The Engagement of Anna (To Proxenio Tis Annas)
“The sunny garden of a middleclass Greek household is the main setting for this cutting social satire which succeeds mainly because it never raises its voice unduly. The relatives, friends and hangers-on gather in the garden eventually to celebrate the engagement of Anna the maid, a quiet, repressed girl from the country confronted with a situation she does not fully comprehend. The director, Pantelis, manages to suggest all kinds of deprivations and social and religious pressures as he contrasts the noisy bustle of the family life around her with the girl's first, almost silent encounter with her ‘bridegroom' and the events which lead to her departure from the house. The atmosphere of heat, lethargy and sudden outbursts of passion is brilliantly conveyed in rich color photography, the ensemble playing is excellent, and the glancing, yet probing, tone of the direction is somewhat reminiscent of Torre Nilsson's early studies of bourgeois society in his own country.”