Pause (Greek: Παύση, romanized: Pafsi) is a 2018 Cypriot drama film directed by Tonia Mishiali, who co-wrote the screenplay with Anna Fotiadou. It stars Stella Fyrogeni, Andreas Vasileiou, and Popi Avraam.
Premise
Upon reaching menopause, a Cypriot housewife's decision to no longer tolerate her husband's abuse and disrespect leads her into a world of violent and disturbing daydreams, though reality and fantasy soon begin to blur.[1]
Cast
Stella Fyrogeni as Elpida
Oriana Mantzouranou as Young Elpida
Andreas Vasileiou as Costas
Popi Avraam as Eleftheria
Marios Ioannou as a doctor
Prokopis Agathokleous as a young man
Marina Mandri as a young woman
Georgina Tatsi as Irini
Andrey Pilipenko as a painter
Production
The film's working title of Menopause was changed to Pause during filming. During development, the film was selected for consideration at two German co-production workshops in 2015: the Mannheim Meeting Place at the Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival and the Connecting Cottbus at the Cottbus International Film Festival. It was filmed in and around Nicosia throughout February and March 2017.[2][3][4]
In the book What Fresh Hell Is This?: Perimenopause, Menopause, Other Indignities and You (2021), author Heather Corinna noted that Pause offered "one of the rare sympathetic descriptions of a menopausal mental health struggle".[8]
