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Throughout his career, novelist, essayist, and auteur Pier Paolo Pasolini (Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom; Oedipus Rex; The Gospel According to St. Matthew) always seemed concerned with a seamless combination of the sexual and the religious. In his 1968 film Theorem (Teorema), adapted from his own novel, he occupies this same thematic space in an almost enigmatic and surreal story about a rich family, their maid, and a man simply known as “The Visitor” (Terence Stamp).

Arriving at the wealthy family’s home, the stranger quickly inserts himself into their lives and possesses a strange, almost supernatural seductiveness over all of them, male and female alike. He seduces each member of the household, not the least of which, the family’s maid, Emilia. After he works his will on them all and makes his way through each member, he leaves just as quickly as he came, leaving them all feeling empty. The seduction of their maid, in particular, seems to leave a peculiar, unsettled feeling with the rich family, as if they have been even more debased knowing this. They are left pondering what has occurred, and how The Visitor could have held such sway over them all. Was he an angel of sensuality, or, Lucifer, the bringer of light?

Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Cast: Silvana Mangano, Terence Stamp, Massimo Girotti
Country: Italy
Genre: Drama, Mystery

Teorema / Theorem (1968) Criterion Collection
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BD50 | 1080p AVC | 01:38:42 | 35.9 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Italiano, English
Subtitles: English

Extras:

• Commentary - this audio commentary was recorded by Italian film expert Robert Gordon, author of Pasolini: Forms of Subjectivity, in 2007. It initially appeared on the British Film Institute's R2 DVD release of Teorema.

• Pasolini Introduction - this archival introduction was recorded by Pier Paolo Pasolini and first broadcast on February 8, 1969. The director responds to questions from journalist Cecile Philippe. In French, with optional English subtitles. (3 min, 1080i).

• Terence Stamp - in this archival video interview, actor Terence Stamp recalls how he became involved with Teorema and talks about his early work with Federico Fellini. (Stamp played an English actor in Fellini's segment in Spirits of the Dead), his first encounter with Silvana Mangano, the Sixties philosophies and their influence on Pier Paolo Pasolini's films, etc. The interview was conducted by Rossana Capitano in London, in 2007. In English, not subtitled. (34 min, 1080i).

• John David Rhodes - in this new video interview, film scholar John David Rhodes, author of Stupendous, Miserable City: Pasolini's Rome. deconstructs Teorema. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in 2019. In English, not subtitled. (17 min, 1080p).

Teorema / Theorem (1968) BFI
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BD50, DVD9 | 1080p AVC, PAL | 01:38:14 | 31.8 Gb + 7.50 Gb
Language: Italiano, English
Subtitles: English

Extras:

Blu-ray:

• Optional alternative English language soundtrack

• Commentary - this audio commentary was recorded by Italian film expert Robert Gordon. It initially appeared on the British Film Institute's 2007 R2 DVD release of Theorem.

• Trailer - original trailer for the 2013 theatrical re-release of Theorem. In Italian, with imposed English subtitles. (2 min).

DVD

• Commentary

• Interview - in this archival video interview, actor Terence Stamp recalls how he became involved with Theorem and talks about his early work with Federico Fellini (Stamp played an English actor in Fellini's segment in Spirits of the Dead), his first encounter with Silvana Mangano, the Sixties philosophies and their influence on Pasolini's films, etc. The interview was conducted by Rossana Capitano in London, in 2007. This interview initially appeared on the British Film Institute's R2 DVD release of Theorem. In English, with optional English subtitles. (34 min, PAL).