Original subtitles

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] What is this silhouette we see

in the distance on the ocean?

A woman, a naked woman rising up

from the sea foam.

(gentle music)

Her hair is a river of gold.

Her eyes twinkle like stars.

Her figure is perfection itself.

Her skin is as white as sea foam.

No mortal and no goddess has ever matched such beauty.

And because she rose up from this foam,

which the ancient Greeks called aphros,

she was named Aphrodite.

Aphrodite, sadly her beauty was tainted with ambiguity,

for her radiant grace

and her perfect smile enchanted souls,

and her violent birth incited unbridled sexuality.

(tense music)

Do you remember?

For thousands of years, Gaia, the goddess of the Earth,

was held prisoner by her husband, Uranus,

the god of the sky,

because not for one instant,

since the first morning in the world,

could he bear to be apart from her.

(dramatic music)

He remained stuck to her like a leech

and the poor Gaia was suffocating,

but Gaia wasn't the only one to suffer

from the stifling presence of Uranus.

There were their children, too.

Every time they tried to leave their mother's bosom,

Uranus violently forced them back.

This situation couldn't go on.

With a great scream, Gaia commanded her children

to turn against their father.

"Be done with him!

"Depose him, murder him, whatever you like!"

But none of Gaia's children dared

to confront Uranus, except one,

the youngest amongst them, Cronus.

His mother secretly gave him a fearsome weapon,

a sickle fashioned out of flint.

Cronus lurked in the shadows,

waiting for the moment that his father, Uranus,

who was never satisfied,

came to demand sex from Gaia.

When he arrived, Cronus leapt out

and grabbed his father's genitals,

cutting them off with one swipe of the sickle,

and hurling them into the ocean.

From Uranus' mutilated genitals poured torrents

of blood and sperm, which floated on the surface of the sea,

finally uniting with the foam and fertilizing it.

(dramatic music)

And Aphrodite was born after this very singular union.

So Aphrodite would come to symbolize

both true love and sexual attraction.

She would be the goddess who encouraged marriage,

while also encouraging men and women,

husbands and wives, to take part in extreme erotic follies.

She would lead mortals to all kinds of lust and excess.

(gentle music)

No sooner had Aphrodite risen from the sea foam,

than Zephyrus, the god of the west wind,

carried her on a shell to the shores of Paphos,

a bay located on the western side of the island of Cyprus.

Zephyrus entrusted Aphrodite to the Auras,

the benevolent deities who personified the four seasons,

so that they might educate her.

The Auras taught her elegance and charm,

and they presented her with a magnificent gift,

a beautiful gold belt, a magic belt,

which would make her irresistible to all.

Aphrodite was ready.

The time had come to introduce her to the gods.

(dramatic music)

When she made her entrance on Mount Olympus,

the assembly rose and unanimously proclaimed her

as the goddess of beauty and of love.

Zeus declared that such feminine splendor

could not remain alone.

She needed a husband.

Catching the gathering by surprise,

Zeus designated the most unlikely of suitors,

his son, Hephaestus, god of craftsmen and blacksmiths.

Hephaestus, the Lame One of Lemnos,

the ugliest of all the gods.

So deformed was he that, on his birth,

his mother, Hera, looked on him with disgust

and hurled the infant from the top of Mount Olympus.

And yet, Aphrodite was far from put off

by the ugliness of her chosen one.

She even stated that she already felt nourished

by a sincere love for him.

As proof, she would bear him children, four of them.

But none of them were the children of Hephaestus.

(dramatic music)

The day after their wedding, Aphrodite chose a lover.

It was impossible for she, who had been born

from the mutilated genitals of the god, Uranus,

to resist the fire in her belly.

(upbeat music)

Her lover was the complete opposite of Hephaestus.

It was Ares, the god of war.

He was tall, handsome, and had the body of an athlete.

(gentle music)

The moment that Hephaestus, who worked at night,

went to his forge where he crafted the weapons

and jewelry of the gods,

Ares slipped into bed beside Aphrodite

and disappeared before dawn.

This situation lasted a long while,

and poor Hephaestus didn't suspect a thing.

But like always, lovers end up making a fatal mistake.

(ominous music)

One night, lying side by side in bed,

Aphrodite and Ares unwisely continued their lovemaking

until after the first fires of dawn reddened the skyline.

The dawn was the moment when Helios, the god of the Sun,

left his bedroom on Olympus

to undertake his long daily voyage from east to west.

And one of the privileges Helios enjoyed was that,

from on high, he could see everything

that was taking place on Earth.

And what he saw that morning gave him a start.

Aphrodite and Ares entwined in the bed of Hephaestus.

Helios, like many of the other male gods,

was not indifferent to Aphrodite's charms.

He would've loved to be in Ares' place.

Feeling spurned,

he hurried to denounce Aphrodite to her husband.

Hephaestus was devastated.

Surely not the pure, lovely, sweet, adorable Aphrodite.

Caught between rage and shame,

he began to think up a plan to avenge himself,

a plan as subtle as it was fearsome.

(ominous music)

That very evening in his workshop,

Hephaestus put all of his craft to work

to forge a hunting net from bronze.

Its mesh was so fine

that it couldn't be seen by the naked eye.

Fine, yes, but impossible to break.

Then, on a day that Aphrodite was absent,

he entered their bedroom

and fixed the net to their bedposts.

Once he was sure the trap was perfectly set,

he announced to all on Olympus

that he was going on a long voyage.

As he had assumed,

his unfaithful wife did not offer to accompany him.

She kissed him tenderly,

seeing him off with affectionate waves of her hand,

and the moment he was out of sight,

she jumped with joy.

(tense music)

That night, as Aphrodite received Ares

to give full reign to their passion,

Hephaestus was there, hiding.

(tense music)

Seeing his wife unabashedly giving herself up like this,

he was seized with grief, and his hands began to shake,

to shake so much that one might wonder

if he would be able to set his trap in motion.

(trap rumbling)

But there they were,

the two lovers imprisoned by the net of bronze,

trying to fight their way out.

Hephaestus awoke all of Olympus

and invited the gods and goddesses

to witness the adultery along with his dishonor.

The gods, filled with joy, rushed to the blacksmith's side.

Aphrodite and Ares, ensnared in the net,

offered the most humiliating of spectacles.

The gods laughed and laughed.

Mockery abounded.

Apollo nudged Hermes and whispered,

"Admit it, you wouldn't mind being

"in Ares' place right now."

"Of course," replied Hermes,

"even if there were three nets."

Poseidon took in every detail of the scene.

Like Apollo and Hermes, he, too,

was smitten with the naked body of Aphrodite.

He wanted to sympathize with Hephaestus,

but finally asked him to release the two lovers.

Hephaestus agreed on the condition

that the two of them agreed to be exiled from Olympus.

And he warned darkly that,

if they didn't stick to their promise,

Poseidon himself would take their place beneath the net.

Zeus, impatient to be done with what he considered

to be a ridiculous affair,

accepted his brother Poseidon's proposal

and the case was closed.

(dramatic music)

Ares, once freed, went into exile in Thrace.

As for Aphrodite,

she didn't appear to be too bothered

by the misadventure she had just experienced.

Freed, she decided to return to Cyprus.

But before setting off,

flattered by the admiring stares from Hermes' eyes,

she gave herself to him for an entire night.

From their union, a child would be born,

half man, half woman.

Hermaphrodite.

But Aphrodite had been humiliated

and she decided to get her own back.

As the gods had mocked her,

they would pay for it.

(dramatic music)

On Mount Olympus, Aphrodite began sowing seeds

of infidelity, breaking hearts,

splitting up couples,

depriving some gods of all love,

while turning others wild with passion.

(somber music)

But one day, Aphrodite would also be caught up

in the torment of love.

An unpredicted encounter would change her life forever.

(somber music)

The daughter of the king of Cyprus,

a young princess called Myrrha,

claimed to be so beautiful

that there was no point in venerating the goddess

of beauty and love, Aphrodite.

So incensed was she,

that the goddess decided to punish her for this blasphemy.

She inspired the insolent Myrrha

with a devouring passion for her own father.

One night, Myrrha, overcome with desire,

slipped into her father's bed.

Their union lasted 12 nights and 12 days,

during which the father, bewitched by Aphrodite,

failed to recognize his daughter.

At daybreak on the 13th day,

the father discovered with fright

the trap his daughter had led him into.

He seized his sword and beseeched the gods to forgive him

for what he was about to do,

kill his daughter and then himself,

thus atoning for the immorality

which had dishonored his palace.

(exciting music)

In fright, Myrrha fled.

She ran and ran all the way to the forest,

but her father, despite his ripe age,

could still run faster.

Realizing she was done for, Myrrha fell to the ground

and implored Zeus to spare her.

(somber music)

(wood crackling)

The king of the gods, moved by her tears, agreed

and decided to save her.

He transformed her into a tree,

which took root at that very spot.

(somber music)

Even after her transformation, Myrrha continued to weep

and her tears became a treasure, a very precious treasure,

a balm of incorruptibility, myrrh.

(wood snapping)

Nine months later, the tree suddenly split open

and a beautiful infant boy walked out, Adonis.

Aphrodite was there to witness this prodigious birth.

(gentle music)

The young Adonis was a marvel to behold.

Aphrodite was already consumed with passion for him.

Adonis would be her lover.

He would be hers and hers alone,

but until he came of age,

she would need to hide him somewhere

far from the eyes of mortal woman and other goddesses.

Aphrodite carefully made a cradle,

which she decorated with flowers.

She put the infant inside

and set off to entrust him to Persephone,

the queen of the Underworld.

She thought that, in the depths of the Earth,

the handsome child would not risk being seduced.

And once he had reached the age of first love,

all she had to do was to go and fetch him.

But when Persephone saw the boy,

she, too, was taken with him,

so much so that she decided to keep him for herself,

and she raised him, mollycoddling him and showing affection,

which was far more than just motherly.

(tense music)

The years went by.

(somber music)

Aphrodite returned to the queen of the Underworld

to reclaim, as was agreed, that which was rightfully hers,

Adonis, who had turned into a magnificent young man.

Persephone refused.

Aphrodite protested.

Zeus, disturbed by the cries of the two goddesses,

decided to step in.

Since neither of them agreed to yield,

he would settle the dispute.

Adonis would live with Persephone

for the first third of the year,

with Aphrodite for the second third of the year,

and wherever he chose for the third third of the year.

Persephone demanded one condition,

that when Aphrodite was with Adonis,

she must never wear her magic belt,

the one which made her irresistible to all.

Aphrodite pretended to agree.

And on her very first day with Adonis,

she broke the agreement.

Within hours, Adonis was bewitched.

All he saw was Aphrodite.

All he dreamed of was Aphrodite.

All he could say was Aphrodite's name.

When the third third of the year came,

the months where he could choose where to live,

he decided to stay with Aphrodite.

Persephone was furious.

How dare Aphrodite trick her?

Never mind, she would take out her revenge on Adonis.

(dramatic music)

She went to Thrace to find the fiery, quarrelsome god, Ares,

once the lover of Aphrodite.

She told him that his beautiful mistress now preferred,

over him, a mere mortal, and what's more, she added,

an effeminate mortal.

His self-esteem injured, Ares exploded with rage.

"A mortal!"

The next day, while Adonis was strolling in the woods,

he was suddenly charged by a huge wild boar.

It was Ares, who had metamorphosed.

Adonis tried to step out of the way,

but was hit full on and collapsed to the ground.

Aphrodite had seen everything too late.

The handsome Adonis was dead.

(somber music)

Persephone, queen of the Underworld, had won.

From then on, Adonis would stay in her realm

until the end of time.

(dramatic music)

Aphrodite would never recover

from her first and last true love.

(sad music)

She would grieve for eternity.

While Aphrodite's charms worked on mortal men and the gods,

the other goddesses were concerned by her behavior.

They were also jealous.

They had never taken Aphrodite to their hearts.

One day a dispute broke out.

(somber music)

While all the gods were gathered on Mount Olympus

for a lavish banquet, Eris, the goddess of discord,

who hadn't been invited since she always caused trouble

at such events, suddenly burst in,

and hurled a golden apple onto the table.

The apple bore an inscription,

to the fairest one.

Everyone's eyes immediately turned to Aphrodite.

As she stood to retrieve the apple,

two other goddesses rose from their seats,

Hera, the wife of Zeus,

and Athena, the daughter of Zeus.

Of the three goddesses,

which one would be declared the fairest?

Zeus, with his usual wisdom,

decided that it was not the role of a god to judge,

but of a mortal.

He chose Paris, son of Priam, the king of Troy.

Hermes led the three goddesses to Mount Ida,

where the young Paris was tending his flocks.

He was commanded to declare which of Aphrodite,

Hera, and Athena deserved the title of goddess of beauty.

Poor Paris said he was incapable of choosing between them.

Hera weighed him up and said that,

if he designated her as the most beautiful goddess,

she would reward him with a kingdom

such as no mortal had ever ruled,

and he would be the greatest prince the world had ever seen.

The delighted Paris was about to choose Hera,

but Athena stepped forward.

(tense music)

She declared that, if he designated her,

she would make him forever invincible in combat,

and he would be the greatest hero the world had ever seen.

Won over, Paris was about to choose Athena.

Then Aphrodite stepped forward.

With her enchanting voice,

she declared that, if he designated her,

she would offer him the hand of the woman he loved,

the beautiful Helen of Sparta, who was betrothed to another,

and he would be the greatest lover the world had ever known.

This time, without hesitation,

Paris took the golden apple and gave it to Aphrodite.

And Aphrodite was intent on keeping her promise.

She removed her magic belt,

that which made those who wore it irresistible to all,

and gave it to Paris.

(ominous music)

Then she escorted him to Sparta,

where she infused the beautiful Helen

with an ardent passion for the young man.

(exciting music)

That very day, they eloped to Troy.

Neither of them knew at that time

that their deed would lead to 10 years of war,

the Trojan Wars.

(somber music)

War, yes, but a war in the name of love.

Only a goddess like Aphrodite could inspire such a war.

During the conflict, Greeks and Trojans faced each other

with comparable bravery and imagination.

(exciting music)

Unwittingly, they proved the ultimate power of Aphrodite

to have mortal men believe

that they are perhaps demigods.

(dramatic music)