science

The Zero Years

The Zero Years is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Zero Years rather than just read about it. In short: The Zero Years is a 2005 Greek dramatic experimental independent underground art film directed by Nikos Nikolaidis, his final film. Plot A tale of perversion and sexual dominance set in a dystopia, the film is about four female prostitutes, all of whom were sterilized, engaging in sadomasochism.

Key takeaways

The Zero Years belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Zero Years to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Zero Years from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Zero Years is a 2005 Greek dramatic experimental independent underground art film directed by Nikos Nikolaidis, his final film.

Plot A tale of perversion and sexual dominance set in a dystopia, the film is about four female prostitutes, all of whom were sterilized, engaging in sadomasochism.

Cast

Reception

Accolades The film's art director, Marie-Louise Bartholomew, won the Best Production Designer Award at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival's Greek State Film Awards in November 2005. In addition, the film was officially selected for screening at the Chicago International Film Festival in October 2005 and in October 2006 where, during both times, it was nominated for the Gold Hugo. Professor Vrasidas Karalis, an expert on Greek cinema and the author of A History of Greek Cinema, described in this book the film as "highly personal" and "hermetic." Derek Elley of Variety argued that the film, despite "excesses," has a "strain of irony" that remains constant and that it has an "off-center, ironic flavor." Karalis argued that it was derivative of Nikolaidis' earlier films and that it "confirmed the fossilization of a visual style which had transformed itself into a self-conscious manneristic extravaganza." Karalis compared the film to Luis Buñuel's 1967 Belle de Jour and Pier Paolo Pasolini's 1975 Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom. In November 2005, after the film's completion, due to the fact that it failed to replicate the earlier success of Singapore Sling (1990), Nikolaidis declared his intention to stop making movies in order to deal with music. One Italian critic had the following to say about this film:

Let us turn page with The Zero Years by Nikos Nikolaidis. This film director is one of the few that follow a precise "stylistic thread" and that look at a universe that remains steady in work after work. It is a closed world, overabundant with degraded objects set beside lavish furnitures or those pretending to be [lavish]. What is proposed to us is something between a baroque-decorated stage and a secondhand dealer's depot. In this closed setting there are agitating characters, usually humiliated and stripped women, larvas in charge of sexual practices which are anything but erotic. In this case they are four girls imprisoned, by a despotic and totalitarian Power, in some kind of brothel for customers (of the Power?) with masochistic tendencies. During a particularly strong "session," a customer nearly dies and the three women hide him in a sort of cage. Soon the Power shows up demanding an explanation for the customer's disappearance and puts the women through severe interrogations. The four female figures, spread out in age groups from youth to a sorrowful maturity, represent four stances of slaves in the face of authority (be it political, familiar, or by the group). The tissue is built with an obsessive desire for freedom and rebellion that marries to the almost-conspiratorial acceptance of the submission. All of that is ruled by the impossibility to escape a precise role – the only one that manages to get outside the door of the brothel returns inside by her own decision – together with the knowledge that there is no future and that the outside world is worse than the prison. The movie has features oscillating between the decadent and the intellectualistic, abounds with dialogues, and the direction is unable to "use the scissors" as much as it is needed. Nevertheless, in spite of these flaws, we are in front of an original text and a proposal of a cinema that, at least, is not limited to copying other experiences.

References

External links The Zero Years at Nikos Nikolaidis (Film Director/Writer/Producer) The Zero Years at IMDb The Zero Years at 5 Books, 6 Films, and... Nikos Nikolaidis: Films The Zero Years at Rotten Tomatoes The Zero Years at The New York Times Movies

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Zero Years

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Zero Years claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Zero Years before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Zero Years ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Zero Years

In research: The Zero Years appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Zero Years in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Zero Years is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2000s Greek-language films, 2000s Greek films, 2000s avant-garde and experimental films, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Zero Years outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study The Zero Years in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Zero Years means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Zero Years out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Zero Years in simple terms?

The Zero Years is a 2005 Greek dramatic experimental independent underground art film directed by Nikos Nikolaidis, his final film. Plot A tale of perversion and sexual dominance set in a dystopia, the film is about four female prostitutes, all of whom were sterilized, engaging in sadomasochism.

Why does The Zero Years matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Zero Years?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Zero Years.