Teorema is a 1968 Italian film directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini, based on his own novel. The film's plot centers around a wealthy Milanese family, whose lives and relationships are drastically altered when a mysterious stranger arrives at their home. The stranger is played by Terence Stamp, who gives a magnetic and enigmatic performance.
The film opens with a series of disconnected shots of the family members going about their daily routines. The father (Massimo Girotti) is a high-powered industrialist, the mother (Silvana Mangano) is a religiously devout housewife, the son (Andrés José Cruz Soublette) is a brooding artist, and the daughter (Anne Wiazemsky) is a restless and rebellious student. The family's maid (Laura Betti) is also introduced, and it is hinted that she has a secret desire for the son.
The stranger arrives at the family's villa unannounced, and is welcomed into their home by the father. Over the course of several days, he proceeds to seduce each of the family members, in turn, beginning with the maid and ending with the mother. Each time, he leaves them in a state of shock and confusion, and disappears without a trace.
As the family members struggle to come to terms with what has happened to them, they all undergo profound transformations. The son becomes obsessed with his art, the father becomes emasculated and impotent, the daughter rejects her bourgeois upbringing, and the mother renounces her faith and embarks on a mission of sexual liberation.
The film is heavily symbolic and open to interpretation, with many critics and scholars seeing it as an allegory for the shifting social and political landscape of post-war Italy. Pasolini himself described it as a "film about the relationship between power and sexuality, and the transformation of power into sexuality, which is a common feature of our time." Regardless of its meaning, Teorema remains a provocative and thought-provoking exploration of human desire and identity.