Medea (1969); Medea (1987)

The mother of all child-murdering mothers, Medea, subject of Euripides' classic Greek tragedy (as well as numerous subsequent literary and film adaptations), was--to quote Santana--a black magic woman who caught the eye of sea-roving Jason (of Golden Fleece and Argonauts fame), bore him a couple of sons, and returned with him to live happily in Corinth…until he decided to ditch her for King Kreon's comely daughter Glauce. And…well…hell hath no fury like a mature woman thrown over for this year's model. Filmed for Danish TV in 1987 by Lars von Trier (Dogme 95 auteur of Breaking the Waves and Dancer in the Dark), who was working from a previously unfilmed script by Carl Theodor Dreyer (and the brooding close-ups set against stark landscapes here are clearly an homage to the master), Medea stars Kirsten Olesen and Udo Keir in hauntingly natural performances as Medea and Jason, respectively, a man and woman whose raw emotions are mirrored in the windswept and wave-beaten environment. Although it enjoyed a brief theatrical run earlier this year, Medea has rarely been seen, and will surely be of interest to fans of acclaimed director von Trier. But a word of warning is in order: the pixellated, overdriven picture will strike some as bleakly beautiful and others as downright ugly. Not rated, the film contains both nudity and psychologically disturbing (though not graphic) violence. Recommended. (R. Pitman) .Anti-establishment director Pier Paolo Pasolini's (Salo--The 120 Days of Sodom, The Decameron) 1969 Medea stars the strong-visaged Maria Callas in a strikingly effective performance in the title role, but aside from some interesting staging and imagery, the endless monologues are tedious. On the technical side, while the English subtitles are readable, the studio-dubbed Italian dialogue doesn't sync up well with lip movements, and even though the print is only moderately worn, there is an excessive amount of cropping in the very slightly matted image (in fact, letters are clearly lopped off during the opening credits). Not recommended. (T. Rich)