The irruption of the extraordinary in Theorem

Between literature and cinema

Abstract

This paper analyses Theorem’s two versions, movie and novel, both from Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-1975). These narratives tell the story of the coming of a mysterious guest to a bourgeois family’s bosom and the consequences of this fact. The socializing with the young guest, whose nature is divine, triggers a chain reaction in the family members. The analysis approach is guided by Algirdas Julien Greimas’ De l’Imperfection (2002), which explores the theme of the extraordinary and the aesthetic irruption in artistic simulacrums as well as in the “real life” of “real historical” subjects. Although Greimas favors the transcendental aesthetical aspect of these extraordinary events, this paper’s objective is to prove that, in both versions of Theorem, there is a multiple experience, because it congregates many aesthetical, sacred, and metaphysical aspects, thus, creating a re-signifying of the subjects’ experiences that modify their worldview.