Title of film : Oedipus Rex
Director Name : Pier Paolo Pasolin
Cast & crew :
Producer : Alfredo Bini
Editor : Nino Baragli
Cast :
Synopsis : The prologue shows the father of a child born to a couple in pre-war Italy, jealous of his son being showered with his mother’s love, abandoning the infant in a desert. The setting of the film then shifts to ancient Greece where an abandoned child is rescued, taken to Corinth and adopted by King Polybus and Queen Merope, a childless couple, and named Oedipus. Oedipus, who grows up believing himself to be the biological son of the pair, is incensed when he is called a foundling, and the very thought of this disturbs him and keeps him up at night. He then visits the Oracle of Delphi who prophesies that he would kill his father and make love to his mother. Bewildered and enraged, Oedipus runs away and decides not to return to Corinth. While walking down the sacred road of Apollo, he encounters King Laius whom he kills after being insulted, and runs till he arrives at Thebes which has been terrorized by the Sphinx to the extent that Queen Jocasta has promised to marry anyone who defeats it. Having solved the riddle of the Sphinx, Oedipus marries Jocasta who, unbeknownst to him, is his biological mother, and unwittingly invites a plague upon the city. Following a series of events which leads to new discoveries, Jocasta commits suicide and Oedipus, the faultless victim of fate, blinds himself. The epilogue takes place in modern Italy where the abandoned Oedipus, along with Angelo, goes around towns playing the flute and by the end of the film, finds his peace. Review:“Pasolini was never afraid of the potentially pretentious, and this time his control and his vision were strong and sustained enough to make everything work.” – Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
Director Bio : An)Italian intellectual, poet, novelist, and motion-picture director also noted for being an actor, visual artist, playwright, translator and journalist, Pier Paolo Pasolini (March 5, 1922- November 2, 1975) is known for having demonstrated a unique and extraordinary cultural versatility, imparting to his creation a spiritual quality whilst denying any ultimate, transcendent truth. Furthermore an outspoken philosopher, painter and linguist, he challenged social norms and made strong political statements with his unorthodox views on homosexuality, Marxism, fascism and atheism, all of which made him a highly controversial figure. His body of work focused on the underside of modern life and was defined by potent imagery and thematic juxtapositions of the sacred and the profane, the pious and the perverse, the personal and the political. “An artist, if he's unselfish and passionate, is always a living protest. Just to open his mouth is to protest: against conformism, against what is official, public, or national, what everyone else feels comfortable with.” - Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1922-1975
Filmography :
