Electra (1962)

Streaming on Amazon Prime | imdb | trailer (in Greek w/ no subs – sorry)

I just stumbled upon this one recently, and I am very pleased that I did. Irene Papas (Don’t Torture a Duckling) stars as Electra, and she is INTENSE. The film is based on the famous Greek mythical tale of treachery and revenge. I was impressed that every shot is extremely well composed and all the actor’s movements are carefully choreographed. This reminds me of early Pasolini, except that the cast seems to be all skilled actors. Also the dialog is almost as epically dramatic as August Strindberg’s A Dream Play. This is a very melodramatic and carefully paced film, but I personally loved it. The music is great too. I would not be surprised if Dead Can Dance were influenced by the score. Just don’t go expecting any graphic violence or other adult material and you might appreciate the film as much as I did. I could honestly see Electra getting a full Criterion treatment one day. Make sure to watch this in the original Greek language with subtitles. I tried it on the English dub and it made the movie seem cheap.

PS – There is now an Alphabetical List of all films on this site. Thank you Joe M for the suggestion!

Not available on Blu-ray

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