Oedipus Rex (Edipo Re)
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini
Written by Pier Paolo Pasolini from the play by Sophocles
1967/Italy
IMDb link
First viewing/Amazon Prime
[box] “How dreadful the knowledge of the truth can be/ When there’s no help in truth.” ― Sophocles, Oedipus Rex[/box]
Pasolini’s primitive interpretation of the ancient tragedy made it seem to come to life.
The film begins and ends with scenes of contemporary Italy. A father is jealous of the attention his wife is giving their newborn. Then we segue to ancient Greece – not the Greece of the Parthenon but a more primitive time.
Oedipus is born to Jocasta and Laius, Queein and King of Thebes. A soothsayer predicts that the baby will grow up to murder his father and marry his mother. You didn’t mess around with predictions in ancient Greece and the parents send the infant off with a servant to die of exposure in a particularly barren location. The servant takes pity on the boy and hands him off to the servant of the King and Queen of Corinth. The childless couple adopts the boy and raises him as heir to the throne. One night Oedipus has a terrible dream and asks permission to seek an interpretation from the Oracle at Delphi.
At Delphi, the Oracle does not interpret the dream but rather predicts that Oedipus will murder his father and marry his mother. Terrified of returning to Corinth, Oedipus is guided by fate to Thebes where the prophecy comes true, unbeknownst to any of the principals. A plague forces Oedipus to determine who is infecting the community.
The Ancient Greece of Pasolini might as well be on another planet with its endless deserts and bizarre costumes. This is not a civilized time. The drama has an overblown style that just happens to completely mesh with the size of the story. Themes that have persisted through the centuries include the inexorability of Fate, the struggle to come of age, and the search for the truth. I liked this a lot. You might too if the description appeals.
