Obsessions

SUNTAN (A-minus) - This fascinating character study follows a sad-sack middle-aged doctor exiled on a Greek island where he comes alive during the summer tourist season, latching on to a group of free-spirited young adults who toy with his feelings.

Shlubby, balding Kostis (Makis Papadimitriou) is an emotional cripple, for reasons that are only barely hinted at. He melted down at his last residency, and now he is slumming as the sole physician treating locals and tourists. When Anna (Elli Tringou) and her randy pals show up in his office after her minor scooter accident, Kostis falls for her flip flirtations and accepts their half-serious invitation to hang out with them at the beach.

Ah, the beach. It is a hedonist's paradise. There is unabashedly full frontal nudity, with impossibly lean young bodies glistening in the island sun, as these young adults (they can't be much older than 20) frolic like horny high-schoolers on spring break, publicly exploring each others' bodies in various combinations. Kostis is smitten with Anna, who encourages his attention, from the moment she greets him topless on the beach (while he slathers on the sunblock, dons a floppy hat and lights up a cigarette).

This gang of three women and two men treat Kostis as a curiosity, but soon he is like a teenager himself, hustling patients out the door at 3 p.m. so that he can swing by the liquor store for beer to bring to his new pals at the beach and to stay out till the wee hours among the partying tourists and the wolfish local men. When Anna tells him she's bored with the public venue, he takes her to a more secluded retreat, where she immediately gets buck naked, plunges into the emerald waters and eventually emerges, goddess-like, with seduction on her mind -- though it's less a factor of attraction than of boredom. When his performance is less than desired, her ardor dissipates, and their relationship takes a dark turn. Soon he sees the adonises as bitter rivals, and he flips out at the most minor social snub, treating her like a straying spouse.

Kostis soon spirals into depression and a daily alcohol stupor that makes you wonder how he practices medicine during the day. The only clue to the source of his emotional instability is a music box that mournfully plays the wedding march. But it's essentially a mystery as to why he is so vulnerable to Anna's charms.

Some will be creeped out by this rather lurid tale -- the climax is violent and disturbing. But there is something strongly seductive about this sybaritic romp. The psychological struggle, like the vacationing bodies, is raw, and the carnage is distinctly carnal. The male psyche here takes a pummeling, and despite the Edenic setting, it's not a pretty picture.

MOKA (B+) - Emmanuelle Devos is riveting this tale of a mother's desire for revenge for the death of her son.

Devos and her sad eyes are never less than captivating -- check out "Violette," "Read My Lips" and "Gilles' Wife." Here, Devos plays Diane, a grieving mother who is frustrated with the pace of the investigation of the accident in which a couple in a coffee-colored vehicle (thus the title of the film) ran over her bicycling son and fled the scene. Armed with some inside information about the make of the vehicle and a description of the occupants -- including a blond female driver -- Diane travels to the city of Evian for some detective work.

She narrows down the likely suspects to an unmarried couple -- Marlene (Nathalie Baye), who runs a salon, and her hunky gym-rat boyfriend, Michel (David Clavel), who is advertising the car for sale. Diane deals with these two separately (posing as "Helene" during her makeover with Marlene), exploiting their solicitousness.

The film unfolds coolly over a tidy 89 minutes, expertly paced by director Frederic Mermoud (TV's "The Returned"), and Devos and Baye are brilliant as they go toe-to-toe, ratcheting up the tension. Diane has lost her sense of proportion, and so some of her actions are unforgivable (though understandable). The neat little twist at the end is a perfect ending to this quiet gem.