# Z (1969 film)
**Z** is a 1969 political thriller directed by [Costa-Gavras](https://www.edgepedia.org/costa-gavras), adapted from Vassilis Vassilikos's novel of the same title and based on the 1963 assassination of the Greek left-wing deputy Grigoris Lambrakis (Γρηγόρης Λαμπράκης). A French-Algerian co-production, it follows an investigating magistrate who uncovers army and police involvement in the murder of a progressive parliamentarian in an unnamed Mediterranean country, while the government attempts a cover-up.[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/359260/z-1969-z) • [2](https://galateefilms.com/en/film/z/) The film won Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Film Editing, was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay, and became a template for the political thriller genre.[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/359260/z-1969-z) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/z)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writers | Costa-Gavras; screenplay by Jorge Semprún, Costa-Gavras, and Ben Barzman, from Vassilikos's novel[2](https://galateefilms.com/en/film/z/) |
| Release | February 26, 1969 (France); United States release December 8, 1969[2](https://galateefilms.com/en/film/z/) • [4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/z-1969/) |
| Production | France-Algeria co-production; producers Jacques Perrin and Ahmed Rachedi; Algerian state studio ONCIC among production companies[5](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/47836.html) |
| Principal cast | Yves Montand (the deputy "Z"), Jean-Louis Trintignant (the examining magistrate), Irène Papas (Hélène), Jacques Perrin (the photojournalist)[5](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/47836.html) |
| Key crew | Raoul Coutard (cinematography), Françoise Bonnot (editing), Mikis Theodorakis (music)[2](https://galateefilms.com/en/film/z/) |
| Awards | 2 Oscars (Foreign Language Film, Film Editing) plus 3 nominations; Cannes 1969 Jury Prize and Best Actor (Trintignant); Golden Globe 1970 for Best Foreign Film[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/359260/z-1969-z) • [2](https://galateefilms.com/en/film/z/) |
| US reception | $2.2 million gross in its first year; first foreign-language film to win the New York Film Critics Circle's best film award[6](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1327-z-and-the-new-york-film-critics-circle) |
| Status in Greece | Banned by the military junta that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/359260/z-1969-z) |
## Spoilers
### Story and style
In an unnamed country under military dominance, a peaceful opposition organization plans an anti-militarist demonstration; its leader, a deputy known as "the Doctor" played by [Yves Montand](https://www.edgepedia.org/yves-montand), is assassinated during the event in a violence disguised as an accident.[5](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/47836.html) • [13](https://panoramafest.gr/35-hronia-z/) An examining magistrate ([Jean-Louis Trintignant](https://www.edgepedia.org/jean-louis-trintignant)), initially an establishment figure, pursues the inquiry against pressure from above and exposes a network of corruption linking paramilitary thugs, the police, and the army.[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/z-1969/) • [14](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/z-1969) The film ends with the conspirators indicted but the epilogue reporting that the investigation's champions have been eliminated, the magistrate exiled, and the coup accomplished, a bleak coda that undercuts the apparent judicial victory.[14](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/z-1969)
The title is the Greek letter Z, short for *zei* ("he lives"), a slogan painted on walls after the assassination; Roger Ebert reported that even the letter itself was banned in Greece.[15](https://filmfestival.gr/el/films/z/) • [14](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/z-1969)
Critics noted the film's hybrid character. [Pauline Kael](https://www.edgepedia.org/pauline-kael), reviewing in [The New Yorker](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-new-yorker) in December 1969, called it "almost intolerably exciting" and observed that it derived not from French film traditions but from American gangster pictures and 1940s anti-Fascist melodramas, making a political film that was also thoroughly commercial.[16](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1969/12/13/exiles-2) Roger Ebert, who named it the best film of 1969, described it as "at the same time a political cry of rage and a brilliant suspense thriller" and argued that, like [The Battle of Algiers](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-battle-of-algiers), it was no more about Greece than that film was about Algeria.[14](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/z-1969) Raoul Coutard's documentary-looking cinematography and Françoise Bonnot's driving editing drew repeated praise, along with Theodorakis's score.[17](https://film.one/film/z/reviews)
## Historical basis
The film restages events connected with the murder of Grigoris Lambrakis, a physician, renowned athlete, antiwar activist, and liberal member of the Greek legislature. On May 22, 1963, after addressing a peace rally in Salonika ([Thessaloniki](https://www.edgepedia.org/thessaloniki)), he was struck on the head with a club by right-wing extremists and fatally injured in what was presented as a traffic accident; he died of brain injuries a few days later.[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/359260/z-1969-z) • [7](https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0%2C33009%2C909563-1%2C00.html) About half a million people attended his funeral, which became a spontaneous rally against the governing right; the prime minister resigned, and a progressive youth movement grew from the aftermath.[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/359260/z-1969-z)
The real investigation was led by a scrupulous examining magistrate whose inquiries linked far-right ideologues to elements of the military and police; he was later dismissed by the government and imprisoned.[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/359260/z-1969-z) These events arose from the left-right split that had divided Greece since the end of World War II, which culminated in the April 1967 coup by a military junta that held power until free elections returned in 1974.[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/359260/z-1969-z) Costa-Gavras, a Greek who had lived and worked in France since the 1950s, received a copy of Vassilikos's documentary novel from his brother Tolis in March 1967 and judged that a feature film would reach a larger audience than a documentary with archival footage.[8](https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9781501390937_A43754189/preview-9781501390937_A43754189.pdf)
## Production
The screenplay was reworked several times during 1968, filmed at the end of that year, and released in French theaters on February 26, 1969.[9](https://librairie-walden.com/en/booksanddocuments/z/) Because the subject was politically dangerous, producer Jacques Perrin turned to the government of Algeria for support, and the Algerian state cinema office ONCIC became a production partner alongside the French companies Reggane Films and Valoria Films.[10](https://www.goethe.de/resources/files/pdf340/13th-aagff-catalogue.pdf) • [5](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/47836.html)
**The music.** [Mikis Theodorakis](https://www.edgepedia.org/mikis-theodorakis) wrote the score while under internal exile in Zatouna, Arcadia, under the junta; the screenplay could not be allowed to reach his hands despite Costa-Gavras's efforts, and he first saw the finished film in Paris in April 1970, immediately after his release.[11](https://mikis.melodisseia.gr/event/kinimatografiki-tainia-z)
**The disclaimer.** Where standard title cards disclaim any resemblance to real persons or events, Z opens with the inverse: a printed statement that any similarity to persons or events is deliberate.[12](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/z?critic=creamcrop)
## Reception and honors
At the 1969 Cannes Film Festival the film was nominated for the [Palme d'Or](https://www.edgepedia.org/palme-dor), won the Jury Prize, and Jean-Louis Trintignant won the Best Actor prize for his role as the magistrate.[13](https://panoramafest.gr/35-hronia-z/) • [2](https://galateefilms.com/en/film/z/) At the Academy Awards it won Best Foreign Language Film and Best Film Editing, with nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay; no non-English-language film had received a Best Picture nomination since [Jean Renoir](https://www.edgepedia.org/jean-renoir)'s Grand Illusion three decades earlier.[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/359260/z-1969-z) It also took the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film in 1970 and the New York Film Critics Circle awards for Best Motion Picture and Best Direction.[2](https://galateefilms.com/en/film/z/) • [18](https://www.encyclopedia.com/literature-and-arts/language-linguistics-and-literary-terms/language-and-linguistics/z)
The American release was a commercial event for a subtitled film: Yves Montand promoted it on [The Tonight Show](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-tonight-show), and it grossed $2.2 million in its first year, a sum the [Criterion](https://www.edgepedia.org/criterion) account calls unprecedented for a non-Hollywood film at the time.[6](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1327-z-and-the-new-york-film-critics-circle) A Time magazine retrospective put its take at the equivalent of $92 million in modern dollars.[19](https://time.com/1785/does-anyone-in-the-u-s-still-go-to-foreign-films-yes-indians/)
In Greece the junta banned the film outright, along with its director, writer, composer, and star Irène Papas; after the restoration of democracy it came to be shown regularly there as a memorial and warning.[14](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/z-1969) • [20](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/03064229508535997) Greek critics, by contrast, focused on how faithfully the film rendered the pre-dictatorship period, treating it as a document of the country's path to the coup.[21](https://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/theatrepolis/issue/download/1778/569)
## Legacy
Z is credited with establishing the "political thriller" as a genre form, combining a real political case with the pacing of a commercial suspense film, and it remained a benchmark of that genre in later assessments.[21](https://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/theatrepolis/issue/download/1778/569) • [5](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/47836.html) It was the first of Costa-Gavras's "dossier films," a mode he pursued through L'Aveu, State of Siege, and Missing.[9](https://librairie-walden.com/en/booksanddocuments/z/) On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 94% Tomatometer from 53 reviews, and its critics' consensus describes it as both high-conscience melodrama and high-tempo action cinema.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/z)
Runtime sources differ slightly: the Cinémathèque française and Galatée Films list 125 minutes, while Roger Ebert's review and Metacritic list 127 minutes.[5](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/47836.html) • [2](https://galateefilms.com/en/film/z/) • [14](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/z-1969) • [4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/z-1969/)
## References
1. [Z (1969) – Z, Turner Classic Movies (David Sterritt, 2010)](https://www.tcm.com/articles/359260/z-1969-z)
2. [Z, Galatée Films catalog](https://galateefilms.com/en/film/z/)
3. [Z, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/z)
4. [Z (1969), Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/z-1969/)
5. [Z (Costa-Gavras, 1969), La Cinémathèque française](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/47836.html)
6. [Z and the New York Film Critics Circle, The Criterion Collection (Armond White, 2009)](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1327-z-and-the-new-york-film-critics-circle)
7. [Greece: The Story of Z, TIME (1970)](https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0%2C33009%2C909563-1%2C00.html)
8. [Costa-Gavras: Encounters with History (book preview)](https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9781501390937_A43754189/preview-9781501390937_A43754189.pdf)
9. [Z – Jorge Semprun, Vassilis Vassilikos & Costa-Gavras, Librairie Walden](https://librairie-walden.com/en/booksanddocuments/z/)
10. [Κώστας Γαβράς, 13th Athens Avant-Garde Film Festival catalog, Goethe-Institut](https://www.goethe.de/resources/files/pdf340/13th-aagff-catalogue.pdf)
11. [Κινηματογραφική ταινία «Ζ», Mikis Theodorakis archive](https://mikis.melodisseia.gr/event/kinimatografiki-tainia-z)
12. [Z, Rotten Tomatoes critics reviews](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/z?critic=creamcrop)
13. [Ζ – Πανόραμα Ευρωπαϊκού Κινηματογράφου](https://panoramafest.gr/35-hronia-z/)
14. [Z movie review & film summary, RogerEbert.com (Roger Ebert, December 30, 1969)](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/z-1969)
15. [Z, Thessaloniki International Film Festival](https://filmfestival.gr/el/films/z/)
16. [Exiles, The New Yorker (Pauline Kael, December 6, 1969)](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1969/12/13/exiles-2)
17. [Z (1969) critics' reviews, Fi1m](https://film.one/film/z/reviews)
18. [Z, Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/literature-and-arts/language-linguistics-and-literary-terms/language-and-linguistics/z)
19. [Does Anyone in the U.S. Still Go to Foreign Films? Yes. Indians!, TIME](https://time.com/1785/does-anyone-in-the-u-s-still-go-to-foreign-films-yes-indians/)
20. [Interview: Constantin Costa-Gavras: Politics and propaganda, Index on Censorship (1995)](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/03064229508535997)
21. [Από το Z στο... V: η ελληνική ιστορία στον κινηματογράφο του Κώστα Γαβρά, Θεάτρου Πόλις](https://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/theatrepolis/issue/download/1778/569)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 1960s films*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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