"Teorema", directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini is a an obscure film that will not gratify the casual viewer because the use of symbolism in the narrative. This film is problematic, but we are given clues at the beginning of it, so it makes a bit of a difference putting all the elements together to come to a conclusion.
It was significant this film was made in 1968 at the height of the students' unrest in Paris and other places. Pasolini was influenced by what was happening as he makes a stand about what he perceived what was the evil in the society in which he lived. The film begins with a discussion about the role of the bourgeoisie and how it affected the workers. We also observe an industrial complex in Northern Italy that is empty of all activity. Like most Italian film makers, Pasolini's leanings were left of center and the communist emblem is clearly visible in the movie.
The scene changes to Lucia and Paolo's villa. They are having a party in which the young man, or "the visitor", is seen lounging among the guests. This man, a handsome stranger, is seen in later scenes as having sexual relations with all the members of the wealthy family, including the maid. It's evident the father realizes what's going on between the visitor and his wife, as well as with the son and the daughter because he himself is involved with the young man.
When the visitor announces suddenly his departure, the family falls apart. One of the most affected is the maid, who goes back to a place in the country where she sits for a quite some time before levitating above the house, creating a religious event in which she is probably seen as a saint, or at least miraculous. Emilia is taken to a place where she is being buried alive and her tears form a puddle on the ground.
Back in the house, everyone else is affected in a different fashion. Odetta, is perhaps the one suffering the most because she falls into a comatose state clenching her fist around an object that appears to have been given to her by the visitor. Lucia, the mother, goes out in her car looking for boys for casual sex and the father also is seen at Milan's main railway station stripping bare after he has been seen cruising a male hustler, only to be seen later on running naked through a sort of barren field.
Pasolini works as a minimalist in this story that seems to be saying the evil in that society is the rampant materialism. Only by shedding one's own accumulated wealth can one achieve salvation, as is the case with Paolo, the father. Or maybe being humiliated like Lucia is also a way of redemption. All these ideas float throughout the film with the music of Mozart's Requiem and the interesting cinematography of Giuseppe Rizzolini, who shot the film in long takes.
Terence Stamp made an interesting appearance as the visitor/angel who knows all the people in the villa intimately. Silvana Mangano gives an excellent reading of her Lucia, a rich Italian woman. Massimo Girotti, a handsome actor, makes an excellent contribution with his Paolo, and Laura Betti, is equally effective as the mysterious Emilia.
Although this is not one of Pasolini's most approachable film, it's worth a look. It's easy to dismiss Pasolini and Teorema, but this film is not a failure.
It was significant this film was made in 1968 at the height of the students' unrest in Paris and other places. Pasolini was influenced by what was happening as he makes a stand about what he perceived what was the evil in the society in which he lived. The film begins with a discussion about the role of the bourgeoisie and how it affected the workers. We also observe an industrial complex in Northern Italy that is empty of all activity. Like most Italian film makers, Pasolini's leanings were left of center and the communist emblem is clearly visible in the movie.
The scene changes to Lucia and Paolo's villa. They are having a party in which the young man, or "the visitor", is seen lounging among the guests. This man, a handsome stranger, is seen in later scenes as having sexual relations with all the members of the wealthy family, including the maid. It's evident the father realizes what's going on between the visitor and his wife, as well as with the son and the daughter because he himself is involved with the young man.
When the visitor announces suddenly his departure, the family falls apart. One of the most affected is the maid, who goes back to a place in the country where she sits for a quite some time before levitating above the house, creating a religious event in which she is probably seen as a saint, or at least miraculous. Emilia is taken to a place where she is being buried alive and her tears form a puddle on the ground.
Back in the house, everyone else is affected in a different fashion. Odetta, is perhaps the one suffering the most because she falls into a comatose state clenching her fist around an object that appears to have been given to her by the visitor. Lucia, the mother, goes out in her car looking for boys for casual sex and the father also is seen at Milan's main railway station stripping bare after he has been seen cruising a male hustler, only to be seen later on running naked through a sort of barren field.
Pasolini works as a minimalist in this story that seems to be saying the evil in that society is the rampant materialism. Only by shedding one's own accumulated wealth can one achieve salvation, as is the case with Paolo, the father. Or maybe being humiliated like Lucia is also a way of redemption. All these ideas float throughout the film with the music of Mozart's Requiem and the interesting cinematography of Giuseppe Rizzolini, who shot the film in long takes.
Terence Stamp made an interesting appearance as the visitor/angel who knows all the people in the villa intimately. Silvana Mangano gives an excellent reading of her Lucia, a rich Italian woman. Massimo Girotti, a handsome actor, makes an excellent contribution with his Paolo, and Laura Betti, is equally effective as the mysterious Emilia.
Although this is not one of Pasolini's most approachable film, it's worth a look. It's easy to dismiss Pasolini and Teorema, but this film is not a failure.