EIFF 2016: Suntan

Film Review by Josh Slater-Williams | 01 Jul 2016
Film title: Suntan
Director: Argyris Papadimitropoulos
Starring: Efthymis Papadimitriou, Elli Triggou, Dimi Hart

Suntan, the new film from director Argyris Papadimitropoulos, is firmly in the same mode of disturbing content and discomfort as other works from the so-called New Greek Cinema, the roster of which includes Yorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth, Alps) and Athina Rachel Tsangari (Attenberg). That said, the moves towards transgression in Suntan are fairly far removed from the weird register of those breakout hits from the movement.

Efthymis Papadimitriou (a highlight of the ensemble of Tsangari's Chevalier) plays podgy, 40something doctor Kostis, who arrives on the holiday resort island of Antiparos only to become increasingly obsessed with a tourist group of young, rarely clothed hedonists, and 21-year-old Anna (Elli Triggou) in particular. Fondness turns to unrequited love turns to obsession, and the increasingly humiliated Kostis not only begins to shed his responsibilities as the island's main GP, but to lose a basic sense of right and wrong.

Lacking the more capricious nature of some of those earlier cited films, Suntan's somewhat predictable spiral into misery-by-way-of-toxic-masculinity nonetheless offers a few distinct aspects of note. There's Papadimitriou's steadily creepy lead turn, for one, while striking images include an extreme close-up of a tongue licking an eyeball clean of sand – which also acts as a useful teaching tool should something similar ever happen to you, so fair play.


Suntan won the Best International Feature Film award at this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival – read the full list of award-winners here