Original subtitles

(dramatic symphonic music)

(ocean waves and brooding music)

- [Narrator] Finally, land was in sight.

Jason glanced around at his crew,

the sailors of the Argo, the Argonauts,

the most courageous princes in all of Greece.

Among them the twins Castor, and Pollux.

Heracles himself,

and Orpheus, the great musician.

Like their leader, they are excited,

and yet also relieved,

to have finally reached their destination.

Their voyage has been a long and perilous one.

As the shores of Colchis drew closer and closer,

so did the object of their quest.

The famous Golden Fleece.

The Golden Fleece was the fleece of a winged ram,

sacrificed to Zeus.

If Jason could bring it back,

he would ascend to the throne of his kingdom, Iolcos,

currently occupied by his uncle, the perfidious Pelias.

Pelias made a deal with his nephew;

"This throne belongs to you.

"But first, you must prove you are worthy,

"by bringing back the Golden Fleece."

And Jason took up the challenge.

Surrounded by his faithful companions,

the hero clambered up the dunes.

Beyond lay the sacred wood,

in which the fleece hung from an oak tree.

But before taking it down,

Jason had first to seek the permission of

Aeetes, King of Colchis,

and guardian of the mythical object.

Aeetes had posted a formidable dragon

at the foot of the oak,

to guard the fleece.

With a single spurt of flame,

it could reduce anyone who ventured near to a cinder.

In this way, Aeetes, a cunning and heartless soul,

took gleeful pleasure in killing any strangers

who dared set foot on his land.

Jason entered the palace.

Beside Aeetes stood his daughter,

the beautiful Medea.

She was a sorceress,

perhaps the greatest of them all.

Even greater than her aunt, Circe,

herself an expert in transformations and magic spells.

Aeetes listened attentively to the request of his visitor;

"If you're able to complete the three tasks

"I'm going to give you,

"the Golden Fleece shall be yours."

Three very formidable tasks.

First, you must yoke two fire-breathing oxen,

with feet and horns of bronze to a plow.

Next, clear four arpents of a field,

and sow the soil with the teeth of a dragon.

Bearing in mind that once in the Earth,

from these extraordinary teeth will sprout

an army of warriors that must be vanquished.

Jason was astounded,

it was impossible to do what Aeetes asked.

Besides, where to find the teeth of a dragon?

Aeetes smiled, he held out his hand and opened it

to reveal teeth of a monstrous size.

Here they are, now it's up to you to sow them.

Jason departed the throne room a tormented spirit.

Up on Olympus, the goddesses Hera and Athena,

wife and daughter of Zeus,

had witnessed the whole scene.

And as Jason departed,

they excitedly discussed ways they could help him.

They had an idea.

Turning to Eros, the God of Love,

they asked him to ensure that the King's daughter, Medea,

be consumed with a burning passion for Jason.

Eros acquiesced, promising the goddesses

that he would even prolong Medea's passion.

Just as Jason was preparing to return to his companions,

Medea appeared in front of him.

In a voice quivering with the passion

with which Eros had filled her heart,

the Princess sorceress announced to him that

she was willing to help him complete his tasks.

She would protect him.

On one condition.

Jason must take her far away from her father

whom she did not love,

and promise to marry her.

Jason pondered, Medea was beautiful and her proposal

more than he could have hoped for.

He swore by all the gods of Olympus

that not only would he marry her,

but he would remain faithful to her all his life.

Medea then handed him a flask

containing a liquid the color of blood.

This unguent she assured him,

would protect him from the fire

of the creatures he must confront.

She then handed him a rock,

what appeared to be an ordinary, commonplace rock.

She explained to Jason that once the dragon's teeth

had been sown and transformed into fearsome warriors,

he must throw the rock among them.

Although mighty, the exceedingly stupid soldiers,

born of the teeth of the dragon,

would fight each other over the rock.

Jason took the flask, and the rock,

his spear, and his shield,

and set off to confront the fire-breathing bulls.

He managed to yoke them and forced them to furrow the soil.

Then once the field had been plowed,

as King Aeetes had demanded,

he sowed the dragon's teeth.

A horde of armed and helmeted warriors

immediately sprang from the earth.

"Mighty, but exceedingly stupid."

Medea had said.

Jason acted quickly.

He hurled the rock the sorceress had given him

towards his foes.

What happened next was exactly as she had predicted.

(enemies fighting amongst each other)

(Jason spears his final enemy)

It was time for Jason to return to Aeetes,

and claim his prize.

He and Medea set off for the palace.

The sorceress kept her distance,

so as not to attract the suspicions of her father.

She knew full well that he would quickly grasp

that if Jason had succeeded,

somebody must have helped him.

And that his assistant had to be gifted

in the arts of magic.

His own daughter.

"No."

The King's response to Jason was unequivocal.

Not only had he never intended

to part with the Golden Fleece,

he was furious that his scheme had failed,

and threatened to burn the Argo and slaughter its crew.

Distraught, Jason left the palace.

Medea was waiting for him.

What to do?

"Steal the fleece.",

the sorceress declared firmly.

It was guarded by a fearsome dragon.

Medea told Jason not to be afraid.

Jason followed the sorceress to the sacred wood.

The Golden Fleece was indeed hanging there.

The dragon was very close by,

it was a fearsome sight.

Bigger than the Argo itself.

Its body was circled with 1000 rings and more importantly,

it was invincible, immortal.

Medea approached it, slowly.

Murmuring mysterious incantations,

she grabbed the branches of a juniper tree,

extracting from it the sap know for its narcotic effects,

spraying it into the eyes of the dragon.

The monstrous creature immediately fell into a deep sleep.

The way ahead was free.

Jason took down the Golden Fleece from the oak.

It was time to make their escape, quick.

Double quick, as Aeetes was onto them,

and had sent his soldiers after them.

Medea then made a strange decision.

She grabbed her half-brother, Apsyrtos,

and took him hostage.

After a mad dash the trio boarded the Argo and cast off.

The Argo moved away from the shore,

but Aeetes galley had already slipped into its wake.

The Argonauts did their level best to speed up,

but the King's crew was rapid and was gaining on them.

Medea was thrown into a panic.

The prospect of falling back into the clutches of her father

was more than she could bear.

She knew Aeetes would seize and execute Jason,

the man she had fallen madly in love with.

So, she committed an unthinkable act.

Grabbing a sword,

she seized her half-brother,

and without a moment's hesitation,

ran it through his heart.

Then, with the same determination,

she sliced off his head,

cut his body into pieces,

and as the horrified Argonauts looked on,

tossed them overboard one after the other.

A paralyzed King Aeetes almost fainted with shock,

as he saw the head of his son drifting by on the tide.

He immediately stopped his galley,

and ordered the crew to gather up

the pieces of Apsyrtos' body,

so that he might be given a worthy burial.

Meanwhile the Argo sailed off into the open sea,

the crew was saved.

Just then, a terrible voice rang out.

It was Zeus.

The King of gods, appalled by Medea's actions,

proclaimed that the two lovers would pay for

this frightful murder with their lives,

unless they managed to cleanse themselves.

Medea knew that only one person

could carry out this cleansing.

Her aunt, the powerful sorceress, Circe.

A thousand legends abounded about Circe,

each more terrifying than the last.

The Argo changed course.

The voyage to the island where Circe lived

was a long and perilous one,

and a thousand tempests had to be navigated.

After 30 days at sea,

Jason and Medea reached the great sorceress' palace.

They mingled with the crowd of supplicants

that had come in search of cleansing.

Draped in a scarlet tunic,

Circe stepped forth.

In an impressive silence,

she approached the couple,

and held above them a young ewe.

Then, cutting its throat,

as blood poured onto the hands of Jason and Medea,

she invoked Zeus.

Once the ritual was done,

Circe stared callously at her niece.

She told her;

"I have cleansed you.

"I shall contemplate no further misfortune against you.

"But know this,

"I approve neither of your designs

"nor your shameful actions.

"Now leave."

Medea burst into tears.

Jason, increasingly flustered by the misfortunes

suffered by the young woman,

was given to wonder whether he and his crew had been cursed.

The voyage resumed.

As the Argo sailed alongside the coast

of the island of Corfu,

a powerful, heavily armed ship sent by Aeetes,

heaved into view.

The King of Colchis had not abandoned his pursuit.

Jason realized that the hunt would never cease.

Wherever he went, whatever it took,

Aeetes would be on his tail.

There was only one thing to do.

Marry Medea.

Not so much to honor his promise,

more because he knew very well that

the King would cease trying to recover his daughter,

once she had lost her virginity.

Jason ordered the crew to berth.

The moment they stepped ashore,

they were married,

with the Argonauts acting as witnesses.

The Golden Fleece was then laid out as a wedding bed.

By the time their pursuers arrived, it was too late.

The marriage had been consummated,

the couple was saved.

(melodic symphonic music)

Back in Iolcos, terrible news awaited Jason.

He discovered that his uncle Pelias,

who had promised to relinquish the throne

if he brought back the Golden Fleece,

had not only killed his father,

but slaughtered his entire family.

Jason and the Argonauts,

outraged by this shameful act,

were of the opinion that Pelias must die.

But the city was much too powerfully armed,

to be stormed by so few attackers.

Medea rose to speak.

Once again, she was inspired by

her overwhelming love for Jason.

She instructed the Argonauts to hide on a beach.

When they saw a torch lit on the roof of the palace,

it would be the signal that Pelias was dead,

that the doors were open.

They would be free to take the city.

Medea set off for Iolcos, alone.

Like a shadow she skipped through the city,

entering the palace and slipping unnoticed

into the bed chamber of Pelias' four daughters.

She announced to them that she was an envoy

sent by the goddess, Artemis,

who had decided to reinvigorate their aging father,

and make him youthful again.

The girls guffawed, they did not believe a word of it.

So to convince them,

Medea boiled some water in a huge cauldron,

pouring magic herbs into it,

she asked them to send for an old ram.

She then cut its throat before plunging it

into the steaming liquid.

A few moments later,

an adorable little lamb emerged from the concoction.

Captivated, Pelias' daughters immediately decided that

their father must be similarly reinvigorated.

They pleaded with Medea to give them

some of the magic herbs.

The sorceress willingly complied.

The girls then went to Pelias to tell him of

the will of the goddess Artemis,

confirmed by the incredible scene they had just witnessed.

They tried to persuade him to submit to the same ritual,

Pelias refused, were they out of their minds?

His daughters insisted,

recounting again with amazement how

the ram had rediscovered its youth.

Pelias, irritated by such naivety,

dismissed them with a wave of his hand.

But the girls were not so easily dissuaded.

And with big grins on their faces,

they surrounded their father and shoved him

into the cauldron of boiling water.

But there was no charm in the magic herbs,

and Medea had disappeared.

Pelias' howls still resound in the sky of Iolcos.

(symphonic music)

Would Jason finally ascend to the throne?

No, because the people blamed him

for the death of their king.

They hounded him out of the kingdom and instead,

crowned Acasti, the son of Pelias.

Jason and Medea were banished from the kingdom,

forced to seek refuge elsewhere.

They were eventually welcomed in Corinth,

by King Creon.

Over a period of ten peaceful and happy years,

Medea gave Jason two sons, Mermeros and Pheres.

Medea, a Princess of a thousand powers, seemed appeased.

She imagined herself ending her life beside

the man she still loved above all else.

But one morning, the aging King Creon summoned Jason

and confided to him that before he died,

he was anxious to find a noble husband

for his daughter, Creusa.

A man who could be an heir to his kingdom.

He thought of Jason.

Was he already married?

Too bad.

He had only to renounce Medea,

in any case said Creon,

Medea was a foreigner and under Greek law,

she was not recognized as Jason's wife.

Creusa was beautiful.

Creusa was young.

Jason didn't take too much persuading.

The throne of Iolcos had escaped him,

but here was his chance to become King of Corinth.

A shame about Medea but, never mind.

That same day Creon banished the sorceress from his kingdom,

Medea was aghast.

Everything she held dear had suddenly been taken from her.

She quickly pulled herself together.

She asked the King to allow her one more day in the city.

Creon acquiesced.

Not for a moment did he imagine the terrible revenge

the humiliated sorceress was planning to wreak.

Medea conjured up a gown, a sublime dress,

a robe worthy of the most beautiful goddesses,

the most noble Queens.

Pretending it to be a token of her friendship,

she dispatched it to her rival.

Creusa was dazzled, she hastened to try it on,

with terrifying results.

The moment she slipped on the dress,

she burst into flames, Creusa burned.

Engulfed in a terrible blaze,

she burned to death in agonizing pain.

Meanwhile, Medea was making her way to Hera's temple.

She was not alone.

Her children, Jason's children, accompanied her.

It was dark.

A heavy silence filled the air.

Medea had Mermeros and Pheres sit at her side.

She then took them in her arms,

holding them tenderly against her.

Her eyes revealed neither anger, nor jealousy, nor despair.

Suddenly, letting out a terrible scream,

Medea produced a dagger,

and plunged it into the hearts of her children.

(dramatic orchestral music)

Jason, conqueror of the Golden Fleece,

was now a mere shadow of himself.

Nothing much mattered to him anymore,

neither power nor glory.

He lived in his memories, alone and unhappy.

With only the memory of his slaughtered sons,

his bygone exploits, and his long-lost loves.

One day, while he was lying eyes closed beneath a tree,

in the shadow of his old rotting ship, the Argo,

the worm-eaten stern broke off,

and landed on him with a crash.

Jason was killed immediately as he slept.

What became of Medea?

We know nothing of her fate.

Some legends have it that she left for Athens,

where she bewitched the old King Aegeus,

before being banished again.

Others claim that the gods in their magnanimity,

took life from her but forgave her awful crime.

She was thus transported up to the Elysian Fields,

where she married the hero Achilles,

after he was killed outside the ramparts of Troy.

Medea, she is the errant woman, the outsider.

Medea, she is also the humiliated and betrayed woman,

prepared to do anything,

even kill her own children.

Outrageous and possessive,

her love became murderous.

(symphonic theme music)