Electra (1962)

This adaptation of Euripides' play Electra (Ηλέκτρα) – the least enjoyable of the three ancient Athenian plays that cover this plot (the others are Sophocles' Electra and Æschylus' Libation Bearers) – is slow and ponderous and contains almost no plot whatsoever. For some reason, too, the film avoids staging some of the violence in the story but then adds a bunch that doesn't appear in the original play. 

The score is the worst thing about this, though. It's a series of drones and drums, and it makes the mood of the entire film strange. 

The worst part of all is that no one in this movie behaves anything like a real person. It's all good and well to answer that by saying, Well it is an Athenian tragedy from the 5th century BCE. Indeed, you would be right. But it's not like this was performed in any way approaching how it would have been performed in the 5th century, so why then must it be performed this way, with all of the slow, ponderous droning and hysteria? No thanks.

Cacoyannis's Electra was nominated for Best Foreign Language Picture, and, strangely enough, it's available on YouTube.