Phaedra
Phaedra
| 25 May 1962 (USA)
Phaedra Trailers

A modern retelling of the Greek myth of Phaedra. The young and fiery second wife of an extremely wealthy shipping magnate meets her estranged stepson Alexis and sparks immediately fly. Their love seems doomed from the beginning when she convinces him to come to Paris to meet his father.

Reviews
Harockerce What a beautiful movie!
Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film
filmalamosa This film would get 1 star if it wasn't so odd and didn't have the actors it has---it seemed like a really poor attempt to make an art movie by someone who didn't quite have the IQ to put it all together.It is in fact an update of a Greek tragedy.Perkins after many boyish winsome shots replays his psycho performance in the final moments of this...being as creepy as possible.Does any woman have a deeper voice than Melina Mercouri?...her head was bigger than Perkins.Even being as bad as it is, it is fascinating; both for the actors and it's oddity and the sheer badness of it's execution.It gets 4 stars.
alberg22 I saw Dassin's "Phaedra" in 1966 in the "Monumental Cine Censa" (long gone...) in Montevideo, Uruguay. I was 20 years old and had gone to watch the movie with my very first love. She was a couple of years younger than me, but her red hair was very similar to Melina's... We both had tears in our eyes as the Bach's Tocatta in F (from Tocatta and Fugue in F BWV 540) played on the screen. It was to be the last movie we watched together. Forty-five years have passed... and I still remember "Phaedra" and the first time I was moved by the carillon-like chords of Bach's Tocatta in F... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqnElZ4wk0U
esteban1747 The plot is not new in its complications but it is so passionate that it produces a strong intensity given by the magnificent performances of Melina Mercouri and Anthony Perkins. Melina (Phaedra) is bold in her behavior, coquette and deeply thirsty for love in the character she plays. Perkins this time is a young man and not another Norman Bates, he played well the character of Thanos's son, mad and also bold in his desire for the forbidden woman. Jules Dassin and his collaborators were able to adapt a Greek mythology story to the plot of this film but in the conditions of modern life in Greece. The film although black and white gives an idea of Athens for the foreigners, port areas, dancing, and other customs. Regarding Thanos played by Raf Vallone, he looked as if he were real Aristoteles Onassis, the prominent Greek shipping magnate who, years after the assassination of John Kennedy, married Jacqueline Bouvier i.e. the Kennedy's widow. This film is excellent presumably made with low budget but with outstanding direction of Jules Dassin and acting of Melina Mercouri, Perkins and Vallone.
chayward-590-787358 Saw Phaedra as a teen in 1962 and have been haunted by the final scenes ever since; specifically, the organ music piece playing as Perkins drives the car. What is that piece, ie, BWV# of that Bach music? I have been trying to re-hear that for many years. Anybody know? Many thnx for an answer.The chariot/car was an Aston-Martin DB3, one of the few credible British critiques of/responses to Enzo Ferrari's exuberant creations of that era. Sean Connery's James Bond drove a DB5, iirc.Of course, Melina Mercouri was totally hot to an early 60s male teen, with a proper can on her, unlike today's androgynous anorexic sylphs...(superfluous lines added to fulfill commenting requirements)