Cleopatra

[fajrdrako]

In keeping with my pursuit of Julius Ceasar in fact and fiction, last night I watched the movie Cleopatra. Not the famous one with Elizabeth Taylor, but the 1999 made-for-TV one with Timothy Dalton as Caesar.

The problem with this movie is, it's bland. It recounts history without much in the way of interpretation or imagination. It isn't bad, but it isn't particularly good, either.

Dalton was okay as Caesar; not quite my mental image of him - too large, not intense and energetic enough - certainly not brilliant enough - but adequate. The problem was basically with the script.

I had three favourite bits. First was when Caesar was stabbed, and fell dramatically on the stairs of the Senate. Marc Antony gathered him in his arms and wept, cradling and fondling him, very nicely.

The other favourite bit featured Antony as well. (Yes, Billy Zane did a fine job. Best of the bunch.) Antony wass sitting with Cleopatra while Caesar went by in his Triumph and waved to her. The crowd booed and jeered. Cleopatra said to Antony, "I can't hear what they're saying."

"They're calling you Caesar's whore, your majesty," said Antony, with perfect blandness.

My third favourite part was the scene where Caesar acknowledged Caesarion as his son.

The trouble with depicting Cleopatra is: she's young. It's difficult to get the right touch of intelligence, ambition, passion and youth; even if the writers can capture it, a young actress has to make it convincing. It might be impossible - as far as I know, it's never been done - but there are actresses around who might be up to it. Usually Cleopatra's passionate temperament just comes across as childishness and her ambition looks self-serving. Well, I suppose, historically speaking, a case could be made for that. But to make her sympathetic... Shaw did it by making her kittenish, at the expense of historical fact.

I see this movie is based on the Margaret George novel. I should read it.