Not many things have escaped the clutches of the crisis in Greece, but thankfully for cinema lovers, Marjoram did. Director Olga Malea had to foot the bill for production costs of her sixth feature film after funding was cut. For this, cinema goers the world over should be forever indebted to her; that’s what kind of travesty it would have been to have lost this movie to the most unfortunate of circumstances.
Marjoram is a psychological suspense drama that centres on a mother-daughter relationship. Anna (Maria Riskaki), is an eleven-year-old who strives to be the perfect daughter for her mother Mary (Natalia Dragoumi).
As the star talent of a cooking TV show for children, the overachiever appears to be in her element. Suddenly Anna suffers a cooking injury, and while most are concerned about her recovery time, the TV show’s child psychologist Eva (Youlika Skafida) sees her injury as a cry for help. After she requests to spend an hour with Anna, she notices all is not what it seems for this eleven-year-old. From starting off as a happy, functional adolescent, Anna begins to act strangely, and that’s when – slowly, slowly – all the characters in the film begin to unravel. Anna and her erratic behaviours, the mother Mary who is driven to her limits by her actions, Anna’s father who is forced to sell family heirlooms due to financial stress, and, symbolically, Eva, who identifies with Anna’s cries for help, as she did in her childhood.
For her first foray into drama, Malea has done an exceptional job with this film that is filled with taboo subjects presented in a palatable way, yet at times with a dark humour that is reminiscent of her past films – that have all been comedies. As for the young protagonist, one can only commend her for her command of the camera’s gaze and her portrayal of a disturbed youngster through no fault of her own. A young girl, trying to make sense of the world but at the same time suffering the weight of the world on her tiny shoulders – from her mother’s illness with cancer, and her wanting to protect her from harm, to entering the cooking show to save the family from financial troubles. And the tension of bearing the burden of her secret is purely palpable. And just when it’s revealed, just when you think this young child can breathe easy – as you too can as a viewer – the momentum is ramped up again with her mother in hospital, her father by her side and the young girl desperately trying to create a winning dish… with her secret herb in her woven wooden basket. Or is it?
Marjoram is screening as part of the Delphi Bank 20th Greek Film Festival on now. For screening times in your city and to purchase tickets visit www.greekfilmfestival.com.au