Approximately 2,500 years ago, the Athenian tragedians -- Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides -- said it all in the most eloquent and poetic terms. Everyone else has followed in their footsteps, from Goethe and Shakespeare to Mann and Beckett. More than ever, the ancient tragedies are relevant today, for their subject matter is the universal nature of man: his hunger for domination, his greed and his lust. The plays are the confirmation of the human tragedy for all times and all places. The Greek myths upon which these tragedies are based combine marvelous storytelling with symbolic associations that are the foundations of the collective unconscious of our modern world.
En 1969, Pasolini voyage à travers la Tanzanie et l’Ouganda à la recherche des décors et des personnages de son prochain film : une adaptation de L'Orestie" d’Eschyle dans l’Afrique contemporaine. Il commente à voix haute, interroge les visages, les paysages, les situations et lit de larges et significatifs passages d’Eschyle.
Il confronte ses idées, ses notes de voyage avec un groupe d’étudiants africains installés à l’université de Rome. Le film ne verra jamais le jour, mais ces notes filmées (et montées) par le cinéaste offrent une médiation sur l’indépendance, les promesses de la démocratie et le passage de l’âge archaïque à la civilisation moderne.
Euridice dans l'Hadès, numéro de code ΒΑ 2037, attend qu'Orphée la libère et la conduise dans le monde supérieur. Elle attend les ordres qui lui permettront de sortir de sa prison/domicile. Sa destination n'est pas mentionnée. Une voix provenant d'un ordinateur lui ordonne de partir.
Bien que détestant les hommes, les fières Amazones doivent par tradition s'accoupler pendant trois jours pour assurer leur descendance. Cette fois-ci ce sont des soldats Grecs qui sont payés comme des prostitués pour accomplir ce pénible devoir...
Malpertuis is the name of an old, rambling mansion which is in reality a labyrinth where characters from Greek mythology are imprisoned by the bedridden Cassavius (Welles). He manages to keep them (as well as his nephew and niece) prisoners even after his death, through a binding testament. As Jan, the nephew, (Carrière) unravels the mystery, he discovers that he cannot escape the house because Malpertuis is far more significant than he was led to believe.
The Trojan Women was one of a trilogy of plays dealing with the suffering created by the Trojan Wars. Hecuba (Katharine Hepburn), Queen of the Trojans and mother of Hector, one of Troy's most fearsome warriors, looks upon the remains of her kingdom; Andromache (Vanessa Redgrave), widow of the slain Hector and mother of his son Astyanax, must raise her son in the war's aftermath; Cassandra (Geneviève Bujold), Hecuba's daughter who has been driven insane by the ravages of war, waits to see if King Agamemnon will drive her into concubinage; Helen of Troy (Irene Papas), waits to see if she will live. But the most awful truth is unknown to them until Talthybius (Brian Blessed), the messenger of the Greek king, comes to the ruined city and tells them that King Agamemnon and his brother Menelaus have decreed that Hector's son Astyanax must die — the last of the male royalty of Troy must be executed to ensure the extinction of the line.
Hercules, at Olympus, berates his father Zeus for not allowing him to leave the gods' abode to adventure on earth. Eventually Zeus sends Hercules, on a beam, to the land of men.
The first half sums up the story of Jason and the Argonauts as they travel to Medea's barbarian land in search of the golden fleece. In fitting with the soundtrack (which features North African tribal music), Pasolini depicts Medea's people as a tribal people who perform rituals and sacrifices to secure their harvests. Their costumes and dances are based on those of Eastern European Mummers such as the Romanian Calusari ceremonies and their counterparts in the Balkans.
Le film est une captation d'une représentation des Bacchantes d'Euripide par la troupe théâtrale Performance Group, mise en scène par Richard Schechner. L'écran est divisé en deux par le système de l'écran divisé, montrant d'un côté la scène, de l'autre le public qui assiste à la représentation.
A son is born to a young couple in pre-war Italy. The father, motivated by jealousy, takes the baby into the desert to be abandoned, at which point the film’s setting changes to the ancient world. The child is rescued, named Edipo by King Polybus (Ahmed Belhachmi) and Queen Merope (Alida Valli) of Corinth and raised as their own son. When Edipo (Franco Citti) learns of a prophecy foretelling that he will kill his father and marry his mother, he leaves Corinth believing that Polybus and Merope are his true parents.
After a ship wreckage Hercules finds himself on an unknown coast. He is found by princess Virna which takes care of the wounded Hercules. After a nightly assault Virna disappeared. Hercules starts to search her and finally finds her in Atlantis where Virna had been selected to become the new heires after the current Queen Ming. Hercules gets captured by Ming's amazon guard.
The film opens with the statement that the people of Troy must once a month sacrifice a maiden lest a sea monster destroy their city. Because of this, some families flee Troy only to be captured by pirates. Hercules (Gordon Scott), aboard the Olympia, comes across one of these ships and frees the Trojans aboard. Going to Troy, Hercules is given use of two horses that cannot be wounded by arrows. He then learns from Ortag (Roger Browne) the monster's weakness: its armor doesn't cover its belly.
In Edwardian London, Professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison), a scholar of phonetics, believes that the accent and tone of one's voice determines a person's prospects in society. In Covent Garden one evening he boasts to a new acquaintance, Colonel Hugh Pickering (Wilfrid Hyde-White), himself an expert in phonetics, that he could teach any person to speak in a way that he could pass them off as a duke or duchess at an embassy ball. Higgins selects as an example a young flower seller, Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn), who has a strong Cockney accent. Eliza's ambition is to work in a flower shop, but her thick accent makes her unsuitable. Having come from India to meet Higgins, Pickering is invited to stay with the professor. The following morning, Eliza shows up at Higgins' home, seeking lessons. Pickering is intrigued and offers to cover all expenses if the experiment should be successful.