Medea

Genre: Greek tragedy

With: Maria Callas (Medea), Massimo Girotti (King Kresus/Creonte), Laurent Terzieff (Centaur), Giuseppe Gentile (Jason), Margareth Clémenti (Glauce), Paul Jabara (Pelias), Gerard Weiss (Second centaur), Sergio Tramonti (Apsirto, Medea's brother)

Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini

Screenplay: Pier Paolo Pasolini (based on the play by Euripides)

Release: 1969

Studio: San Marco S.p.A., Les Films Number One, Janus Film und Fernsehen

Rating: -

MBiS score: 8.4/10 

 

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.* 

 

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Story-line: in ancient times, a little boy named Jason learns that the centaur who raised him is not really his father and that he is heir to a faraway kingdom now ruled by his uncle. Once he reaches adulthood, the centaur instructs him to go home, where his uncle will give him back the kingdom if he can gain possession of the golden fleece, a symbol of power now in the hands of barbarians.  

Pluses: irreproachable acting by a commanding Maria Callas and a solid cast, daring, arty direction, a potent and eventful screenplay that develops a strange, mythical mood, adequate and sometimes bizarre cinematography, meagre yet eye-popping production values (decors, exteriors, costumes… I really liked those Pop-Tart men!), an odd musical score (vuvuzelas? Oriental kazoos?) and a stunning climax.

Minuses: the synopsis above should get you through the first 30 minutes or so but you will better appreciate the movie if you have some sense of Jason’s legend in Greek mythology. A word of advice... this film is not for everyone; it is spectacular yet very enigmatic.  

Comments: Pier Paolo Pasolini has fashioned several abstract works (TEOREMA being another) but the more cryptic his movies are, the more they make me laugh out loud. True to form, the otherworldly MEDEA provided me with a few good yuks but I also watched it for Maria Callas – in her only role for the cinema – and she doesn’t disappoint; after all, opera singers are fine actors and Maria was undoubtedly the best on both accounts. Shades of sorcery, the loneliness of exile, infidelity and ruthless vengeance in an epic package… that’s what MEDEA is all about. And the lady sure knows how to make a point…   

 

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*William Shakespeare, adapted from William Congreve.