Jocasta

Moviecut—Jocasta

The film tries to draw viewers with sensational promises of mother and son incest, but it is just a big tease. In the film, mother and son don't realize who they are, so the incestuous secret in known only to the audience. So what's the point in having it at all? The man never realizes the older woman he's sleeping with is his mother, and while Sophia begins to "suspect" by film's end, she never really finds out either. This also makes the screenwriter's climactic punishment of them despicable and obscene. Why should they be punished for something they know nothing about? As for the rest of the film, the gangster subplot is ludicrous. The film's only saving grace is John Huston, who, despite his own claims of not taking his acting roles that seriously, was never boring on screen. The film is a truly sad waste of talent.