Kostis is a forty something taking up the post of island doctor on Antiparos. In the winter months it's a quiet place, and his life feels drab. But as one new acquaintance delights in telling him, come the summer there will be lots and lots of 'pussy'.
The holidaymakers arrive and Kostis is called on to treat the lightly injured leg of young tourist Anna. She and her friends make him laugh, tease him, and he subsequently ingratiates himself into their group. But he is largely a figure of fun to them, a sad middle aged man trying to recapture his youth. Kostis becomes increasingly obsessed with Anna, and continues to pursue his fantasy long after she's clearly told him No.
There's a stereotypical feel to this portrayal of mid life crisis and the cruelty of youth. To engage the audience there has to be at least one significant character we can have some empathy with, but Suntan offers us nothing to latch on to. The youngsters are brash, self centred, irresponsible hedonists. Kostis is a pathetic figure who gives in to an inadvisable infatuation to the point of neglecting his patients. If we'd had some back story for him there might have been a shred of sympathy, but all we know is that his recent emotional life has been a mess. This lack of engagement made the film drag on so that it felt much longer than it was.
It became clear, early on, that Kostis' attempts at a relationship with Anna would end badly. Sadly the film itself couldn't end early enough for me.
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