If you’ve heard this one before, stop me. Terence Stamp, a visitor, lands in the midst of an Italian bourgeois family. This strange man has sexual relations with each and every member of the household. They are all there: a shy daughter, a repressed mother, a deeply troubled father, a sensitive son and a devoutly religious maid. Although he hardly says a word, the stranger seems to give everyone exactly what they need.
At some point he rescues her from suicide. An excited mailman heralded his arrival here as well as the arrival of death itself. When that postman comes back again, the stranger will go away. But once he is gone they realize that everything was meaningless when he loved and looked after them hence madness ensued in their steads.
It may seem like Theorem has a familiar plot because it has been adapted into numerous movies over the years. I instantly thought of Visitor Q by Takashi Miike when I considered this one. However, like many other works by Miike, the film enjoys seeing these people in immoral actions as they go through different kinds of extremities. Saltburn is another recent film with the same plot about strangers intruding into rich households and witnessing their ruin. There was even a sketch on Mr. Show, a 90s comedy series where David Cross’s character played a guest who overstays his welcome until he finally admits that he has slept with everyone including the kindly old man from the family.
The title of the film tells something about Pasolini’s aims. In Italian, “Teorema” is not just a logical proposition; it can also mean “vision” or “hunch.” It is one of those well composed Pasolini films that remind me of a mathematical formula. The film goes on in an orderly manner: the second part of the film has been divided into sections with names such as ‘seductions,’ ‘confessions’ and ‘transformations’. These are the confessions made by the people to him as he leaves telling how they truly feel about this stranger who has disturbed their lives. All except for the maid. She undergoes heavy transformation which may be because Pasolini have reflected on sexuality and spirituality.
In this film, we see how the arrival of the modern, processed era that is industrialized in nature has left a great religious emptiness among people. For example, he argues that the visitor is not Jesus as some have suggested but rather the God of Old Testament. It’s an interesting twist though it agrees with the epilogue part of this movie. He helps these individuals to realize their true selves and be awakened to their internal realities making them go insane when his comforting presence disappears all at once.
Pasolini had real affection for everyone except fascists. In some respects, therefore, in certain ways he worked for Poor Souls who were living in illusions and fears. Nevertheless, like every one of us there comes a time when he cannot stay any longer yet we must face inward nothingness alone. This reminded me of how COVID’s first year broke many hyper-social extroverts.
Some persons socialize not because they want to associate with others as much as they would like to run away from themselves. Those people who stayed at home with less potent diversions than before became scared when forced to introspect.
I feel that the emptiness of it all had something to do with this; therefore, they wasted many years for nil at a time when death was primarily on their minds. Your sympathy cannot change anything since the battle remains solitary.
This implies that each member of a family’s home cannot depend upon each other for assistance. The nuclear family is an artificial construct, which does not represent historical notions of family. The father ultimately wanders aimlessly across the desert completely naked. The daughter’s agony becomes immobilizing. Her brother paints in a frenzy as he neglects his basic bodily needs. The mother goes after strangers who looks like her husband just enough so she can relive some of that excitement again. Pasolini turns the maid into something else altogether fantastical as he continues to express his undying love and respect for the Italian peasants who are being uprooted from their traditional homes by industrialization. Like Accattone, she becomes transformed into a saint figure herself.
There reached a point in time when I wondered if the visitor represented less of one specific person than it did the experience of ego death itself as far as I am concerned.
I want to say that Theorem is Pasolini’s best film. It attempts at ideas that much of the cinema of the sixties could never quite reach in terms of visuals, structure and themes. This image is among the many contemporary art films rated as cinematographic marvels because it is so beautiful. For those intending to only watch one movie from this series by Pasolini, I suggest “Theorem”.
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