Oedipus Rex (1967) Edipo re (original title)

Director:

Pier Paolo Pasolini

Writers:

Sophocles (play)
Pier Paolo Pasolini (writer)

Release Date:

7 September 1967 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In pre-war Italy, a young couple have a baby boy. The father, however, is jealous of his son - and the scene moves to antiquity...

Plot Keywords:

King | Italy | Fight | Queen | Oracle

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Silvana Mangano	...	Jocasta
Franco Citti	...	Oedipus
Alida Valli	...	Merope
Carmelo Bene	...	Creon
Julian Beck	...	Tiresias
Luciano Bartoli	...	Laius
Francesco Leonetti	...	Laius' Servant
Ahmed Belhachmi	...	Polybus
Giovanni Ivan Scratuglia	...	Priest (as Ivan Scratuglia)
Giandomenico Davoli	...	Shepherd
Ninetto Davoli	...	Angelo the Messenger

Also Known As:

"Edipo re" - Italy (original title)

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

Italy | Morocco

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:14+ (Ontario) | Spain:13 | Italy:VM18 | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | UK:15 (video rating) (1990) | UK:X (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Basilica of San Petronio, Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

Company:

Arco Film

Trivia:

First part of Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Mythical Cycle" also including Teorema (1968), Pigpen (1969) and Medea (1969).

Movie Connections:

Featured in Wie de Waarheid Zegt Moet Dood (1981)

Authenticity is not the issue

We do ourselves no favour by fixating on how well a film uses every little detail and line in an original text. Certainly, by those standards this is a mediocre, and possibly lazy, film at best. But at the same time there is the problem of being so liberal in one's adaptation that every goes sour, the latest attempt at "Vanity Fair" is a perfect example. But this film, along with Bresson's "Pickpocket," should stand as the rules of adaptation for every young director. Both films are very interpretative, but the directors aren't so naive as to think that mere plot details can constitute a film. So what pushes this film beyond a mere surface-level adaptation? In this case, it takes a deep insight into the nature of Greek tragedy itself. Tragedy's dualism (the representational and the chaotic) is prevalent in all Pasolini's works, it was especially essential in his "Gospel," and I was excited to see how it played out in its own source, and the results are absolutely fantastic. Visually imaginative and so intellectually superior to its contemporaries it seems out of place in film.

5 out of 5 - Essential