Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini • 1964 • Italy, France
Starring Enrique Irazoqui, Margherita Caruso, Susanna Pasolini
A biblical film that only the Marxist, atheist Pier Paolo Pasolini could make, this starkly beautiful cinematic Passion play takes its dialogue directly from the titular holy text. Casting nonprofessional actors—including his own mother, Susanna, as the elderly Virgin Mary—Pasolini traces the life of Jesus (Enrique Irazoqui, a Spanish economics student and Communist activist) as he preaches his radical humanist message in the face of persecution. Strikingly shot amid the rugged landscapes of southern Italy, THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW is a transcendent work of raw, almost elemental power.
Up Next in Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini
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Teorema
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini • 1968 • Italy
Starring Terence Stamp, Silvana Mangano, Massimo GirottiOne of the iconoclastic Pier Paolo Pasolini’s most radical provocations finds the auteur moving beyond the poetic, proletarian earthiness that first won him renown and notoriety with a coolly ...
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Porcile
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini • 1969 • Italy, France
Starring Pierre Clémenti, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Alberto LionelloOne of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s most startling works, PORCILE (“Pigsty”) explores humanity’s capacity for barbarism through two parallel stories. In the first, Pierre Clémenti stars ...
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La ricotta
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini • 1962 • Italy
Starring Orson WellesPier Paolo Pasolini’s contribution to the omnibus film RO.GO.PA.G casts Orson Welles as a director attempting to make a film of the crucifixion of Jesus—all while he, the cast, and crew behave in the most un-Christlike ways ima...
