HIS LIFE REDUCED TO ABSURD MELANCHOLY, DEGRADED BY THE FEELING OF SOMETHING LOST FOREVER.
it’s just so brilliant how pasolini uses a single mysterious presence to strip away every illusion a family has about themselves. trust me it’s not really about sex but it’s about what happens when something sacred, or even just unbearably real, enters a life built on comfort and appearances. the visitor exposes the fragile shells of the bourgeois world, and once he leaves, all that’s left is silence and collapse.
i don’t think pasolini just wanted to tear down the bourgeoisie (though he clearly did). i think he wanted to show how we’ve lost the language to even deal with the sacred. when grace or truth comes crashing into our lives, do we know what to do with it? or do we collapse into madness, clinging to money, roles, identities that mean nothing in the end? it kinda reminded me of Dostoevsky, or even Lacan like the idea that the most terrifying thing isn’t losing comfort, but being forced to confront the void underneath it all.
the visitor as desire unchained, or as a shadow archetype each character must confront. he reveals the truth of who they are, not through words, but through contact that bypasses reason. the maid becomes saint-like, returning to the earth; the father walks into the desert, lost without his wealth and title. it reminded me of Dostoevsky’s characters too, how an encounter with grace or suffering either transforms you or destroys you.
for me, the film is about how unprepared we are for the sacred in a world obsessed with surfaces. we’ve lost the language for transcendence, so when it arrives, it feels like madness. pasolini isn’t just attacking capitalism but he’s showing that our very souls are empty when we reduce life to possessions and roles. and honestly, that’s lil bit terrifies me, because i see parts of myself in that emptiness. what would happen if something holy came into my life? would i find meaning, or would I collapse into the void? idk lol.
i just love how pasolini makes films that don’t care about being understood they care about cutting straight to the wound. this film felt like being asked a question i don’t know how to answer. if something sacred walked into my life today, would it save me or would i fall apart like them?
i found the title ironic but also perfect. life isn’t math there’s no tidy proof that explains desire, faith, or the void we carry inside. by calling it Teorema, pasolini almost mocks the idea that existence can be explained logically. each character becomes a variable, each reaction a possible outcome when confronted with the sacred. some find transcendence, others fall into nothingness.
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the criterion challenge 2025 𖥔 ݁˖
