''Suntan'' is a 2016 Greek drama film directed by Argyris Papadimitropoulos, from a screenplay by Papadimitropoulos and
Syllas Tzoumerkas
Syllas Tzoumerkas () is a Greek film director, screenwriter, and actor.
Life and early work
Syllas Tzoumerkas was born in Thessaloniki. He studied theatre and directing for Film and Television at the L.Stavrakos Film School and the University ...
. It stars
Makis Papadimitriou
Makis Papadimitriou (; born on 1 January 1975) is a Greek actor. He graduated from National Theatre of Greece Drama School and has appeared in more than thirty films since 2003.
Selected filmography
References
External links
*
Ye ...
as a middle-aged general practitioner on a resort island who becomes obsessed with a young female patient. The film premiered at the
International Film Festival Rotterdam
International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focused on independent and experimental films. The inaugural festival took place in June 1972, ...
on February 2, 2016, and was theatrically released in Greece on March 31, 2016.
Plot
Kostis, the new
general practitioner
A general practitioner (GP) is a doctor who is a Consultant (medicine), consultant in general practice.
GPs have distinct expertise and experience in providing whole person medical care, whilst managing the complexity, uncertainty and risk ass ...
, arrives on the resort island
Antiparos
Antiparos (; ; ; is a small island in the southern Aegean, at the heart of the Cyclades, which is less than one nautical mile (1.9 km) from Paros, the port to which it is connected with a local ferry. Saliagos island is the most ancient settl ...
, and greets the mayor. The mayor tells that, outside of the summer months, the population is around 800 and life is quiet. Kostis settles in amid Christmas celebrations, meeting several people, among them Takis, a villager who crudely assures him that the island will be overflowing with hedonistic young women during the summer.
The summer comes along and Kostis treats a young tourist named Anna, who has injured her leg. Her friends – Alin, Mila, Jason, and Morten – insist on accompanying her into the examination room and behave obnoxiously. Kostis humors them and asks Anna several questions while filling out paperwork. Anna playfully turns the questions on Kostis, who admits that he is twice her age, 21. Before leaving, Anna suggests Kostis come with them to the beach.
Kostis leaves for the beach after he is done at work. Overweight and balding, Kostis stands out at the nude beach even more for having arrived fully dressed. After taking off some of his clothing, he makes a pretense toward asking Anna and her friends if they have a lighter. Recognizing him, they invite him to join them. Kostis watches as they frolic nude on the beach, later joining them in the water. When he swims over to Anna and asks how her leg is, she shows him by doing an underwater handstand and spreading her legs in front of him while she is upside down. Kostis, infatuated with Anna, begins hanging out at the beach after work and supplying her friends with free beer. On one occasion, he turns away an elderly woman who has complained of back pain so he can leave for the beach as soon as his office closes.
At the beach, Anna invites him to join a pool party. Though initially reluctant, Kostis chances upon Orestis, a former medical school colleague who is vacationing on the beach with his family. Overhearing Kostis' invitation, he encourages Kostis to go, as the parties have a reputation for hedonistic abandon; Kostis agrees. Once there, the host urges everyone to kiss whoever is near them. The partiers make out with each other, in both heterosexual and homosexual couplings, though Kostis is only interested in Anna. They start making out, but she turns to make out with others, leaving Kostis jealous. Anna chastises him, and he wanders away from the party, dejected. Orestis, who has also attended the party, consoles him, saying that such parties are not for middle-aged men such as them.
As Kostis spends more time ingratiating himself into Anna's company, the villagers complain about his behavior, such as turning away the elderly woman. Eventually, Anna invites him to the beach with her alone, and the two have sex. Ashamed at orgasming too quickly, Kostis apologizes. Anna brushes it aside and says he will have much time over the summer to make it up to her. However, Anna is nowhere to be found for the next few days. Kostis spends the bulk of his time searching the beaches and bars for her, becoming increasingly frustrated and drunken. Finding Kostis at a bar, Takis encourages him to carouse with him. They pick up a female tourist, who eventually grows frustrated with Takis' sexually aggressive behavior. Kostis stands up for her, annoying Takis, and she performs oral sex on Kostis to please him.
When Anna finally reappears, she happily jumps into his arms. Angry, Kostis berates her for leaving the island without telling him. When she becomes offended, he apologizes and professes his love for her, but she only becomes more adamant that she does not want to see him again. Crushed, Kostis begins stalking her, watching covertly as she has sex. When Kostis forcefully attempts to dance with her at a club, the bouncer throws him out. As his life falls apart, Kostis comes in hours late to the clinic during an emergency. The mayor, frustrated with Kostis' behavior, fires him. Kostis sullenly becomes drunk, assaults one of Anna's friends, and kidnaps her. After drugging her and dragging her unconscious body back to the clinic, he takes off her shorts but doesn't go through with raping her. Upon checking her pulse, he begins crying, then cleans the original wound on her leg, and starts to restitch it, still sobbing.
Cast
*
Makis Papadimitriou
Makis Papadimitriou (; born on 1 January 1975) is a Greek actor. He graduated from National Theatre of Greece Drama School and has appeared in more than thirty films since 2003.
Selected filmography
References
External links
*
Ye ...
as Kostis
*
Elli Tringou as Anna
*
Hara Kotsali as Alin
*
Milou Van Groessen as Mila
*
Dimi Hart as Jason
*
Marcus Collen as Morten
*
Yannis Tsortekis as Takis
*
Pavlos Orkopoulos as the mayor
*
Syllas Tzoumerkas
Syllas Tzoumerkas () is a Greek film director, screenwriter, and actor.
Life and early work
Syllas Tzoumerkas was born in Thessaloniki. He studied theatre and directing for Film and Television at the L.Stavrakos Film School and the University ...
as Orestis
*
Yannis Economides
Yannis Economides (; born 1967) is a Greek Cypriot screenwriter and filmmaker, who is considered to be one of the leading creators of Cinema of Greece#Post-modern period, modern Greek cinema. His films explore themes of emotional and physical vio ...
as camping owner
Release
''Suntan'' premiered at the
International Film Festival Rotterdam
International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focused on independent and experimental films. The inaugural festival took place in June 1972, ...
on 2 February 2016. It opened in Greece on 31 March 2016 and grossed $145,858.
Reception
Critical response
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, a review aggregator, reports that 75% of 24 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 6.5/10.
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
rated it 59/100 based on nine reviews.
Writing for ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'', Jay Weissberg described it as "an unflinching depiction of one man's descent into an embarrassing vortex of desire, paired with a spectacular lack of self-awareness".
[ Neil Young of '']The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' wrote that it "wallows in the worst of human nature with little reward", becoming less plausible and increasingly difficult to find a sympathetic character as Kostis' midlife crisis worsens. At ''Screen Daily
''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned '' Broadcast''.
The magazine is primarily aimed at those involv ...
'', Wendy Ide wrote, "A deftly handled cautionary tale, there is a compulsive, creeping horror to this portrait of a man losing all self-respect."[ In comparing the film to '']Death in Venice
''Death in Venice ''() is a novella by German author Thomas Mann, published in 1912. It presents an ennobled writer who visits Venice and is liberated, uplifted, and then increasingly obsessed by the sight of a boy in a family of Polish tourist ...
'', Peter Bradshaw
Peter Nicholas Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire'' magazine.
Early life and education
Bradshaw was educat ...
of ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' rated it 4/5 stars and called it "a superbly directed, quietly devastating film about an EasyJet Gustav von Aschenbach who embarrasses himself by falling in love with a younger beauty". Glenn Kenny of ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' selected it as a "NYT Critics' Pick" and wrote that it "captures a set of specific feelings: the exhilaration and embarrassment of falling, followed by the desperate denial that one has landed in a very bad place". The ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' Gary Goldstein wrote, "Following a pathetic, self-destructive antihero who lacks redeeming values or emotional growth proves a thoroughly unsatisfying journey in the dismal Greek import ''Suntan''."
Accolades
''Suntan'' won Best International Film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival
The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), established in 1947, is the world's oldest continually running film festival.
EIFF presents both UK and international films (all titles are World, international, European or UK Premieres), in al ...
and a Golden Duke for Best Acting at the Odesa International Film Festival
The Odesa International Film Festival () is an annual film festival held in the middle of July in Odesa.
Since 2016 the festival program has consisted of three parts: the International competition, National competition and European Documentary ...
. In Greece, it won Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor (Makis Padimitriou), and Best Supporting Actress (Elli Tringou) at the Hellenic Film Academy Awards
Hellenic Film Academy Awards or Hellenic Iris Awards are a set of awards given annually by the Hellenic Film Academy for excellence of cinematic achievements in Greek cinema, replacing the abolished Greek State Film Awards. On May 3, 2010, the f ...
.
References
External links
* {{IMDb title, 3954660
2016 films
2016 drama films
2016 independent films
Greek drama films
Greek independent films
2010s Greek films
English-language Greek films
2010s Greek-language films
Midlife crisis films
Films set in Greece
Films set on islands
2010s English-language films
2016 multilingual films
Greek multilingual films