Shortly after his wife's funeral, Panayotis confronts his close friend Yannis, a maestro, with a photo he found of him and his late wife Maria, taken under a date tree. Yannis, practicing the violin he used to play during duets with pianist Maria, is dumbstruck.
Panayotis is certain the photo proves Maria's infidelity, and he knows of no date trees in Greece. The maestro, shielded by his violin case, explains his side of the story in a brilliantly paced rapid-fire exchange that ensues as he spills his story in bits and pieces to the skeptical Panayotis.
The maestro insists the photo was taken on an innocent outing on a seashore in the Peloponnese but he can't recall exactly where. So they set off to find it. Panayotis cuts a wide swath across the Peloponnese renewing old flames and adding new conquests as the odd couple hurts for the date-tree.
More mature than ever Stavros Tsiolis manages to put his familiar, proven virtues (a humorous disposition, improvisation, fluid narration and impressive frame composition) at the service of a unified, central script artery that follows the journey of his two heroes towards self-knowledge. a coming to terms with their friendship as well as the encounter with death. |