Oedipus Rex

A film adapted from an ancient text. The narrative opens in Italy in the 1920s. A baby is born; the father looks at the child and there is jealousy in him. That section is short and without speech. Then the film moves somewhere else: desert, stone cities, strange headdresses and masks. This is no particular country; the narrative is cut loose from time and place. A baby is left on a mountain. A shepherd finds him and takes him to another king. Grown, Oedipus goes to an oracle and sets out to escape what he is told. On the road he kills a man in a quarrel. Then he reaches a city, solves a riddle and becomes king. There is a plague in the city. Its cause is investigated, and as the inquiry goes on the last person to learn what everyone else knows is the king himself. The last section returns to the present; a blind man walks in a modern city. It was shot in Morocco. The costumes and the music belong to no particular civilisation; Pasolini built a deliberately mixed world. Franco Citti plays Oedipus and Silvana Mangano the mother. Alida Valli is in the cast, and the director himself plays the oracle. Who it is for: anyone who likes European art cinema and free adaptations of mythological texts. Who it is not for: anyone looking for a classical narrative; the film moves slowly, there is little dialogue and the framing sections are not explained.