Oedipus Rex

Oedipus Rex

Oedipus Rex
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Author: Alexis Mann, Christopher Plummer, Cyril Cusack, Dimos Starenios, Donald Sutherland, Frederick Ledebur, Lilli Palmer, Oenone Luke, Orson Welles, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Richard Johnson, Roger Livesey
Actor: Francesco Leonetti, Franco Citti, Julian Beck, Luciano Bartoli, Ninetto Davoli
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); Italian (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 110 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-03-14
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Water Bearer Films, Inc

DVD Reviews of Oedipus Rex

DVD Review: Opulent, riveting, strangely autobiographical OEDIPUS REX
Summary: 5 Stars

Oedipus Rex (1967) is Pasolini's opulent and riveting adaptation of the ancient myth of Oedipus, a man who unknowingly kills his father and marries his mother; simultaneously, it is a provocative reflection of the filmmaker himself. Although Sophocles' 2,500-year-old play forms the basis for the film's second half, Pasolini's prologue is startlingly autobiographical. He opens in early 20th century Fascist Italy, while using the myth's characters to recreate his parents' relationship and his own birth. He then takes us to a mythic ancient world, filmed primarily in Morocco, with vast desert landscapes and stunning native architecture (Thebes is a massive city made of adobe, which feels genuinely ancient and real). Pasolini brings a grandeur and epic sweep to his Oedipus Rex, despite its limited budget, even as he gives full weight to the intimate moments.

The film draws great power comes from the completely naturalistic performances, ranging from the leads to the minor characters (Pasolini plays a High Priest). Silvana Mangano (Mrs. Dino De Laurentiis) is outstanding as Jocasta, Oedipus's enigmatic mother/wife. Her stone-like face suggests intense erotic heat with the microscopic wrinkling of a lip. My major reservation with the film is Franco Citti as Oedipus. He appeared in seven films for Pasolini (including the title role in Accatone), and was usually exceptional, but here he brings a too-consistent harsh tone to his role. Of course, Citti's monolithic resolve, as both Oedipus the boy (who cheats to win a discus match) and king, may be Pasolini's point. Namely, since Oedipus refuses to grow, to come to an integrated understanding of who he is and what his society needs him to be, he destroys himself by willful blindness.

Visually, Oedipus Rex draws enormous force from its vivid palette and use of the harsh Moroccan sunlight, not to mention its breathtaking, sometimes outrageous sense of style. Yet the literal clarity of the film does not obscure its dreamlike qualities. Pasolini wanted to film the myth as something which takes place in an authentic setting, yet which unfolds in a period outside of historical time. Even the eclectically multicultural soundtrack, with folk music from traditions as startlingly diverse as Japan and Rumania (and this was twenty years before the popularity of "world music"), helps achieve Pasolini's ambitious goal.

Intriguingly, the real protagonist of the film is Pasolini himself, who subtextually takes on Freud's (in)famous Oedipus Complex. As he said, "I wanted to make ... a kind of completely metaphoric - and therefore mythicized - autobiography; and ... to confront both the problems of psycho-analysis and the problem of the myth." (In the half hour documentary on Pasolini included on the DVD, one illuminating section is devoted to his views on Oedipus Rex.)

Revisionist Freudianism aside, this film succeeds in bringing both Oedipus and his world astonishingly to life. This Oedipus Rex is engrossing because it works simultaneously on so many different levels. For people new to Pasolini, this representative film is an excellent place to begin. In terms of its impact on film history, you can see its influence on pictures as diverse as Fellini Satyricon (1969), Norman Jewison's Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), and Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). It shows Pasolini grappling with some of the knottiest themes of his films, and of most people's lives, namely the relationship of men and women, of child and parents, and of one man to himself. And it is at once a work of outrageous design and deep feeling, a semi-camp epic with genuine mythic resonance.

The DVD is of very good quality, especially considering the film's age. However, the Pasolini Foundation in Rome, which controls the rights, insisted that the U.S. distributor release the DVD without any chapters (i.e., it's in one continuous track), to encourage people to watch the film in its entirety. Still, it's important to have this crucial part of Pasolini's filmography on DVD.

More Oedipus Rex reviews:
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Description of Oedipus Rex

Studio: Water Bearer Films Release Date: 03/18/2003 Run time: 110 minutes Rating: Ur
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