''Lisístrata'' is a 2002 Spanish comedy film directed by Francesc Bellmunt. It is based on a

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

by the German cartoonist Ralf König, which in turn is loosely based on the play ''

Lysistrata ''Lysistrata'' ( or ; Attic Greek: , ''Lysistrátē'', ) is an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC. It is a comic account of a woman's mission to end the Peloponnesian War between Greek city ...

'' by

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

Plot

It is the year 411 BC and the

Peloponnesian War The Second Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), often called simply the Peloponnesian War (), was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek war fought between Classical Athens, Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Ancien ...

between

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

(among others) and

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

has been raging for some 20 years. The women who want to see the conflict finally ended use a trick to make their husbands comply: led by the Feminist Lisístrata ( Maribel Verdú), they barricade themselves on the

Acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens ...

, where the Athenian treasure is kept, and refuse to have sex with their husbands until peace is restored. The men soon sport gigantic

erection An erection (clinically: penile erection or penile tumescence) is a Physiology, physiological phenomenon in which the penis becomes firm, engorged, and enlarged. Penile erection is the result of a complex interaction of psychological, neural, ...

s, which as in Aristophanes' play are depicted by huge prosthetics that protrude from under the actors' clothes. This unfortunate state of " blue balls" hinders them in their capacity to fight. Luckily, the Spartans have the same problem. To the rescue comes Hepatitos (

Juan Luis Galiardo Juan Luis Galiardo Comes (2 March 1940 – 22 June 2012) was a Spanish television, theater and film actor. Life The eldest of six children, Juan Luis Galiardo Comes was born in San Roque, Cádiz, but spent most of his childhood and youth in ...

), the local homosexual and

transvestite Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes traditionally or stereotypically associated with a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and express onesel ...

, who disguises himself as a medical doctor and advises the generals to order circumstantial homosexuality as a way to relieve the pressure in their men. At first, the soldiers refuse, but quickly warm up to the idea — and soon everyone lives rather happily in male–male relationships. The women are not amused by this, as their plan has been foiled. However, as the soldiers begin to fall in love with enemy soldiers instead of fighting them, peace is finally established. The women end their strike (not to the delight of all men) and it is hinted that in the future, homosexual and

heterosexual Heterosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions ...

relationships will be regarded as relatively exchangeable. While the film is primarily a bawdy comedy (even more so than the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

play), it also contains interesting tidbits of historic truth, such as a relatively accurate life-size replica of the Pallas Athene statue by

Phidias Phidias or Pheidias (; , ''Pheidias''; ) was an Ancient Greek sculptor, painter, and architect, active in the 5th century BC. His Statue of Zeus at Olympia was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Phidias also designed the statues of ...

in the

Parthenon The Parthenon (; ; ) is a former Ancient Greek temple, temple on the Acropolis of Athens, Athenian Acropolis, Greece, that was dedicated to the Greek gods, goddess Athena. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of c ...

. The scene in which one soldier is about to kill an enemy fighter, but is moved by his beauty so much that he spares him and arranges a tête-à-tête with him after the battle, can be seen as being based on the legend of

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus () was a hero of the Trojan War who was known as being the greatest of all the Greek warriors. The central character in Homer's ''Iliad'', he was the son of the Nereids, Nereid Thetis and Peleus, ...

and

Troilus Troilus ( or ; ; ) is a legendary character associated with the story of the Trojan War. The first surviving reference to him is in Homer's ''Iliad,'' composed in the late 8th century BC. In Greek mythology, Troilus is a young Troy, Trojan prin ...

, son of

Priam In Greek mythology, Priam (; , ) was the legendary and last king of Troy during the Trojan War. He was the son of Laomedon. His many children included notable characters such as Hector, Paris, and Cassandra. Etymology Most scholars take the e ...

Cast

* Maribel Verdú as Lisístrata *

as Hepatitos * Javier Gurruchaga as Ajax *

Jesús Bonilla Jesús Bonilla (born 1 September 1955) is a Spanish actor. He has appeared in more than sixty films since 1978. Selected filmography References External links * 1955 births Living people Spanish male film actors 20th-century Spani ...

as Cinesias * Teté Delgado (billed as Tete Delgado) as Mirrina * Aitor Mazo as General Termos * Glòria Cano as Sabrina * Eduardo Antuña as Harpix * Antonio Belart as Potax * Cristina Solà as Lampito * Anna Maria Barbany (billed as Anna Mª Barbany) as Papila * Albert Trifol as General Bonus *

Sonia Ferrer Sonia Ferrer González (born 26 September 1977) is an actress, model and television presenter on Spanish television. Biography Sonia Ferrer was born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. She is the only child of parents Victoria González and Jose ...

(billed as Sònia Ferrer) as Cleonice * Sergio Pazos as Oficial Bitón * José Corbacho as Soldado Lico

External links

* 2002 films 2002 comedy films Films based on Lysistrata Films based on adaptations Spanish LGBTQ-related films 2000s Catalan-language films 2000s Spanish-language films Films based on German comics Live-action films based on comics Spanish historical comedy films 2002 multilingual films Spanish multilingual films 2000s Spanish films 2002 LGBTQ-related films LGBTQ-related comedy films {{2000s-comedy-film-stub

Plot

Cast

See also

External links