The film

POV: The Oracle (Narrator)

The film begins with the story of Oedipus, with a narration running in the background. The King of Thebes, Laius was old by the Oracle that his son would kill him and marry his wife. Upon hearing this, he pierced his new-born's feet and asked a servant to leave him on a mountain to die. Taking pity on the child, the servant gives him to a shepherd in the neighbouring kingdom of Corinth. Having no child of his own, the King of Corinth adopts the child, and names him Oedipus after his swollen feet. Oedipus grows up believing his real parents to be the King and Queen of Corinth. On consulting the Oracle at Delphi, he is made aware of his fate and he leaves Corinth to prevent it from coming true, heading towards Thebes.

On his way at a crossroad, he comes across a chariot and there is a fight over who will cross first. It results in bloodshed and he slays everyone in and with the chariot, except a slave who escapes. On the outskirts of Thebes, he meets a Sphinx, who had been stopping all travelers to Thebes, asking them a riddle. If they solved it, they were free to pass, but if they didn't they were eaten. Oedipus answers correctly, causing the sphinx to kill herself, thus freeing Thebes. Grateful for his heroic deed, the Thebeians appoint him as their King, giving him Queen Jocasta's hand in marriage, as they believed Laius had been killed by the Sphinx.

Years after the marriage, a plague of infertility struck Thebes; crops didn't grow, women did not bear children. Having promised to end the plague, he consulted the Oracle who told him that the murderer of Laius had to be found and banished. Jocasta's brother suggested they also consult Tiresias, the blind prophet. Tiresias warned him not to seek the killer, and in the heated exchange that ensued he revealed Oedipus to be the killer and also told him me was adopted. Having heard from Jocasta that Laius was killed at a crossroad, Oedipus realized he was the killer. A messenger from Corinth arrived to tell Oedipus that the King of Corinth was dead, but being afraid of the second part of the prophecy, he refused to attend the funeral. The messenger told him he was adopted, and Oedipus at once wanted to verify that. Jocasta realized he was her son and begged him to stop his search, but he paid no heed to her words. She proceeded to go hang herself.

Meanwhile Oedipus verifies the story from the servant who had given him away to the shepherd, who told him that the son of the King of Corinth was actually the son of Laius and Jocasta. Having realized the truth and the fulfilment of the prophecy, he goes to look for Jocasta and finds her dead. In a fit of agony, he pulls off a brooch from her dress and stabs his eyes out. He lies there suffering and bleeding.

We suddenly notice strings attached to his body. The camera moves up following the strings, while the narration continues, bringing the story to a conclusion. We see the Oracle, the storyteller and narrator, holding onto the strings like a puppet master, with a crazed look on his face. He suddenly freezes mid-sentence, as we notice a cut string falling from the top. We go up to find the source and see the hands of fate with a pair of scissors. a new string comes into the frame from the left and the camera pans left where the string came from, revealing another two pairs of hands, one weaving the thread (of life) and another measuring it. Following the source of the thread which leads out of the frame, and into another, we go back to the scene where Laius decided to kill his son. The ball of thread is in his hand. The film ends with the voice of Laius asking the servant to leave him to die on the top of the mountain, so that he may never realize his fate (against a black screen).