- An old communist returns to Greece after 32 years in the Soviet Union. However, things aren't the way he had hoped for.
- A film-maker, Alexandros (Brogi), auditions a succession of old men who speak the line, 'It's me, it's me.' Tiring of the task, he goes to a café and sees his perfect actor, a lavender-seller. Alexandros follows the man to Piraeus where, it transpires, the film-maker is to meet his father Spyros, a resistance fighter (Katrakis) returning to Greece after 32 years in the Soviet Union. In "Voyage to Cythera," we follow Spyros' long and erratic wanderings in an attempt to reach the Greek island of Cythera. The man spent so many years away from all his family and friends, and is now back in his native country. Now older, filled with frustration, Spyros prefers not to talk about his past.—Anonymous
- Having spent 32 long years in exile in USSR, weary Spiros, a white-haired former fighter of the Democratic Army of Greece, returns to his hometown. Overcome with melancholy and doubt, taciturn Spiros visits his barren village, only to face an entirely different reality from the one he had dreamed of when he was younger. And, unable to fit in, Spiros chooses to live with his memories. After all, he is a stranger in his own land, an alienated troublemaker without identity.—Nick Riganas
- As the film opens, a woman from a window calls, "Alexander!" at a young boy who runs away through the Athens streets. His course ends near a German sentinel standing under an arch, his back turned toward the boy. The boy tiptoes near the soldier and, as a tease, hits him in the back. The soldier pursues the boy back along the path from which he arrived. The boy eludes the German soldier, and eventually finds his way home.
Cut to a grown-up Alexander (Julio Brogi, whose voice is dubbed by Angelopoulos himself), in a modern apartment, waking from what was obviously a dream from his childhood.
The next scene takes place in a film studio, where a roomful of old men are auditioning for a movie role. One by one, each steps toward a table and says the common Greek assertion of identity, "Ego eimai" ("It's me"). Following a break in the casting call, all the men are standing outside the studio when Alexander appears, skipping and shuffling, obviously preoccupied and lost in his thoughts. He enters a kafeneon and meets his mistress, who is sitting alone at a table. She complains that they don't seem to see each other anymore outside of the studio. Alexander does not answer as an old man (Manos Katrakis) approaches selling lavender from a wicker basket. Alexander ignores the old man's offer, but he is fascinated and follows him, trailing him through the streets to the harbor. The old man disappears as we see a large ship, the "Ukraina," approaching the pier.
This is the precise transitional point when the movie about film director Alexander morphs into a film-within-a-film, with Alexander becoming the protagonist in his own film, together with his sister, Voula (Mary Chronopoulou). They are waiting for their father, Spyros, who is returning home after a thirty-two year exile in the USSR.
We first see an old man, Spyros (Manos Katrakis), reflected in a pool of water on the pier (the same old man who was selling lavender). We then see him standing at the foot of the ship's gangway, with a suitcase in one hand and a violin case in the other. He slowly approaches his two children, and says "Ego eumai," just as the men did previously in the casting call. Alexander and Voula stand apart from their father, as if frozen. They introduce themselves. Eventually, Spyros says, "Aren't we going to kiss each other?" at which they all kiss and hug, but this "effusion" seems contrived and distant. Voula says, Mother is waiting at home."
The trio drives to a house in a modest section of town. Spyros' wife, Katerina (Dora Volanaki) is standing on the doorstep. She asks, "Have you had anything to eat?" Inside the apartment, Spyros is surrounded by members of his family who introduce themselves to him, following which he retreats to a room where his wife sits on a bed. The door closes behind him. A short time later, Katerina emerges in tears and locks herself in the kitchen, while Spyros picks up his belongings and leaves the house. Alexander runs after him, following him to a hotel. Alexander does not understand his father's actions, and he does his best to explain his mother's feelings, how she waited faithfully all these many years for his return, but Spyros is not moved.
The next day, Alexander, Voula, Katerina and Spyros drive to Spyros' ancestral Macedonian mountain village. As they near the village, the car stops and we hear a strange whistling, half-tune, half-speech, that Spyros answers in the same manner. Katerina explains that he is conversing with his old comrade, Panayotis (Giorgos Nezos), using the old secret code of the communist guerillas. Spyros leaves the groups and walk up the hill, at the top of which he meets his aged dog, Argos. He then meets and embrace Panayotis, and they walk through the cemetery, where as Spyros passes their graves, addresses by their names each of his dead comrades.
Suddenly, there is a commotion in the distance: like an army on the move, people riding and on foot approach. Panayotis explains that the whole village is coming to meet the developer of a future ski resort with the intent of selling him the entire mountain grounds. Panayotis then confesses to Spyros that ever since they were young lads, he has been in love with Katerina. Panayotis sings an old folk song about lost love and old age, "Forty Red Apples," and Spyros joins in. He stands and dances a "Pontiko," to the rhythm of Panayotis' hand clapping.
Alexander arrives where the men are singing and dancing, announcing that they should go down to the village to open the ancestral house. At the door, Katerina hands Spyros a large house key. As they enter and go upstairs, everyone removes the newspapers that had covered the windows while the house was uninhabited.
The next scene takes place on the mountain top the following day. The whole village has assembled to sign away the village grounds to the developer. All the villagers must sign, or the deal is off. Spyros walks past the assembled group and he tears down some boundary markers. He then retrieves a spade from a nearby wooden shack, and digs the ground vigorously, thus signaling that he is not selling his ancestral land. The deal is off, causing a great commotion as everybody leaves the area. Spyros remains alone on his mountain top.
We are next in the old house, where the family is assembled around the dinner table. Katerina is slicing a loaf of bread, and she identifies each slices recipient, including a possible, "stranger who may knock at our door." Outside, someone calls to Katerina, asking why she won't sign over the deed to their land--"If you don't sign, the deal is off." Katerina rises and sends the man away. Soon, another villager calls out for Spyros to get lost and let Katerina sign the deed. He shouts, "Spyros, you're deadfinishedyou don't exist." Spyros goes outside and confronts the villager who retreats, weeping.
Spyros goes back inside, and apparently talks to himself about his exile, mentioning the three children he has "over there," and we realize that Katerina is also in the room. She asks simply, "What is she likethe other one?"
Next day, everybody is returning to Athens, except Spyros. Spyros walks down the street and meets an old villager with whom he shares a cigarette. The men briefly reminisce about the Greek civil war and how they fought against each other, "man against man, wolf against wolf."
Cut to the mountain top where Spyros climbs with a spade on his shoulder. Suddenly, he stares at a conflagration: the old shack is on fire.
The police arrive in the deserted village, looking for Spyros. Alexander, Katerina, and Panayotis are also there. Eventually, they walk to Spyros' hiding place: the family's ancestral house. Panayotis establishes contact with Spyros through their whistling code: Spyros has barricaded himself in the house. Katerina walks to the door and says, "Ego eimai." Spyros opens the door and she leads him outside. The police chief (Athinodoros Prousalis) explains that Spyros is a "displaced person," and therefore his resident permit can be withdrawn at any time, should he not behave.
The next scenes take us out of the film-within-the-film, and we see modern-day Alexander following the end of a play, meeting his mistress on the stage. They make love on the floor of the empty theater. Alexander is next in his office, listening to messages left on his answering machine. One message details information about a boat's schedule to Cythera.This trip will probably be for the film Alexander wants to make about the island.
Cut back to Spyros and Katerina walking on a snowy mountain top, and then being driven in the back of a pick-up truck. They finally sit in a waiting room of a train station of a small border town. A police car arrives to take them back to the Thessanoliki harbor, where they sit in another drab waiting room. Spyros begins a short and cryptic monolog, "I hear you" Outside, the authorities discuss what to do with this old partisan.
As Alexander and Panayotis stand next to a food service truck drinking coffee, Voula arrives to inform them that an expulsion order has been issued. As they talk, a police car arrives to take Spyros and Katerina to a launch waiting for them at the dock. The launch cruises toward a Soviet ship which is leaving the harbor, and the police ask the ship captain to take Spyros back to the USSR. Because of a misunderstanding, the Russian captain refuses, so the launch returns to the harbor with its passengers.
At the harbor, preparations for a longshoremens celebration are underway. Katerina feels ill, and is lying down, half-asleep, recalling her first meeting with Spyros as he was coming to Greece as a refugee from Ionia.
It is raining. The police take Spyros again to the launch in the harbor, and they transfer him to a raft anchored in international waters. He must remain there until they get further instructions from their superiors about what to do with this "displaced person." They leave him standing in the rain on the raft, with only an umbrella for protection.
Meanwhile, although the weather is miserable, the musicians arrive and the festivities begin. There are several scenes in the kafeneon, where we see revelers singing and dancing. Katerina is asked to come up to the covered music stand and make a speech. She slowly comes up to the microphone on the stage and says," I want to go with him." The police oblige and take her to the anchored raft.
The last scene opens with Spyros and Katerina in each other's arms, sitting on the wet floor of the raft. The rain has stopped but the sun cannot penetrate the thick mist. Spyros gets up and says: "Daybreak," to which Katerina answers, "I am ready." Spyros unties the anchor and they slowly drift toward the open sea.
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