DINOS DIMOPOULOS
Bil’s rating (out of 5): BB.5.
Original title: Mia trelli…trelli oikogeneia
Greece, 1965. Finos Film. by Nikos Tsiforos, Polyvios Vasileiadis based on their play Oi Gynaikes Protimoun Tous Sklirous. Cinematography by Nikos Kavoukidis. Music by Mimis Plessas. Production Design by Markos Zervas. Film Editing by Petros Lykas.
The title pretty much says it all: a wealthy high-society family in Athens is riddled with insanity. The husband is a useless blob, the wife is a featherbrained matron, the younger daughter is a rebellious imp and the elder (Jenny Karezi) is a romantic adventuress. She has just returned from Venice where she met fellow Greek Andreas (Alekos Alexandrakis), fell in love and married him instantly; you can imagine how her fiancee, whom she’s supposed to marry that same week, feels about this. When her new husband comes home and starts chastising her entire family for their eccentricity, the happy couple break out into an argument that becomes a full movie’s worth of revenge schemes and silly entrapments on the long road to the marital bed. Bright, colourful and thoroughly silly, this one isn’t even good enough to be fluff. It feels more like a collection of scenarios from better movies strung together, but the performers all give it their energy and the dancing is fun to watch.