Based on the plot of Euripides' Medea. Medea centers on the barbarian protagonist as she finds her position in the Greek world threatened, and the revenge she takes against her husband Jason who has betrayed her for another woman.
Acting
Callas's eyes do what her voice cannot—devastating.
Cinematography
Pasolini shoots Colchis like an alien planet, Greece like a tomb.
Direction
Pasolini's final myth film—he understood violence as sacred rite.
Director
Pier Paolo Pasolini
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Callas and Pasolini were close friends; she never made another film. This was her only cinematic performance.
Pasolini filmed in Turkey, Syria, and Italy, using non-professional locals whose 'otherness' to Western audiences mirrored Medea's exile.
IT
