Teorema

Like Jean-Luc Godard's Weekend or Alain Resnais' Last Year at Marienbad, Pier Paolo Pasolini's Teorema is one of those milestone films that defined the art house cinema landscape of the 1960s, and as such it's a film that will forever be worthy of study and debate. Whether it's “enjoyable” or “entertaining” is purely a matter of personal taste, however, and even the venerable critic Pauline Kael had to admit that she found it “intolerably silly,” while conceding that some find spiritual sustenance in Pasolini's political/sexual fable about a mysterious guest (Terence Stamp) who suddenly drops into the lives of a seemingly stable and contented bourgeois Italian family. The film's central question becomes “is he angel or devil?” (or Christ or Satan?) as Stamp proceeds to seduce every member of the family, including the maid, causing each to experience personal epiphanies and reevaluate their belief systems and their relationships to one another. Just as quickly the stranger disappears, his damage (or salvation) done. Teorema may lead many viewers to scratch their heads in dismay, but it was provocative enough to win the International Catholic Jury grand prize at the 1968 Venice Film Festival…and to be subsequently condemned by the Vatican, which attacked the jury award in an official statement shortly thereafter. Pasolini's films (like the notorious Salo) had a tendency to spark volatile controversy; Teorema was no exception, and a viewer's appreciation will largely depend on his or her tolerance for self-consciously “arty” allegorical films. For those curious about the gay and ill-fated poet filmmaker (Pasolini was murdered in 1975), the DVD includes a 53-minute documentary titled “Pasolini and Death: A Purely Intellectual Thriller,” which illuminates many of the themes that run throughout his work, and Teorema in particular. A strong optional purchase. (J. Shannon)