User reviews

I saw this film in 1966 at the Thessaloniki film festival so my memory of it may have faded a little but the fact that I still remember vividly the sharp and subtle humour and the satisfying mixture of political and social commentary and comedy says something about it. The backdrop of the film is the political unrest that followed the violation of the constitution by the then King and before the coup-d'etat of the colonels. This backdrop, however, is discreetly there in the background when the sound of demonstrations is heard in the salons of high society (a daily event then). The nouveau-riche character of Athenian high society (climbing the Acropolis at dawn to admire a view of the Hilton) is so real and it hasn't changed much. Some jokes are esoteric and would be lost today - for example the shipowner who drops a pocketful of coins on the couch (all but one of which are golden sovereigns): He keeps the sovereigns and gives the solitary drachma to the poor teacher of English sitting next to him saying "this drachma is yours". Nothing much but "this drachma is yours" was the slogan of the conservatives against the centre union party which the King had recently deposed.

In Athens, an indigent young man from the provinces named Dimitris is hired to teach English to Barbara, a rich businessman's daughter. To get her fluent he has only two weeks, as her husband-to-be will then arrive from England to claim her. The girl has little interest in improving what English she has and prefers trying to seduce her upright tutor. Her thwarting of convention is merely typical of her odd family, whose riches allow them to follow their whims, insulated from the life of their compatriots.

Scenes suggest that Barbara succeeds in bedding Dimitris, as also does her mother, but that is left enigmatic. What does happen is that Dimitris becomes an appendage of the household, playing cards till late at night with the mother and her friends and walking the dog. The austere left-wing intellectual, non-smoking and teetotal, has become a lapdog and plaything of his wealthy employers. When he can't take any more, he angrily announces that he is quitting over the entryphone to their luxurious penthouse and stomps away. At the other end, Barbara carries on pleading and justifying herself to uninterested passers-by.

The corruption of riches is not just overt but also erodes the protagonist's spirit. In his celibacy he is particularly vulnerable, as home teaching includes the women wandering about with little on. The lure of the privileged temptress becomes a vivid symbol of the carnivorous nature of capitalism, eating up the little people to fuel their own pleasures. Not that the film is that crass, staying instead allusive and inviting reflection.

Lovers of Greek music, poetry and song will be well rewarded by the soundtrack.