27 Missing Kisses

Fourteen-year-old Sybilla arrives in a small Georgian village to spend the summer with her grandmother. She freely roams the village and countryside, observing people and their routines. Mickey's voice-over introduces a promise of 100 kisses, which becomes a running motif throughout the summer.

Sybilla observes various villagers and enters some homes uninvited, learning about the intimate dynamics around her. She is often accompanied by Mickey, a boy her own age, though her attention increasingly fixates on Alexander, the 41-year-old astronomer. The episodes blend curiosity with a sense of burgeoning infatuation.

Maddening secrets of the town surface as most villagers attend a screening of the 1974 erotic film Emmanuelle. Sybilla and Mickey sneak into the theater to watch from behind the screen. The film's erotic mood amplifies the town's hidden affairs and tensions.

Across the village, intimate liaisons unfold, some comic, others more fraught. A memorable moment occurs when an engineer's affair leads to a humorous but embarrassing predicament involving an object during a confrontation. The episodes blur lines between desire and consequence.

Sybilla forms an unlikely friendship with a French ship's captain who has towed his vessel to the village outskirts in search of his 'lost sea.' She becomes a companion and confidant, sharing small moments along the harbor. The captain offers a different perspective on longing and escape.

Sybilla sneaks into Alexander's bed at night and asks him to marry her, promising she would be a better wife than the other women. Alexander is startled by the intrusion and orders her to leave. The moment marks a turning point in the power dynamics around him.

When Mickey sees Sybilla and his father half-naked outside the house, he assumes they have consummated an affair. He grabs his father's rifle in a panicked, protective reflex. The misunderstanding heightens the tension surrounding Alexander's relationships.

Sybilla runs away from the scene in fear and confusion, and she finds the French captain nearby. She decides to join him as he tows his ship toward the river, seeking escape and companionship. The moment shifts the focus from village gossip to a possible new horizon.

The captain's ship is towed toward a river, moving from the village outskirts toward open water. Sybilla continues to observe and participate in his voyage as the two form a fragile bond. The journey marks a new, uncertain chapter for them both.

As the ship reaches open water, the voyage becomes a symbol of escape from the village's gossip and constraints. Sybilla's presence intersects with the captain's search for his 'lost sea' as they drift toward an unknown future. The mood blends melancholy with stubborn curiosity.

On the open water, Mickey's voice-over repeats the refrain of the 73 kisses actually received, underscoring the bittersweet nature of Sybilla's summer. The motif centers the film's preoccupation with desire, longing, and the limits of affection. The ending remains open and ambiguous.

The story closes with the sense that the missing 27 kisses will remain unresolved. The string of episodes leaves audiences with an ache for what could have happened, as the characters drift apart along the river. The film preserves a memory of youthful curiosity and the costs of adult impulses.