Medea after having helped the man she loves, Jason, and given him to birth two children, is driven into fury and vengeful madness after he decides to abandon her to become successor to the throne by marring Glauce, the daughter of Creon, king of Corinth.
Direction
Von Trier's suffocating long takes build dread masterfully.
Acting
Olesen's Medea: quiet, then annihilating.
Director
Lars von Trier
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Von Trier shot this for Danish television, adapting Dreyer's unrealized screenplay—two Danish provocateurs channeling Euripides.
The film strips away spectacle; Medea's infamous poisoned dress becomes almost an afterthought, forcing attention on her silence before the act.
DK
