The Countess of Corfu 1972

Antzolina, Rena Vlahopoulou, is an aging Corfiote aristocrat whose fortunes have waned. She now teaches piano to make ends meet, all the while cherishing memories of a long-lost romance. Her palatial Corfu mansion stands as a silent monument to past splendor, and it soon becomes the focal point of a scheme when Sotiris Karellis, Alekos Alexandrakis, an ambitious entrepreneur, arrives with plans to convert the estate into a hotel. Karellis courts the elderly woman, certain that a timely offer will coax her to sell; when she resists, he coolly reveals that he is friends with her lost fiancé, a claim aimed at shaking her trust.

An Italian musical group arrives on the island, and Antzolina extends warm hospitality to them, keeping the mansion lively. In a turn of improvisation, she steps in to help by replacing their lead singer Alinda Ricci, Ria Deloutsi, who has departed the group. But Alinda Ricci soon changes her mind and returns to Corfu, intent on rejoining the troupe. Comedy blossoms as the two singers’ identities become tangled, and the mystery of the lost fiancé deepens when he turns out to be the escort of the Italian singer — Pipis Karretas, Orfeas Zahos — a surprising twist that binds the fates of the characters.

Set against the backdrop of Papadopoulos-era Greece, the film quietly chronicles a society under surveillance, with policemen closely shadowing the players as they move through mood and music. In the end, love and laughter prevail, and the suitor Sotiris Karellis Alekos Alexandrakis finds his heart drawn to Antzolina, softening his ambitions and sealing a hopeful, convivial finale for all.