Helen is the most beautiful woman in Greek mythology, but her character was a bit bland, so was Paris after the war started, so the screen adaptations usually add a lot to both their characters and their romance.
I've watched most of the screen depictions of Helen and that's my feeling.
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Hedy Lamarr probably was the best choice to play Helen in movie history(the other one was Grace Kelly). She did play the character in Love of the Three Queens but the makeup and hairstyle was not so good. And it was about an actress playing all three famous female characters. It gave little characterization to Helen.
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Elizabeth Taylor was another legend, she played the character in Dr. Faustus, the Gothic style fit the movie well, but not the Helen in mythology.
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Rossana Podestà was a good Helen. She was so nice and cute in the 1956 Helen of Troy, other than being blonde she fit Greek beauty very well while she was Italian. The movie made Paris a big hero and Helen a lovely woman to love him since they met each other. Typical Hollywood love drama.
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Irene Papas(Trojan Women) was probably the biggest miscast. She is the only Greek actress who had played Helen in famous movies but she doesn't look beautiful to me at all. Vanessa Redgrave's Andromache was much more beautiful than her. In this movie that was based on the famous play, Helen was more of a vile being in Trojan women's eyes but she also spoke for herself. I say she acted ok but didn't have much screen time.
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Sienna Guillory played the role in 2003's Helen of Troy miniseries. This miniseries was criticized for changing the mythology too much, especially making Achilles a big bald mongol and Agamemnon a pure villain who raped Helen.
But this version probably gave Helen the most character development. It showed her life before she met Paris. She was cursed by her beauty and suffered so much in her life. She chose Paris not just because of the goddess Aphrodite, but also because he cares about her. In the end she had lost everything, and could do nothing but follow Menelaus(who was a nice guy in this movie) back to Sparta, waiting for the reunion with Paris in the afterlife. It made her a real tragic figure, I like this one a lot and the theme music of Helen was so beautiful.
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Diane Kruger is the most beautiful Helen in my eyes, and she is one of my favorite actresses, but the movie didn't give Helen too much importance, Petersen wasn't even planning to let Helen show up in the movie before WB asked him to do so. She and Orlando Bloom lack of chemistry due to the script. The director's cut version gave her more screen time. This is the only version which Helen and Paris both survived and went away in the end. Menelaus was killed by Hector in the middle of the movie.
She went from victim/resigned to being lusted after/using men... (please log in to view the image)
...to kick ass, self assured warrior who could deal w. men as an equal... (please log in to view the image)
...over the course of a couple of appearances and a small but enjoyable character arc on DC’s LEGENDS OF TOMORROW.
She (Paly) is the hottest of the helen actresses bar none (no pun intended): (please log in to view the image)
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May 3rd, 2019 08:45 PM
