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29 Jan – 8 Feb 2026

Pity

Oiktos

Babis Makridis | Greece, Poland | 2018 | 97' | | IFFR 2018

The life of an affluent lawyer is dominated by his comatose wife. People keep asking about her state of health and shower him with consoling glances and embraces. When she unexpectedly wakes up, that comes to an end. Which is unbearable for this nondescript, nameless man. He actually derives his identity from this misery; without sympathy he feels empty. On the outside he remains civilised, but his manipulations to ensure he is thought pitiful acquire pathological forms. Whenever he receives sympathy, dramatic music swells; he has become addicted to it.

This offbeat tragedy is divided into acts, preceded by captions. Babis Makridis wrote this plot-driven follow-up to his debut L again with Efthimis Filippou (Dogtooth, The Lobster). The pleasant, orderly, sun-drenched world of the protagonist, played by comedian Yannis Drakopoulos, contrasts with his need for sadness and his absurd and slowly increasingly gruesome behaviour. He will inevitably go off the rails.

Nominated for the VPRO Big Screen Award.

Film details

Productielanden
Greece, Poland
Jaar
2018
Festivaleditie
IFFR 2018
Lengte
97'
Medium/Formaat
DCP