The read
Critics rate it 17 points higher than audiences do.
Synopsis
In pre-war Italy, a young couple have a baby boy. The father, however, is jealous of his son - and the scene moves to antiquity, where the baby is taken into the desert to be killed. He is rescued, given the name Oedipus, and brought up by the King and Queen of Corinth as their son. One day an oracle informs Oedipus that he is destined to kill his father and marry his mother. Horrified, he flees Corinth and his supposed parents - only to get into a fight and kill an older man on the road…
Ratings
IMDb7.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes89%
Critics rate it 17 points higher than audiences do.
373 audience votes
Key crew
- Pier Paolo PasoliniDirector
- Pier Paolo PasoliniWriter
Cast
- Franco CittiOedipus
- Silvana ManganoJocasta, Queen of Thebes (and unnamed Italian young mother)
- Alida ValliMerope, Queen of Corinth
- Carmelo BeneCreon
- Julian BeckTiresias
- Luciano BartoliLaius, King of Thebes (and unnamed Italian young father)
- Francesco LeonettiServo di Laio
- Ahmed BelhachmiPolybus, King of Corinth
- Giovanni Ivan ScratugliaSacerdote
- Giandomenico DavoliPastore di Polibo
- Ninetto DavoliAngelo
- Laura BettiJocasta's Maid (uncredited)