DON’T LAUGH, THE WORLD WILL SEE YOU (PRE PRODUCTION)

BY NICHOLAS DIMITROPOULOS “DON’T LAUGH, THE WORLD WILL SEE YOU” is a dramatic comedy that follows Maria, a woman in her forties, in the first days after she finds out she is pregnant. Maria, who keeps lodgings on an island, comes to Athens for her mother’s memorial service. Staying at her sister Elena’s house, she takes a pregnancy test that comes back positive. This test upsets her in that the pregnancy is completely unexpected and the father of the child is a younger man, with whom she has no interest in raising a child together. So she decides, for as many days as she will be in Athens, to go and stay at the old country house her parents had, which both she and her sister have not visited for many years. Her sister Elena, a little older, is a woman who has been in mourning for years, due to the death of her husband. She has found solace in religion, which has created tensions between them and driven them apart, whereas in the past they were very close. Elena has a daughter, Alice, who has a weakness for her aunt and a conflicted relationship with her mother. While at the cottage, Maria meets Michalis, a neighbour in his 65s who lives alone after his separation and whose company and attitude to life calms her. Confused about whether or not she should and ultimately wants to keep the child, she nevertheless makes an appointment for an abortion, which her sister finds out about and creates even more tension between them. At the same time her niece Alice reveals to her that she is in love with a girl. Through her friendship with Michalis, who manages to enjoy the small joys of life and deal with the difficulties of life with humour, and through the old objects in the cottage that awaken memories and make her get to know her parents better, she slowly reconciles with her choices, with her sister and finally with herself.