Medea (1988)

but you need to love cinema

First of all - this is very far from classic greek mythology though all the characters are taken from there. It is set in scandinavian landscape, images are blurred and strangely colored, story looks terribly realistic and as this all could be. I would probably stress on coloring. Von Trier made it as a surrealist painter, with purple, violet, grey, gold washed images. Fantastic! Genuine findings everywhere. But mind the subject: this is probably not the movie you would watch again and again. Very tragic.

The sets are al based on the same platform which is modified from time to time with extra layers or backdrops, not very inspiring but this is really all about the singing. The opening chorus set the mood with white dresses stained with dirt or dried blood, but5 endowed with good voices. We learn that Jason has abandoned Medea for Glauce abd Medea has two children fathered by Jason. The story is how Medea gets her revenge. The costumes are period with a strong hint of greek mainly white for the nice people , red for Medea and something in between Neris, Medeas maid is in between. The three leading ladies are excellent, Elizabetta Scano as Glauce a golden voiced soprano..Chiara Chualli is Neris a fine rich mezzo and last but certainy not least Denia Mazzola Gavazzini, a powerful and expressive soprano, and does she work hard on this exacting role with mood swings. Cherubini writes melidy sometime romantic and very expressive to reflect Medea. It often fits the action so well that it hardly noticeable. This is not the sweetest storyline with Medea slowly plotting her revenge on Jason , not by hurting him physically but by attacking what he loves The leaflet is dire with only a bit of history about how the opera was conceived. The cast list is on the back sleeveand that is all except for a few other credite. .

A nicely staged, highly competent rendering. However , the sound and vision - at least on my copy- are badly out of synch and need repeated tweaking every 5 minutes to restore the synchronization. Great pity.

Lars von Trier is one of the film makers I like. As I know that Von Trier is a fan of Carl Theodor Dreyer, I was interested by this film. The original script was written by Dreyer. For me, it's not the best film Von Trier has made, but it fits his total work. One scene is hard and beautiful, one is plain harsh (horse).

terrible tale of the revenge wreaked by a wronged woman ,originally by Euripides. Those ancient Greeks had more of a sense of tragedy then any Hollywood movie could dream up