286. Theorem (Teorema)

THEOREM (Teorema)
Cert 15
98 mins
BBFC advice: Contains sexualised nudity and infrequent strong sex

In theory, the plan was sound.
I had taken six discs of films I needed to see, either on the way to the Glastonbury festival or during it (before the rest of the family had stirred themselves in our yurt).
And it all started so well. I caught up with Pier Paolo Pasolini's re-released Theorem, wedged in the back seat alongside a pile of duvets and pillows as Mrs W did the first stretch of driving.
Sadly, that was as far as the plan reached. On the second day, she blew the adaptor in my car by trying to dry her hair without switching on the engine.
Thus, no further movies were seen and this week is going to be the beginning of what is likely to be a forlorn attempt at playing catch-up.
But before that, let me recall my thoughts on Theorem - this strange tale of lust and hedonism.
It was my second recent brush with Pier Paolo Pasolini - I delighted in his Gospel According to St Matthew a few weeks back.
It has the same surreal hallmark and grabbed me in a similar way.
Essentially, it is an attack on what the working class in the 1960s would have seen as the vacuous and morally questionable bourgeoisie.
It stars Terence Stamp as a mysterious stranger who arrives at the mansion-like home of a factory owner (Massimo Girotti).
All of them, including their maid (Laura Betti) fall for him (both because of his good looks and his kindness) and, in turn, he sleeps with all of them (except the father, who he helps nurse from illness).
Apparently, there was much controversy over the film because of its hedonistic approach (even The Vatican became involved) but, of course, it is rather moderate by today's standards.
There is nudity but blink and you'd miss it and men sharing a bed with intimate implications, doesn't carry quite the same effect as it did back then.