Based on the classic tale of "Daphnis and Chloe", the movie tells the story of a ten year old boy, Skymnos, and a twelve years old girl, Chloe, who both are eager to experience their first love. Around 200 BC a group of nomadic shepherds, who live in a kind of innocent pagan world, in the search of a new pasture land for their flock, arrive in a fishing village inhabited only by women. Tsakalos, one of the shepherds, falls in love with Arta, as young Skymnos does with Chloe. The young couple observes the older one in order to achieve their sensual awakening. But in the end when Skymnos misunderstands Chloe's rape by an other young shepherd, and as he couldn't cope with the bitter taste of betrayal, he decides to give his own tragic end to the story. We talking about a mastery made pastoral romance film by Nikos Koundouros, with excellent black-and-white photography. The sunlight and shadow provide additional visual counterpoint to the film's main thematic contrasts. Markopoulos' tender and naive music gives points to eroticism that is all over the place but never in a vulgar way.
Review of Young Aphrodites
