Pause (2018 film)

{{short description|Cypriot drama film}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}

{{Infobox film

| name = Pause

| image = Pause 2018 poster.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Poster

| director = Tonia Mishiali

| producer = {{Plainlist|

  • Andros Achilleas
  • Panos Bisdas
  • Stelana Kliris
  • Tonia Mishiali
  • Ioanna Soultani

}}

| writer = Tonia Mishiali
Anna Fotiadou

| story =

| based_on =

| starring = {{Plainlist|

  • Stella Fyrogeni
  • Andreas Vasileiou
  • Popi Avraam

}}

| music = Julian Scherle

| cinematography = Yorgos Rahmatoulin

| editing = Emilios Avraam

| production_companies = A.B. Seahorse Films
SOUL Productions
Cyprus Film Advisory Board

| distributor = Subliminal Films

| released = {{Film date|2018|07|04|KVIFF|df=y}}

| runtime = 96 minutes

| country = Cyprus
Greece

| language = Greek

| gross =

}}

Pause ({{Langx|el|Παύση|Pafsi}}) is a 2018 Cypriot drama film directed by Tonia Mishiali, who {{nowrap|co-wrote}} the screenplay with Anna Fotiadou. It stars Stella Fyrogeni, Andreas Vasileiou, and Popi Avraam.

Premise

Upon reaching menopause, a Cypriot housewife's decision to no longer tolerate her husband's abuse and disrespect leads her into a world of violent and disturbing daydreams, though reality and fantasy soon begin to blur.{{Cite web|url=https://filmisafineaffair.com/index.php/reviews/pause-by-tonia-mishiali|title=Pause by Tonia Mishiali | Film Review|date=4 August 2019|website=Film Is A Fine Affair}}

Cast

  • Stella Fyrogeni as Elpida
  • Oriana Mantzouranou as Young Elpida
  • Andreas Vasileiou as Costas
  • Popi Avraam as Eleftheria
  • Marios Ioannou as a doctor
  • Prokopis Agathokleous as a young man
  • Marina Mandri as a young woman
  • Georgina Tatsi as Irini
  • Andrey Pilipenko as a painter

Production

The film's working title of Menopause was changed to Pause during filming. During development, the film was selected for consideration at two German co-production workshops in 2015: the Mannheim Meeting Place at the Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival and the Connecting Cottbus at the Cottbus International Film Festival. It was filmed in and around Nicosia throughout February and March 2017.{{Cite web|url=https://www.greeknewsagenda.gr/interviews/filming-greece/6906-filming-greece-%E2%80%9Cpause%E2%80%9D-an-accurate-portrayal-of-the-acute-pain-of-oppression|title=Filming Greece | "Pause": An accurate portrayal of the acute pain of oppression|website=www.greeknewsagenda.gr}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.cyprusevents.net/events/pause-nicosia-2019/|title=Cyprus : Pause (Παύση)|website=www.cyprusevents.net}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.filmneweurope.com/news/cyprus-news/item/114778-production-tonia-mishiali-in-postproduction-with-pause|title=PRODUCTION: Tonia Mishiali in Postproduction with Pause - FilmNewEurope.com|first=Maria|last=Gregoriou|website=www.filmneweurope.com}}

Release

Pause premiered at the 2018 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival as part of the "East of the West" programme.{{Cite web|url=https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/50/25005-pause|title=KVIFF | Pause|website=www.kviff.com}} The Hollywood Reporter called it "a work of considerable tonal complexity, as it stirs moments of pitch-black humor and short and violent reveries into an otherwise austerely told tale of spousal strife that wants to smash the patriarchy with feats of cinematic derring-do".{{Cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/pause-pafsi-1125517/|title='Pause' ('Pafsi'): Film Review | Karlovy Vary 2018|first1=Boyd van|last1=Hoeij|website=The Hollywood Reporter|date=10 July 2018}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.filmneweurope.com/news/cyprus-news/item/116615-fne-at-kviff-2018-film-in-cyprus-is-blossoming|title=FNE at KVIFF 2018: Film in Cyprus is Blossoming - FilmNewEurope.com|first=Anna|last=Franklin|website=www.filmneweurope.com}}

In the book What Fresh Hell Is This?: Perimenopause, Menopause, Other Indignities and You (2021), author Heather Corinna noted that Pause offered "one of the rare sympathetic descriptions of a menopausal mental health struggle".{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1gHiDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Pause%22+mishiali&pg=PT113|title=What Fresh Hell Is This?: Perimenopause, Menopause, Other Indignities and You|first=Heather|last=Corinna|date=1 June 2021|publisher=Little, Brown Book Group|isbn=9780349425672|via=Google Books}}

References

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