Steven D. Greydanus has done such a thorough job deconstructing Agora — which opened in the U.S. last week and opens in Canada next week — that I have little to add. (Maybe later, though.)
One of the many good points he makes is that the film goes out of its way to make its heroine, Hypatia, a modern woman, or a woman that modern audiences can easily identify with, to the point that it obscures or ignores what the historical Hypatia actually stood for. For example:
Agora offers no insight into Hypatia’s neoplatonic asceticism. It prominently depicts, but does not understand, the famous episode in in which she rebuffs a would-be suitor by presenting him with her menstrual rags as graphic evidence of the manifest error of his attraction. No attempt is made to illuminate this distasteful episode for viewers, to explore the distance between Hypatia’s neoplatonic sensibilities and our own “sex-positive” milieu.
Instead, Hypatia’s disinterest in marriage is presented solely in terms readily accessible to modern feminism: Marriage in ancient Alexandria would mean subservience to a husband, the end of her independence and her career. The idea that the biological realities of human reproduction were considered unworthy of a soul seeking the highest good isn’t even on the radar.
With all that in mind, consider this excerpt from an interview with Rachel Weisz, the actress who plays Hypatia in the movie, that appeared in the New York Times two weeks ago:
Ms. Weisz, who in 2006 won an Academy Award as best supporting actress for her role in “The Constant Gardener,” describes herself as “extremely passionate about what I do” and initially found Hypatia’s cool rationality hard to fathom. Early on, she said, she “half-jokingly” suggested a masturbation scene for Hypatia to Mr. Amenábar, who demurred.
“My fear was that she would be a brain on legs, and that is not interesting to watch,” Ms. Weisz explained. “My hope was that she would be passionate and emotional and full of feeling, even though it was not being channeled into the sexual, personal, human realm. She is in love with science, with learning. It turned her on; that was the only way I could think of it.”
Make of that what you will.
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