Electra is a 1962 film from Greece directed by Michael Cacoyannis.
It is an adaptation of Ancient Greek play Electra by Euripides, which is distinct from a different Ancient Greek play, Electra by Sophocles, all of which are based on the myth of Electra
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King Agamemnon returns home in triumph from the Trojan War, only to be murdered upon his return by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus. Agamemnon and Clytemnestra's middle-school aged son Orestes is spirited away into hiding by people loyal to Agamemnon. Electra, Orestes's older sister (Irene Pappas), is held captive at the palace. Eventually Aegisthus and Clytemnestra marry her off to a poor peasant farmer, far beneath her station, in an attempt to basically make her into an Unperson.
Years pass. The farmer is respectful to Electra, never trying to have sex with her, and in return she keeps his house, but she still thirsts for revenge against her mother and her mother's lover. When she's found by her brother Orestes, now a grown man, they set about getting that revenge.
This was the first film in what became Michael Cacoyannis's "Greek Tragedy" history, followed by The Trojan Women and Iphigenia. Iphigenia is basically a prequel to this film, explaining just why Clytemnestra murdered her husband. Irene Pappas starred in Iphigenia as Clytemnestra after playing Clytemnestra's daughter in this film.
Tropes:
- As You Know: Just about the only dialogue in the first twelve minutes or so of the movie comes in a scene where two shepherds, who see Electra riding in a cart, commiserate about how she's been married off to some random farmer in an effort to render her unimportant.
- Barefoot Poverty: Electra when she's living in the country as a farmer's wife. Although it seems to be for show, as the farmer isn't that poor and the ladies-in-waiting hanging around Electra (in fact, the literal Greek Chorus) have shoes.
- Cycle of Revenge: Clytemnestra conspired to murder her husband because he turned their daughter Iphigenia into a Human Sacrifice to appease the gods before the Trojan War. Orestes and Electra in turn murder their mother, and are left as social outcasts.
- Deadly Bath: Agamemnon settles into a well-earned bath after coming home from ten years of war, only for his wife and her lover to throw a net over him and then chop him up with an axe.
- Disturbed Doves: Pigeons fly up into the sky as Clytemnestra screams while Orestes kills her.
- Dramatic Irony: Electra fails to recognize Orestes, whom she hasn't seen since he was a boy. A whole scene follows where Orestes passes himself off as a friend of Orestes, while quizzing Electra about what she'd say to her brother if she found him.
- Establishing Character Moment: As the family assembles to greet Agamemnon on his return, Clytemnestra puts an arm around each of her kids. Electra pulls her mother's arm off, showing that there was distance between them even before the murder.
- Greek Chorus: Electra's companions at the farm are a literal example of this, commenting on the action.
- Important Haircut: Electra hacks off her long hair after her father's murder, calling it a sacrifice to him.
- Killed Offscreen:
- Orestes killing Aegisthus is not shown. The scene with the two of them at the feast table during Aegisthus's Bacchus festival, cuts directly to a messenger coming to Electra and telling her that Orestes killed Aegisthus.
- Ditto Clytemnestra, as all we see are the women of the chorus moaning and wailing outside while Clytemnestra screams inside. The whole murder, including how Clytemnestra embraced her son and begged for mercy, is only described after the fact.
- Kubrick Stare: A wrathful Clytemnestra does this when telling Electra her motive for murdering her husband: not only did he sacrifice their oldest daughter to the gods, he brought home another woman and expected them to live as a threesome.
- Match Cut: A shot of Agamemnon's dead hand after the murder cuts to young Orestes reaching down and picking up the sword his father left behind.
- Maybe Ever After: Hinted at with Electra and Orestes's sidekick, Pylades. When a remorseful Electra wonders what man could possibly accept her love after she killed her mother, there's an immediate cut to Pylades. At the very end, as Orestes and Electra walk off separately, Pylades goes off after his master—but after a gesture from Orestes, he turns and follows Electra instead.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Orestes and Electra both go through this immediately after killing their mother. They are horrified at their action, and they both walk away separately in despair.
- Number Obsession: Abby is shown to have a counting fixation by her counting windows early in the film.
- Plot-Triggering Death: A lot of bad consequences ensue from a vengeful Clytemnestra murdering her husband.
- Psychic Link: Electra and Agamemnon seem to have one, as demonstrated by how she collapses to the ground in agony as her father is being murdered inside the palace.
- Sexless Marriage: Electra's farmer husband "respects" her. He says it's because the man who gave her away, Aegisthus, had no right to do so.
- Silence Is Golden: The whole sequence of events that starts the movie—Agamemnon's return, the murder, Orestes' escape, Electra's imprisonment—is done without any dialogue other than Clytemnestra shouting "Strike him!" at her lover as she wrestles with the net entangling Agamemnon.
- Time-Shifted Actor: Both Electra and Orestes are played by younger actors in the opening sequence, before being played by adults after the story jumps forward several years.
