The relationship between a filmmaker and his or her audience is a tricky one. Artists have a vision of what they want to create, and audiences have expectations of what they want. If an audience pushes a filmmaker too hard to conform to their expectations, then filmmakers will be dissuaded from pushing the medium. On the other side, if a filmmaker pursues a vision disregarding the audience's need to understand the film, then even the most thoughtful audience member will feel bored, angry, or resentful toward the filmmaker for not making the film accessible. Medea is a movie that should be an engrossing, passionate story of love and jealousy, but director Pier Paolo Pasolini made a confusing art movie mess.
Medea follows Jason of the Argonauts (Giuseppe Gentile) as he is raised by a centaur (Laurent Terzieff) and then tries to reclaim his throne from his uncle by fetching a famed golden fleece from a foreign land. Medea (Maria Callas) falls for Jason and helps Jason reclaim the golden fleece, even killing her own brother in the process. Medea and Jason are lovers and have several children together, but then he agrees to an arranged marriage to Princess Glauce (Margareth Clementi). Full of jealousy and rage, Medea sends an enchanted gift to Princess Glauce which causes her to commit suicide, and Medea kills her sons and sets the palace ablaze.
From that description, Medea sounds really interesting, and that's because the source material is timeless. The problem is that the dialogue is either long-winded exposition from the centaur or insane screaming from Medea or the other women. Besides that, the soundtrack sounds like a middle school band that has just gotten their instruments for the first time, and the color scheme is so bland with tans and browns everywhere. The sum of these parts is a lifeless movie that swings from long silent shots of the desert to cacophony of ugly music and screeching dialogue. Director Pier Paolo Pasolini might have been following his pure artistic vision in Medea, but his decisions were selfish and in my opinion made a poor film.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Special features include a trailer for the film and a documentary about the life and career of star Maria Callas.
"Medea" is on sale December 6, 2011 and is not rated. Drama, Foreign, Romance. Written and directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. Starring Giuseppe Gentile, Laurent Terzieff, Margareth Clementi, Maria Callas.
