While Never on Sunday humorously argues for a Greece that interprets its own tragedies, Michael Cacoyannis seriously serves this purpose in Electra, his most celebrated film. He brings out the modernity of that which is timeless, and at the same time the essential Greekness of Euripides' play, by filming it in a stark mountain locale and incorporating an original musical score by Mikis Theodorakis. The austere beauty of the land, and the landscape that is Irene Papas's face, are both captured by the striking photography of Walter Lassally in this adaptation that "never introduces a stagey compromise with pseudo-classical film sets. (Cacoyannis) achieves his stylization through the formal grouping and movements of his characters...through the emphasis he places on significant actions...and through the sudden use of turmoil in nature to heighten the violence (in) this melancholy story of a just passion carried to excess." (Roger Manvell, Films and Filming)