Pssst, want to check out Teorema in our new look?
Information
- Year
- 1968
- Runtime
- 98 min.
- Director
- Pier Paolo Pasolini
- Genres
- Drama, Mystery
- Rating *
- 7.2
- Votes *
- 7,461
- Checks
- 1,974
- Favs
- 186
- Dislikes
- 32
- Favs/checks
- 9.4% (1:11)
- Favs/dislikes
- 6:1
Top comments
-
Siskoid
Early in Pier Paolo Pasolini's Teorema, mysterious house guest Terrence Stamp has his head tilted in a Christ-like way, and that evocation turned out to be pretty relevant. There are certainly other ways to interpret this surreal film, but sex-as-religious experience is perhaps the most obvious. Stamp basically has a sexual or at least sexually-charged encounter with everyone in the household, and when he leaves, they are all thrown into an existential crisis, but are eventually inspired to different manifestations of faith (ascetic, artistic, rapturous, monastic, etc.). There's lots of religious imagery and music, but to me, this is spiritual experience absent the notion of God. All the trappings are there, with Stamp acting as Savior/Revealer, the house becoming a sacred site, followers being able to do miracles, and so on, but God isn't actually addressed. Books are important in the film - everyone reads, usually something that informs their character - but none of those books are sacred texts as we understand them in a religious context. Rimbaud, Tolstoy, the surrealists... a photo album comes nearest to "evangelizing" the characters' experience. And that's perhaps why Teorema needs to be nearly silent. Words can't adequately express the spiritual; its stand-in, sex, a vocabulary of gestures. I'm less equipped to speak to the Marxist element that's part of the film's DNA as well, so I've only partially cracked its code, I admit. 4 years 4 months ago -
dpka
1500 checks, 160 favoirites but 0 comment. We checkers don't know what to say likely. - Love it! - Hate it! - Mindf*ck! comments not fits this film. 5 years 2 months ago -
deckard.
delphine seyrig would be amazing here. she is the embodiment of the "classy bourgeoisie". 1 year 10 months ago
Friends
Login to see which of your friends have seen this movie!In 8 official lists
-
This movie ranks #26 in BFI Flare's The Best LGBTQ+ Films of All Time
BFI Flare's The Best LGB…
26 -
This movie ranks #219 in Roy Menarini's Il Grande Cinema Italiano
Roy Menarini's Il Grande…
219 -
This movie ranks #353 in 366 Weird Movies
366 Weird Movies
353 -
This movie ranks #381 in TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest Films
TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest F…
381 -
This movie ranks #446 in Sight & Sound's The Greatest Films of All Time
Sight & Sound's The Grea…
446 -
This movie ranks #577 in Jonathan Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema
Jonathan Rosenbaum's Ess…
577 -
This movie ranks #698 in David Thomson's Have You Seen?
David Thomson's Have You…
698 -
This movie ranks #1238 in The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection
1238