Cinema Mythologica: Oedipus Rex (1967)

Love robots, doppelgängers and tragic heroes – behind these iconic film characters lies a mythical past. Although most films are set in the present or the future, classical myths play a significant role throughout Hollywood. Countless films are inspired by archetypal narrative patterns and mythical characters, particularly when they deal with contemporary themes such as AI, gender and psychology. In the Cinema Mythologica series, a collaboration between De Uitkijk and classicist Koen Vacano, we uncover the hidden mythical layers of film history, from Oedipus complexes to narcissistic algorithms. Each film features a short introduction in English, inviting you to view the film through a mythological lens.

In pre-war Italy, a young couple have a child, but when the father becomes jealous of the boy, he abandons him in the desert. From that moment on, the film is set in ancient Greece, where the child is rescued, given the name Oedipus and raised by the king and queen of Corinth. When an oracle tells him that he is destined to kill his father and marry his mother, he flees Corinth in dismay. But then, whilst on his journey, he becomes involved in a fight and kills an old man…

Oedipus Rex is Pasolini’s own interpretation of Sophocles’ classical myth. Unlike later adaptations, which often take the path of Freudian psychoanalysis, Pasolini reduces Oedipus to his essence: a tragic hero of overwhelming primitiveness.