Directed by Colin Theys, the latest Lifetime mystery thriller “My Father’s Murder in Greece” starts off with a great tone. However, as the film reaches its climax, it seems like what could have been a 30-minute filled with tension and thrill turned into a 5-minute torpedo with no subtlety at all. Anyway, Vaggelis Papadakis’s performance as Giorgos requires special mention because of how he portrays a difficult character with such nuance, although better writing could have justified the actor’s efforts. The story follows the journey of Allie. She visits her father, and soon someone kills him. Allie then takes extensive measures to uncover the identity of the murderer.
Spoilers Ahead.
My Father’s Murder in Greece (2024) Plot Summary and Movie Synopsis
The film starts with Allie arriving in Greece to spend time with her father, Giorgos, who left her mother, Catherine, a long time ago. But, since Allie has a good bond with her father, Catherine does not stop her from going to meet him. Later we are introduced to Kostas, one of Giorgos close friends since childhood. Kostas is a detective, and without any delay, Allie gets close to him. Allie learns that her father used to be a fisherman before he left the town and became a successful lawyer.
In the middle of this conversation, Allie shares her glances with a good-looking young man, which turns out to be a gossip topic later. They arrive home, and Allie meets with her grandmother, Yia-yia, for the very first time. Yia-yia does not like Kostas much. Later, we meet with Giorgos’s younger brother, Theo. Allie is seeing Theo for the first time. She gets the vibe that Giorgos did not know that Theo was in the house, too.
What happens on the First Night?
When everyone sits at the dining table, the situation seems a bit tense as there is no conversation taking place between Theo and Giorgos. However, Theo makes small talk with Allie since he has seen his niece for the first time. He is eager to know more about her, which brings us to Giorgos, as he seems very uncomfortable sharing the same table with Theo. Soon, a spat between two brothers takes place, and it turns into a big fight, and a name pops up…Iris.
What Allie has gathered from all the quarreling is Giorgos was in love with a woman named Iris. Theo somehow got in between that, which made Giorgos think of him as a traitor. Theo, on the other hand, justifies himself on a very different topic, saying that when Giorgos was in the States, he took care of their father’s business and their mother’s health. Giorgos asks him to leave the house. Theo leaves right then, shouting that he wishes Giorgos never came back again.
Later that night, when Allie is talking to Catherine on the phone, she hears some noise coming from the outside. She grabs a knife and roams around the house, calling her father. Soon, she finds Giorgos lying on the floor, and a figure is trying to get away from the room. Allie tries to stop the intruder. But she fails to do anything, so she finally uses the knife, which injures the intruder’s left hand. But the intruder successfully runs away, pushing Allie so hard that she hits her head against a piece of furniture and loses consciousness.
Why does Allie think Theo killed Giorgos?
When Kostas begins the investigation, Allie says numerous times that Theo is the murderer of Giorgos. There are two reasons for this: one, she saw Theo leaving the house angrily, and it was he who poured the wine into everyone’s glass. So Allie thinks Theo must have put something in Giorgos’s glass. The other thing is the intruder had long hair, just like Theo. She does not mention this, but it is easily visible to the audience. But, since the crime scene suggests that Giorgos has died of a natural cause, no one gives much attention to her.
Later, in the post-mortem, it is clearly written that Girogos died because of a heart attack. Allie tries to convince Kostas if she can get a chance to talk to the doctor who made that report. Since Theo has not been found after the incident, Allie doubts him even more. Later that night, Allie goes out searching for the boat that Theo said he owns. When she finds the location of the boat, she confronts the same guy from before with whom she shared a glance. He introduces himself as Andreas. He says that he works for Theo, and it is his nature to suddenly disappear into the sea for a few days.
How does Allie find Theo?
Catherine comes to town to help Allie in this situation and finds that she has started doubting Kostas as if he is involved in the killing somehow. When Allie tries to talk to the doctor who signed Giorgos’s post-mortem report, Kostas intervenes and stops her from questioning. Allie thinks that the murderer used one of the poisons that can mimic heart attack without leaving much of a trace. Seeing Kostas intervening in Allie’s investigation, Catherine starts to believe that there is a slight chance of Allie being right about his involvement in this.
One night before leaving the house, Allie sees Kostas’s car parked outside. Anyway, she is now almost certain of his involvement in this crime and seeks help from Andreas to search for Theo. Andreas agrees to help, and they finally find Theo’s boat floating in the sea. Andreas goes inside, and in the meantime, back home, someone enters the house and severely injures Yia-Yia. Catherine seems to be losing her mind on Kostas as well because she is not able to find Allie and, also due to this incident with Yia-yia. Kostas, however, remains calm and leaves the house to find Allie.
When Allie hears Andreas screaming from Theo’s boat, she calls Kostas and then enters the boat herself. Kostas sends the police to the location where Allie has shot the flare gun and captures Theo. Andreas shows them the poison Theo has used to murder Giorgos. Kostas says a lot of investigation is still to be done and he visits the doctor again. Surprisingly, he finds out that Giorgos’s body has been replaced by someone else. He tells Catherine this and asks her to move to a safer place with Allie, as this is the first time he thinks that Allie has been right all along. But before Kostas can do anything, someone injects something into him and kills him on the spot.
My Father’s Murder in Greece (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
Is Giorgos Dead or Alive?
When Catherine tells Allie what Kostas had told her, they get into the car along with Andreas to move away from the house. In between, Allie finds a church where she learns about Iris’s true identity. Iris is the doctor who signed Giorgos’s post-mortem report. Moments later, they are being chased by Iris, who is very enthusiastic about killing them all. Just when Allie realizes that if Giorgos’s body is removed and Iris has signed the post-mortem report, then Giorgos must be alive, a car goes past them and stops in the middle of the road. Giorgos gets out of the car and brings them to his father’s cottage.
Giorgos then explains that since he was handling the cases of bad people, there comes a time when he realizes that he must leave this all behind to live in peace or else those people may come for him one day. So, with Iris’s help, he plans everything, but he does not know why Iris’s motive suddenly changes. Soon, Giorgos feels pain in his chest, and it is revealed that Andreas has put the poison in his tea. Giorgos is having a heart attack while Iris enters the cottage. She introduces Andreas as her and Giorgos’s son.
Giorgos denies it at first, but later, Iris explains that since he left her, she has single-handedly taken care of Andreas. Giorgos left Iris because he saw her and Theo together, but Iris says that it was a one-time fling. So, when Giorgos comes back to town, she decides to take revenge upon him, and she has been successful so far. However, the only thing that is remaining now is to kill Allie and Catherine in front of Giorgos.
But, the family fights together and somehow manages to survive the day as Theo also arrives at the spot along with the police. Yia-yia hints to Theo about the place where Giorgos may hide, and he takes the hint to end up at their father’s cottage. Andreas slips from the cliff of a mountain while attacking Allie and dies on the spot. Iris is arrested for her crimes. However, Giorgos does not survive the poison. At the end of the film, we see that Allie has decided to stay with Yia-yia and Theo.
Allie is seen rock climbing with her uncle as Theo gets more time to spend with her niece. Theo and Kostas were never involved in any of this, as they had never harmed Giorgo. Andreas placed the poison found in Theo’s boat. Kostas did not even know Iris’s real identity in the first place. It was Yia-yia who identified Iris only by seeing her picture and asked Theo to help Giorgos. However, it was already too late.
