Hala Matar Says Her Film Electra Is Like ‘Talented Mr Ripley-meets-Saltburn’, Hints At Exploring ‘Themes Of Identity’
Hala Matar created history by being the first female Bahraini feature director with her latest film Electra. Her Indie flick, which is set to premiere at the Oldenburg Film Festival on Thursday, September 12, follows a journalist named Dylan—played by the film’s co-writer, Daryl Wein—and his photographer girlfriend Lucy (Abigail Cowen).
The couple stays with an obnoxious rockstar (Jack Farthing) and his artist partner (Maria Bakalova). However, as the days progress, the hidden motives behind the pretentious facade start to unfold. The film is a beautiful blend of classic Italian cinema and modern storytelling, which might resemble Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) and Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn (2023).
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Matar revealed that she “wanted to explore the themes of identity” and thought about Mr. Ripley a lot while filming. “I was thinking a lot about The Talented Mr. Ripley while writing it. In a way, it felt like a theater production,” she added.
When the interviewer pointed out the relevance of Electra with Ripley and the Barry Keoghan starrer highly acclaimed yet controversial film Saltburn, Matar resonated with the sentiment.
“Yeah, isn’t that funny?” she said. Although Electra was filmed before Saltburn was released, certain themes and aesthetics have uncanny similarities. “So, when that film came out, I was like… [laughs.] I think that would be the best comparison,” she added.
Electra is, in the true sense, an homage to Italian cinema, which is something the director, who’s been “obsessed” with the country’s filmography, intended from the beginning. “I’ve always wanted to make a film in Italy, and I even have another script that’s also set in Italy, and I lived in Rome for a brief period. So I always had that intention,” she added.
Another reason behind the film’s beautiful Italian backdrop was the palazzo they randomly found and filmed most of the movie there. Matar revealed that she and co-writer Wein landed on this beautiful Italian palazzo and decided to build a story around that location.
