To me, this movie is perfection.

Sorry, this movie sucks

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Impressive work that updates the classical tragedy by transferring it to a modern-day Greece of celebrities and tycoons. (Onassis family, anyone ?) The transposition is intelligent and works very well. Melina Mercouri as Phaedra - beautiful, enigmatic, capricious, doomed - is the undisputed star of the movie, which is as it should be. Her death, near the end of the movie, is a potent and memorable scene. I was less impressed by the performance given by Anthony Perkins, although I need to add that I may be prejudiced : I do not like to watch him act, for reasons that may be irrational. Strongly recommended to lovers of all things Greek and/or classical.

Made during Jules Dassin's exile days, the follow-up of NEVER ON Sunday (1960), which catapulted his wife Ms. Mercouri into international stardom, PHAEDRA is a modern transposition of Euripides' HIPPOLYTUS, a stigmatized love affair between a woman and her stepson. Phaedra (Mercouri) is the second wife of Greek shipping tycoon Thanos (Vallone), her life couldn't be more perfect, she is born with a silver spoon in her mouth, Thanos is swept off his feet by her and they have a young son, and their family business is in full swing. The film's opening is a pageantry of baptizing a new vessel named after her, and she is extolled as a woman who can lay claim to whatever she wants, so it is quite surprising to find out that her downward spiral is entirely devoid of extraneous scheming, the green-eyed monster from the outside world has no say-so here, it is her wayward passion, becomes her own unmaking, because in the realm of dramaturgy, the equilibrium of perfection is destined to be violated, trampled and disintegrated to hit that high mark of pathos, which leads her to fall for Alexis (Perkins), Thanos' adult son from his first marriage, a nail in the coffin of that damned perfect life. Rotating between a virile Thanos and a swishy Alexis (a casting decision really make Phaedra's choice a feeble one), Phaedra is defenseless when facing the latter's childishness and impressionability, a maternal affinity soon shifts into a lust for carnality, Dassin's visual tack makes sure their liaison is a clash between fire and water in its literal meanings, and after the knee-jerking defense mechanism of staying away from each other, it is Phaedra who throws in the towel to the gnawing temptation and calls Alexis to Greece, apparently at the earnest behest of the unsuspected Thanos, where the drama takes its biblical toll to the ill-fated pair. The signs of tragedy are everywhere, from their first meeting in the British museum, to the arrival of the "coffin"-shaped present, till the tidings of the shipwreck of Phaedra's namesake, and the central triumvirate does beaver away in the fashion of cothurnus. Mercouri, emblazoned by Dior's haute couture, turns head with her mature appeal, pronounced confidence, simmering petulance and husky voice, a feisty defiance of the industry's inveterate ageism (a fringe benefit of marrying a named film director), but it is her ardent expressions of jealousy, condemnation and self- destruction (with those oceanic eyes!) lingers longer in retrospect. Perkins, on the other hand, doesn't strike gold in a role which should have been exuding with irresistible charm and sexual prowess, but his final ranting is pretty awesome to watch, when they are both embracing their quietus, the man crashes with blistering velocity and the woman withers in immobility. The Italian matinée star Raf Vallone, who is also in the pink with his affable if sometimes condescending mannerism as the two-timed Thanos, becomes most impressive when he receives his double- whammy in the climax, aggressively violent but also authentically heartbroken, that's all catnips for drama addicts. PHAEDRA, heavy on its dark and contentious mythos while light on the rationalism and finesse, is a gorgeous artifact made with ambition and tact, and bears witness to Dassin's maturing into an adroit dramatist, riding high with a great Ancient Greek tragedy, ironically, the film didn't fare well upon its initial release in USA, and 55 years later, its artistry beautifully holds sway to bewitch new spectators.

Tony Perkins has that young look that made him seem unfit for some more mature roles or those that sought to portray him as an icon of virility. In "Phaedra", that youthful look--and the chiseled perfection of a Greek sculpture--makes him rather suitable for this role as the innocent lover of his father's second wife, played by Melina Mercouri.The story is played with a necessary fatalism, full of dramatic pauses and unavoidable attraction. There is no free will here, as the characters are compelled to play their parts in this tragedy, condemned to suffer the consequences ascribed by the gods and the rules of men.As such, this film may be seen to present the two primary characters as little more than puppets, walking the path that destiny requires. Or was there a moment, however brief, when they embraced their destinies with open arms, knowledgeable of the consequences? Did they really have a choice, given their basic natures? This classic story asks these questions and, in this, the film is true. The photographic style, including the editing, makes the two feel like chess pieces occupying space, being moved by an unseen hand or some force of magnetism, drawn together inescapably. In the end, Phaedra accepts the will of the "gods", while Perkins' Alexis--like Dionysus or Icarus--struggles till the end, proclaiming his illusory freedom from the Fates.

This story of a woman falling in love with the son of her husband from a previous marriage is an updating of an ancient story from Greek mythology to contemporary times. The premise is certainly worthy to be the basis for great tragedy, but this attempt falls a bit short.I first saw this movie in the early 1960s when I was in college and it made quite an impression on me. The fact that I remember the story and some scenes (particularly the love scene, which seems tame by modern standards) speaks well for it. But on seeing it again recently after almost fifty years its impact was much less. Maybe I originally identified with the young Alexis (Anthony Perkins) and envied his life of luxury and opportunity, but on second viewing I saw Perkins as miscast, being rather weak and ineffectual. I found that, as Phaedra, Melina Mercouri had not lost her smoldering sexiness for me. Could such a woman, used to moving among the rich and powerful in the Greek shipping industry, really fall so obsessively in love with such a callow youth of twenty-four? Alexis admitted that his affair with Phaedra was his first love affair--would such a sexually inexperienced young man be able to satisfy the worldly Phaedra? Could you picture Perkins taking over his father's shipping empire and doing all the necessary wheeling and dealing to make of go of that? I just could not buy Perkins in this role.Having said that, there are some great scenes. Both Phaedra and Alexis recognized the danger of their being together after their passionate lovemaking during Phaedra's trip to London. Both recognized the wisdom of having Alexis staying London and Phaedra in Greece. But Phaedra's husband Thanos (Raf Vallone in a good performance) wanted his estranged son to come to Greece and learn the business and he put serious pressure on Phaedra to coax him to come. A pivotal and intense scene has the conflicted Phaedra on the phone pleading with Alexis to come to Greece, knowing full well that she was inviting tragedy.The film quality on the DVD is quite good. The black and white photography is effective and occasionally striking. For example, the scene that has the crowd of women in their black cowls with their white faces starting at the camera while Phaedra barges through dressed in all white is inspired. As might be expected the score by Mikis Theodorakis adds much to the atmosphere.