Electra (2024)

Electra-(2024)
Electra (2024)

Hala Matar’s first feature, “Electra,” carries with it a sort of languorous and undisciplined rhythm with a distinctly arch-pulp quality. There are muffled sounds of scheming and other clandestine stuff as the author weaves a story of revenge, scheming, treachery, and intrigue. Hiding vulnerabilities in the pursuit of revenge has performance-whimsical overtones.

All these elements of performance and even performance and suppression are brought to the fore and dramatized in the film, which Matar co-wrote with Daryl Wein and Paul Sado. Dylan, a journalist, comes to Rome to write a piece on the musician Milo, who has had a rather rough patch in his career. Milo is quite the womanizer, and so Dylan took his girlfriend Lucy (Abigail Cowen) to help navigate the awkwardness. Francesa (Maria Bakalova) an overzealous performance artist, happens to be Milo’s girlfriend and is ambitious enough in her motivation. At Milo’s urging, Francesca suggests they go to a farmhouse.

However, one should not forget that not everything is what it seems. As things become clear, agendas come forth. A portrait is no less important than the schemes that are prepared by Dylan. The movie revolves around the findings, so revealing more of what happens in the film is probably going to be a spoiler. Matar uses architecture and all the portraits that decorate the walls of the house to build a context that is historical in nature.

Tradition and ancestry do not shy away from showing the cheeky wink right from the outset as the space transforms into a melting pot of quiet but simmering tensions and clandestine strategies that seem likely to be delivered through the very core. The truth carries within it a hidden vengeful impulse. The mundane is combined with the mythic as a character resorts to acting out an idea. Milo is growing into his doubts about Dylan, but for the time being, he tries to ignore them because he badly needs another round of media limelight which he is hopeful the profile will fetch.

It’s true that the film does push the credibility with the unearthing angle but the naked aggressiveness of Milo which makes him reckless, and utterly oblivious makes one put those restrictions at bay. He also puts his faith in strangers in an intimate manner only to ignore them, and abuse them outwardly and with little thought. With most of the time that the public has seen him, he has lived his life as a wreck in fast forward. Still, she remains near Francesca promising her that one day he will let her use him to get fame. But trying to break Francesca is going to be harder than trying to control a raging bull. Although he has played his fair share of jokes on her, she still makes it a point not to let him overshadow her in hard as he is.

She thrusts herself at the lens as Bakalova truly owns the picture but her bombastic presence is never overbearing, fierce yet infused with a calm grace. Francesca’s ability to appear as a character being manipulated by Milo may be readily written off, but Bakalova bestows upon her fiery tyrannical swagger. It’s like she’s the one enjoying herself the most, whereas Wein must bear the brunt. Bakalova and Cowen were perfect playing off of each other, both very relaxed and casual. In the course of the films, both the girls appear to be compliant to the male agenda but in time, both provide glimpses of strength and fierce resistance.

Electra often dips into the ludicrous and the avant-garde, episodic style which dramatically shifts the chronology of action into what can be termed as considering themselves to be heightened interludes between sections of a book. Especially in these moments where characters clown around or simply fill in the blanks, the film ignites its beauty. Such parts develop a distinctly firm flab every time Matar goes into the ‘deceit bits.’ At the same time when the film goes near contrived gestures over emphasizing the moments of unraveling and overdone mimes of real intention, Matar has a way to stop it in its tracks and the film moves with a strikingly surrealistic lightness to it.

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