Electra, My Love () is a 1974 Hungarian drama film directed by Miklós Jancsó. It was included in the official selection for the 1975 Cannes Film Festival. Like most of Jancsó's films, this one uses extremely long takes, often as long as the camera would allow without stopping because of the film stock finishing. The entire 70 minute duration is covered by just twelve takes. The story is set in an archaic and mythical world in which a tyrant faces rebellion by the down-trodden. It is based on a play by which premiered in Budapest in 1968, and which itself reinterpreted the Greek myth of Electra. Plot Electra is bullied by Aegisthus, the tyrant who fifteen years earlier murdered her father, Agamemnon, and seized the throne. Electra is therefore filled with the urge to kill him and his supporters in revenge. To humiliate her, Aegisthus forces her to marry a dwarf. Her brother, Orestes, then returns from abroad, disguised as a messenger reporting his own death. Electra kills him but he comes back to life. Electra and Orestes join with the people to depose Aegisthus. They capture him in a net, torture him, and have him shot. A red helicopter lands: the siblings climb into it and fly off. The unexpected intrusion of twentieth century technology highlights the extent to which timeless political themes from a two thousand year old Greek myth resonate for an audience in contemporary Hungary. Cast Mari Törőcsik as Elektra (Electra) György Cserhalmi as Oresztész (Orestes) József Madaras as Aegisztosz (Aegisthus) Mária Bajcsay as Kikiáltó Lajos Balázsovits as Vezér József Bige Tamás Cseh György Delianisz Balázs Galkó Gabi Jobba as Krisotemis László Pelsőczy as Agamemnon Production Script and sequencing In the words of its Marxist director, the film is both a fairy tale and a "parable for the idea that revolutionaries must continually renew themselves". In "Electra, My Love" Jancsó said that he found himself dealing with issues that had arisen much closer to home, in Hungary "all too recently". He explained why he had changed the ending of the story: in his version Electra is not killed on account of her involvement in the murder of Agamemnon, because Jancsó did not think that the common people could be held responsible for the actions of their tyrannical ruler. Restricting the film to just twelve very long "takes" affects its sequencing. The presentation is not rigidly chronological,