this Algerian-French coproduction sparked a sensation, not just relaying the European p…

By Armond White

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Costa-Gavras in the Midwest

Repertory Picks

Costa-Gavras in the Midwest
This weekend, the Indiana University Cinema screens Costa-Gavras’s 1969 thriller Z as part of an ongoing series of films selected by the university’s president. Loosely inspired by the 1963 assassination of Greek left-wing activist Gregoris Lambr…
The Unforgettable Images of Raoul Coutard
The Unforgettable Images of Raoul Coutard
From the delicate natural lighting in Jacques Demy’s Lola to the breathtaking widescreen Technicolor in Jean-Luc Godard’s Pierrot le fou, the late cinematographer Raoul Coutard’s most indelible images remain hallmarks of modern French cinema. I…

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Raoul Coutard

Cinematographer

Raoul Coutard
Raoul Coutard

Perhaps the most famous cinematographer of the nouvelle vague, Raoul Coutard shot more than seventy-five films during his forty-three-year career. A war photographer (in Indochina) turned freelance photojournalist (his images appeared in Paris Match and Look), Coutard turned to film, hesitantly, only in the late fifties. After fumbling his way through a few film assignments (he was inexperienced with a movie camera), he was hired by producer Georges de Beauregard to shoot the debut film of a young critic named Jean-Luc Godard. His ragged, incisive shooting style on Breathless became iconic in modern cinema, and Godard kept him on board for the rest of the sixties and beyond, while other directors, like François Truffaut, Jacques Demy, Jean Rouch, and Costa-Gavras, also called upon his skills. His exacting images, which vary from rich and luxurious to gritty and documentary-like, can be seen in countless indelible films, including Shoot the Piano Player, Jules and Jim, Contempt, Alphaville, Pierrot le fou, and Z.