A critical review of the 1967 film (also known as “Edipo re”) directed by by Pier Paolo Pasolini.
This paper analyzes the film, comparing and contrasting it to the written play. The main body of the paper is composed of the differences between the play and the film. The paper refers to Internet research and to professional reviews of the film and play. It includes a brief overview of the plot, a character analysis, and a look at the dominant motifs in the film. It concludes by evaluating the effectiveness of both the play and the film.
“Pasolini’s film merges the ancient Greek myths of Oedipus Rex, and Oedipus at Colonus. The original play by Sophocles, Oedipus the King, is still studied worldwide. In the Sophocles version, Jocasta sends Oedipus away from his home as a baby, presumably to be abandoned in the mountains because of a prophecy that he will bring ruin on the kingdom of Thebes. However, he does not die in the mountains, as everyone expected. He grows up in another kingdom, where he hears the prophecy he will kill his father and marry his mother. He leaves the kingdom so the prophecy will not come true.”