Teorema

Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini. 1968, 98 mins. Archival 35mm print. In Italian with English subtitles. With Silvana Mangano, Terence Stamp, Massimo Girotti.
“In Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Teorema, an irresistible Terence Stamp stars as The Visitor, a stranger who casually works his way through a Milanese bourgeoisie family’s estate, has sex with everyone, and then disappears. His absence slowly drives everyone crazy: The mother becomes a sex addict, the daughter is driven into a catatonic stupor, the gay son retreats into artistic self-loathing, and the patriarch runs naked and stark raving mad into the abyss of the volcanic desert of Mount Etna. Only the devoutly religious maid briefly escapes madness, transforming into a miracle worker before burying herself alive. Pasolini’s Visitor is Desire itself, ripping through all order, a destabilizing force that grants liberation only for those brave enough to take on the revolution it brings.”—Michael Palmieri