My review was written in May 1989 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.
This warm and humanistic feature about the delayed impact of World War II in an idyllic beach community in Yugoslavia requires meticulous handling to attract a connoisseur audience for traditional cinema.
Second production from the team of Simon MacCorkindale and Susan George tapos a talented local director Rajko Grlic, whose visual mastery and control of atmosphere are much in evidence. In looks and mood the film resembles a '60s classic of Eastern European cinema, Jiri Menzel's "Capricious Summer".
Heading a mixed British and Yugoslav cast, Tom Conti stars as a friendly but somewhat simpleminded lifeguard at a remote lake in Yugoslavia during the last summer of the war. Though the Germans are camped nearby and there is partisan activity in progress, the conflict has pretty much passed the residents by.
Conti provides refuge for a young widow Ana (Susan George) and her son (Ntitzan Sharron), both refugees from the Germans. At the suggestion of his friend Martin (Rod Steiger), he agrees to marry Ana to protect her, since she has no papers.
In danger of losing his job since he's never had the chance to save anyone from drowning in the placid lake, Conti ironically saves a man who turns out to be the new German commandant. Saluted for the act in a ceremony staged for German newsreel cameras, Conti unwittingly becomes a pariah, hated by the locals for "collaborating".
Screenplay by novelist Borisalv Pekic (collaborating with MacCorkindale and the director) carefully develops the moral issues as well as a background of superstition that gives the film a fresh appeal and avoids the overly direct approach of so many war films. Helmer's suggestive use of odd details and symbols, such as a beautiful blonde singer who sunbathes in the nude or a giant catfish (only its bubbles and wake are glimpsed) living in the lake add to the pic's rich texture.
Bringing the deliberately paced, episodic film to life is Conti's subtle central performance. Thesp tackles the challenging assignment of playing a simpleton by avoiding cliche or obvious effect, and the result is moving without bathos.
Exec producer Susan George is self-effacing and supportive in her platonic lover role, with solid portrayals by Stgeiger and Alun Armstrong as the local innkeeper. Slavic thesps are expertly dubbed with well-conformed British accents. Grlic scores high marks for his first English-language effort.
Ace cameraman Tomislav Pinter captures painterly compositions, with striking night photography and use of the lake's mirroring surface.
