Teorema

Pier Paolo Pasolini - 1968
I'm a real fn of Pasolini; but I can think of very few nice things to say about this. Using lots of long shots, it is all but silent, with lots of those long mving shots, long takes, then punching in for a few, but not very much, close work.
My problem here is that there was an unfortunate essence of Louis Malle seemingly at work. What I mean is that Pasolini falls victim to symbolism, endless symbolism, making the film a rather silly crossword. The silent images mixed in with the insanely abstract shots of the desert, and of the biblical texts that are contextless on their own.
The story is interesting, oft seen elsewhere, and we have some better classical Pasolini examinations of eroticism and degradation, even if its does get a bit silly and, dar I say, pretentious in some of the artisitic mysticism and naked screaming.