The miniseries won (Outstanding Sound Editing and Outstanding Special Visual Effects) and was nominated for Outstanding Miniseries . It also won a Golden Globe nomination for Armand Assante (Best Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television).
Shot by Sergei Kozlov, the miniseries uses a desaturated color palette, giving the Mediterranean an almost post-apocalyptic bleakness. The sea is often gray and churning, not azure blue. l odissea 1997
Its legacy is significant. For over a decade, it was the gold standard for Homer on screen—until the 2024 film The Return with Ralph Fiennes, which covers only the final act. It has also been used for decades in university classics and literature courses as a visual companion to Homer’s text due to its narrative fidelity. Today, L'Odissea 1997 is available on DVD and Blu-ray (often titled simply The Odyssey ) and streams on platforms like Amazon Prime Video and YouTube (often in high-definition remasters). The sea is often gray and churning, not azure blue
In the landscape of television history, few literary adaptations have achieved the grandeur, fidelity, and emotional resonance of "L'Odissea" (released internationally as The Odyssey ), the 1997 NBC and RAI co-production directed by Russian filmmaker Andrei Konchalovsky. While the title in Italian, L'Odissea , pays homage to its classical source, the "1997" moniker distinguishes it from previous silent or small-screen versions. This miniseries remains the most ambitious, visually stunning, and complete cinematic adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic, standing as a landmark in 1990s television event programming. Production Background: A European-American Collaboration The project was a massive international undertaking. Conceived as a two-part miniseries (totaling approximately three hours), it was produced by Hallmark Entertainment and the Italian state broadcaster RAI. With a budget estimated at over $30 million—an astronomical sum for television at the time— L'Odissea aimed to compete with big-screen epics like Gladiator (which would follow three years later). It has also been used for decades in
Composed by Eduard Artemyev (known for Solaris and Stalker ), the score is a haunting fusion of period-appropriate string instruments (lyre, flute) and modern ambient synthesizers. The main theme, a mournful adagio for oboe and strings, perfectly captures the loneliness of the wanderer. Critical Reception and Legacy Upon its US broadcast (NBC, May 18–19, 1997), L'Odissea received strong reviews. The New York Times called it "the rare television epic that honors its source without feeling like a lecture." Critics praised Assante’s ferocious performance, with Variety noting he "makes Russell Crowe’s Maximus look like a well-fed centurion."
While its special effects show their age (the Cyclops looks more like a Dinosaurs puppet than a horror), the emotional core, the psychological depth of Armand Assante’s Odysseus, and Konchalovsky’s unromanticized vision of war and homecoming make it essential viewing. It is not a gleaming fantasy—it is a story of grit, tears, and the relentless human need to return. “There is nothing more admirable than a man who, though he has endured every misfortune, still keeps the fire of endurance in his heart.” – Odysseus, L'Odissea (1997) Article by [Your Name/Publication] – A comprehensive guide to Andrei Konchalovsky’s 1997 television masterpiece, L'Odissea.
Meanwhile, Penelope fends off 108 suitors led by Antinous (played by Richard Treloar) and Eurymachus. Telemachus (Alan Stenson), now a young man, searches for his father.