Watch Phaedra For Free

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Absolutely amazing

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Hold on to your seats---I am about to say something rather mean. Although Melina Mercouri often played sexy ladies in the 1960s, I always thought she was highly...well...not sexy (I am trying to be nice here). So, seeing her as a super-desirable vixen in a film like "Phaedra" has its work cut out for it, as I just found this aspect of the film very difficult to believe (Anthony Perkins was far more believable in his role of a heterosexual in this film). Apparently once again, the fine director, Jules Dassin, felt compelled to put his girlfriend (and later, wife) in such a leading role. I know it's all rather nasty...but I couldn't help but think this as this classical story was retold. However, despite all this, the film was, at times, very sexy--showing the director did have a lot of skill (Dassin made several amazingly good films during his great career).Like various ancient versions of "Phaedra", the story is about a young man falling in love with his step-mother. In this film, this didn't quite work, as the pair seemed to very inexplicably fall for each other--and way too quickly. In some of the classical versions, the pair was cursed by the gods--and that is why they fell madly in love. I think this latter way of writing the story actually works a lot better and makes this mad love seem more convincing. The sour note was the ending--Anthony Perkins seemed to overact a bit at the very end. Otherwise, an interesting reinterpretation of the old story--and worth seeing.

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

Once in a while I try to find if Phaedra has been released on DVD to the general public because I would be thrilled to have it for my enjoyment at home. I've not been lucky enough to see it again since I saw it several times in the 60's at my local theatre. If anyone out there knows of the possibility of obtaining a copy of this movie, please let me know. I would also LOVE to have a copy of the wonderful soundtrack. Like many others who saw this movie, I've never been able to forget it; it's one of the truly best films ever! The computer said I couldn't submit my comment because it isn't long enough. I don't know what else to say except to repeat what so many others have said regarding the movie. I was young and "fell in love" with Anthony Perkins when I saw the movie. Obviously that was before I saw Psycho. Anyway, I also "fell in love" with Melina Mercouri; she played this role so powerfully and eloquently. Right now I can still hear the music playing in my head as I recall the scene of the bodies being taken down to the sea.

From the opening scene with Phaedra (Melina Merouri) seen through a well-filtered lens, her head swathed in a net type turban, she was never more beautiful. No course features, just a gorgeous woman.The fireplace love scene/seduction lives in my memory forever, same as the scene with Perkin's screaming down the twisted highway in the expensive sports car as we hear Bach's music thundering in our ears..One part I've not heard anyone talk about is Mercouri's relationship with her female "companion" played as I recall, by Olympia Papakadas sp?..as Phaedra prepares for an afternoon nap. Until that scene, I could never understand a woman/woman relationship but it was so beautifully done, from then on I did have understanding.I've looked for decades trying to find this film to purchase..no luck. Hope one day it will be made available!