Abstract: The French short films Oracles, Sphinx, and OEdipe, chronicle the life of OEdipe, a young man with Down syndrome. The films are a contemporary take on the Greek mythological figure Oedipus. The third film delves into his backstory and crucial life moments – his birth, expulsion, marriage with his mother, and the murder of his father.

Details: Œdipe does not follow a single storyline; it instead shows different elements of the Oedipus myth. In the first scene, Œdipe and his daughter Antigone visit an elderly couple in order to cure a woman of the plague. Œdipe is already without eyes at this point. The film jumps to Œdipes birth; his mother, Jocasta, is shown delivering him in a rural stone hut. His father, Laios, hands the baby to another man, who later abandons him. This is followed by the wedding of Jocasta and Œdipe, which is staged as a shamanic and longstanding ritual. The scene ends with them sleeping together. The next scene stages the story of Chrysippus, a young boy who is assaulted and raped by Laios. As Chrysippus's father learns about this, he curses Laios and all his descendants; it is led to believe that this is the core of the story. In another jump into the future, we see Jocasta hanging herself, supposedly after she knows about Œdipes origins. She is seen wearing golden needles, taking the form of two snakes. When Œdipe sees his mother, he panics, and it is suggested that he uses those needles to remove his eyes. Œdipe is also to be seen wearing those needles in the earlier films. The movie ends with Œdipe entering a dark stage, wearing the king of Thebes cloak and crown, receiving loud applause from the audience. This jumps to a young woman entering the exact location with the same clothing in bright light; Œdipe is gone, and the audience as well. The stage and some short backstage scenes from before seem out of context and do not fit into the narration of the Oedipus myth.