“Cacoyannis's third film revealed him in much firmer artistic control. It also revealed Elli Lambetti as an actress of truly tragic stature. The tale is simple; a young Athenian writer, on holiday on the island of Hydra, lodges with a family of impoverished gentility. The daughter of the house falls in love with him but he is too immature to respond to her until a disaster, provoked by spiteful, vengeful peasants, shocks him into a new awareness of his own involvement in life and its responsibilities. Lambetti's performance, at once austere and deeply passionate, and Walter Lassally's camerawork, impeccably interpret Cacoyannis's sombre story.”