Story Synopsis
A love story set amid the unstable political landscape of 1974 Cyprus. A world of beauty and innocence will be threatened, while loss and betrayal will change things forever.
A menage a trois with two brothers falling for the same woman, a prophetic staging of Euripides' "Trojan Women" at the seaside town, a passionate nationalist who is driven to the extreme: a small community living its personal stories, dreams, hidden and compelling desires, set at the backdrop of the political turbulence of that summer.
Director's Note
"The Last Homecoming" looks at a small community at a specific moment in history, just before their lives are to be changed by war. The film takes us to a beautiful Mediterranean island at the beginning of a glorious summer, where the colours and the sounds of nature portray a world of carelessness, innocence and joy. However, this atmosphere is shadowed by the political turbulence of the time, and a sense of indistinct fear fills the air.
This world is shown through the brightness of the light that surrounds the community, the simplicity of the landscapes and the strong impact of the sea, a sea that is both welcoming and embracing and also mysterious and restless. The sea is a very important visual element in the film since it can be said to carry a number of symbolisms. It is at the same time soothing and comforting and gives people a sense of continuity and belonging, since most of them have spent all their lives close to it.
The sea is also dark and unpredictable and especially for Alexandra, it represents a yearning and the need to search for the unknown. The moment Stefanos arrives at the tavern Alexandra sings of the sea; he looks at her realising that the beautiful mysterious woman who had delivered the letter to him earlier on is his brother's fiancee. Stefanos senses that she has the same wild and restless nature as the waves disappearing in the white sand. It is the sea that Alexandra keeps drawing every morning, a sea that will inevitably bring the two of them together.
Finally, the sea can also be threatening and frightening, since at the end of the film, it brings the Turkish ships that signalled the invasion. In this sense, the island itself is a hero in the story. The island and its people, who are busy living their lives, falling in love, having their dreams and hopes for the future. All this comes to an abrupt end with the break-up of war. In this sense, the political situation serves as a background for this warm ensemble cast story and is in a way the dark antithesis to the colourful activities of the characters' lives, something like a distant suspicion casting its shadows over an otherwise perfectly promising summer.
Another important visual element is the staging of the "Trojan Women", which serves as a foretelling of what is going to happen on the island. The play is a lament of the women of Troy who are being taken away as slaves- refugees. It is the idea of art imitating life and vice-versa. The impressive costumes and masks of ancient dramaturgy as well as the choreography of the chorus parts are tools for exciting cinematography, giving a pace and rhythm that orchestrate the whole film. The powerful inter/cuts between the play and the action at the end of the second act give us a strong climax. The third act starts the countdown to the Turkish invasion.
Stefanos' camera is also a dramatic as well as a visual tool to show the growing connection between him and Alexandra. In a way it is established as their own private game as well as a common viewpoint of the world. She tries to see the world through her art and he does so through his camera. By cutting to his P.O.V. through the 8mm camera lens we look at the community as from afar, as being something already belonging to the innocence of the past.
The overall feeling of the film is one of bright colours and smooth but brisk cinematography, which enhances the sensuality, passion and vitality of the characters' lives. The wild, natural landscapes serve as powerful visuals and the use of detailed period set designs and costumes depict truthfully that specific period in time, awaking to the audience a bittersweet feeling of a beautiful world that is no longer.
