Review of Phaedra

Hold on to your seats---I am about to say something rather mean. Although Melina Mercouri often played sexy ladies in the 1960s, I always thought she was highly...well...not sexy (I am trying to be nice here). So, seeing her as a super-desirable vixen in a film like "Phaedra" has its work cut out for it, as I just found this aspect of the film very difficult to believe (Anthony Perkins was far more believable in his role of a heterosexual in this film). Apparently once again, the fine director, Jules Dassin, felt compelled to put his girlfriend (and later, wife) in such a leading role. I know it's all rather nasty...but I couldn't help but think this as this classical story was retold. However, despite all this, the film was, at times, very sexy--showing the director did have a lot of skill (Dassin made several amazingly good films during his great career).

Like various ancient versions of "Phaedra", the story is about a young man falling in love with his step-mother. In this film, this didn't quite work, as the pair seemed to very inexplicably fall for each other--and way too quickly. In some of the classical versions, the pair was cursed by the gods--and that is why they fell madly in love. I think this latter way of writing the story actually works a lot better and makes this mad love seem more convincing. The sour note was the ending--Anthony Perkins seemed to overact a bit at the very end. Otherwise, an interesting reinterpretation of the old story--and worth seeing.