Peter Sant

In a crowded seaside town in Malta, Dimitrios drifts through a world of concrete, haunted by a mysterious past and detached from the world around him, until he meets Annie. Like him, she has a child she never sees, has suffered love's disappointments, and lives without freedom or companionship. Fate draws them together, yet circumstances pull them apart.

On an island an old man wracked with dementia dreams he was once a king. Together with his two daughters they exist in the wake of a bizarre malady of mysterious origin on a land devoid of animal life.

Sant films two age-old olive trees as if they are engaged in lively conversation. He uses the classic film grammar of reverse shots, mostly in close-up. It does require subtitling to clarify their arguments. Not that it matters much, as the trees actually have nothing to say to each other anymore.