Theorem

This tale about seduction, obsession, and family is one of director Pier Paolo Pasolini's most fascinating creations, based on his most transcendent film of the same name.Theorem, Pier Paolo Pasolini’s third novel, could not be more different from the author and filmmaker’s first novel, Boys Alive. The book began as a poem, then took shape as a film, also called Theorem, which stands as one of Pasolini’s most elegant and enigmatic works for the cinema, before turning at last into a novel that bears little resemblance to any other novel. In short prose chapters interspersed with stark passages of poetry, Pasolini tells a story of transfiguration and trauma.To the suburban mansion of a prosperous Milanese businessman comes a mysterious and beautiful young man who invites himself to stay there. From the beginning he exercises a strange fascination on the inhabitants of the house, and soon every one, from the busy father to the frustrated mother, from the yearning daughter to the weak-willed son to the house maid from the country, is sleeping with him. Then, as mysteriously as he appeared, the infatuating young man is gone. How will these people he has touched so deeply adapt to his absence? Is there a passage out of the spiritual desert of modern capitalism to an awakening, as sensual as it is spiritual? Only questions remain at the end of a book that is at once a bedroom comedy, a political intervention, and a religious parable. This tale about seduction, obsession, family, and the confines of capitalism is one of director Pier Paolo Pasolini's most fascinating creations, based on his transcendent film of the same name. Theorem is the most enigmatic of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s four novels. The book started as a poem and took shape both as a work of fiction and a film, also called Theorem , released the same year. In short prose chapters interspersed with stark passages of poetry, Pasolini tells a story of transfiguration and trauma. To the suburban mansion of a prosperous Milanese businessman comes a mysterious and beautiful young man who invites himself to stay. From the beginning he exercises a strange fascination on the inhabitants of the house, and soon everyone, from the busy father to the frustrated mother, from the yearning daughter to the weak-willed son to the housemaid from the country, has fallen in love with him. Then, as mysteriously as he appeared, the infatuating young man departs. How will these people he has touched so deeply do without him? Is there a passage out of the spiritual desert of modern capitalism into a new awakening, both of the senses and of the soul? Only questions remain at the end of a book that is at once a bedroom comedy, a political novel, and a religious parable. "For Pier Paolo Pasolini, post-war Italy was overrun by the corrosive forces of consumerism, bourgeois uniformity and shallow bourgeois conventions. In his writing and film-making he was frequently critical of the establishment. Condemned by those in power as dangerous and offensive to public morality, he remained, nevertheless, an extremely popular and influential figure. Through his work, he attempted to awaken people to a different set of values, both traditional and revolutionary"-- Provided by publisher