After the lewd and frenetic Dance of the Seven Veils, and with the solemn pledge from the very lips of Herod himself that she could have whatever her heart desires up to half his kingdom, wanton and proud young Salomé comes before her king with an unreasonable demand. Beguiled by John the Baptist, and then scorned for the sake of his god, lascivious Salomé—encouraged by her mother, the vindictive, Herodias—commands that John be executed and his head delivered on a silver platter.
Acting
Chastain's Salomé is mesmerizing, unhinged, and terrifyingly committed.
Direction
Pacino's feverish staging of Wilde's one-act as pure cinematic delirium.
Production
Intimate stage-to-screen adaptation that suffocates in the best way.
Director
Al Pacino
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Pacino spent years developing this after his 1981 stage production, finally financing the film version himself when no studio would touch it.
The film intercuts with documentary footage of Pacino's 'Wilde Salomé' stage production, blurring performance and reality in a way that mirrors Salomé's own dissolving sanity.
US
