Scene where girl in bathing suit gives Greek monk a cigarette

An uptight English writer traveling to Crete on a matter of business finds his life changed forever when he meets the gregarious Alexis Zorba.

As she works in her tedious office job, Maria Ivanovna dreams about being married, and she has particular hopes that her co-worker Nikodim Mityushin will take an interest in her. Nikodim, though, is in love with Zina, who sells cigarettes on the sidewalk, and he frequently buys cigarettes from her even though he does not smoke. One day, a film crew uses Zina as an extra in an outdoor scene, and the cameraman, Latugin, falls in love with her. Latugin soon arranges an acting job for Zina. To complicate matters further, Zina has yet another admirer in Oliver MacBride, an American businessman who is visiting Moscow.

As the lights flicker on a warm August night, amidst vacant Athens' stillness, a modern bohemian flirts with a woman he just met at a phone booth, while strolling around the city's quiet night streets.

From a single camera position, two young women are photographed lighting a cigarette. After several puffs, one of the young ladies becomes faint, and the other one tries to revive her fallen friend.

SMOKING is a brief portrait of Maria Klonaris composed of seven shots. Katerina Thomadaki completed it in 2016, two years after Maria Klonaris' passing, from rushes shot in 1975 at the time of the filming of DOUBLE LABYRINTHE. The Greek word that appears at the beginning of the film, μετείκασμα, signifies "meta-image" and refers to retinal persistence.