CLEOPATRA

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 2 out of 5

Because of: implied adultery, near nudity

Rated:

One of the most expensive movies ever made, a film that was a mega flop at the box office and nearly put Fox Films out of business, Cleopatra is good on the offset but has too much going against it, from the historically inaccurate but beautiful costumes for the leading lady to the seemingly never-ending second half. Still it's well made and worth a watch if you're interested in ancient Egyptian and Roman history.

Julius Caesar (Rex Harrison) has just come off a successful campaign and is sent to Egypt in pursuit of an escaped enemy and also to bring an end to the sibling rivalry between the pharaoh and his sister. When their father died he gave them joint rule of Egypt because of his son's youth and his daughter's experience, but Cleopatra (Elizabeth Taylor) intends to rule alone. Her brother's counsel has convinced him that she intends to have him murdered, and she has been sent from the city of Alexandria in shame. Smuggled into the palace inside a rug to appeal to Caesar personally, Cleopatra proves to be an intelligent, spirited woman well aware of her feminine wiles and how best to use them. Lured by her beauty and the promise of future rewards, Caesar, as the official voice of Rome, gives her sole command and banishes her brother into the desert, where eventually he will be slaughtered along with his armies.

Rather than returning immediately to Rome and his wife there, Caesar chooses to remain with Cleopatra, who promises to bear him a son, one day to "rule both Egypt and Rome!" When the child is born, Caesar goes against the advice of his counselors and publicly accepts the baby as his heir. His "illegal" marriage to Cleopatra starts everyone in Italy gossiping, leaving his loyal friend and mentored youth Marc Anthony (Richard Burton) to attempt to quell wagging tongues. Eventually returning to the senate pumped up with Cleopatra's encouragement to declare himself emperor and abolish the current state of government, Caesar eventually becomes a liability for his fellow senators and most particularly his legal heir Octavian (Roddy McDowell). His life is threatened and Cleopatra's as well, causing her to flee back to her homeland for the protection of her son, much to the consternation of Anthony, who has never envied anything Caesar has owned... except his beautiful Egyptian mistress.

Whether or not you studied this story in high school, everyone knows the names of the individuals involved. Marc Anthony. Cleopatra. Julius Caesar. Brutus. Augustus. The brutal stabbing on the senate steps. The marriage that became a betrayal. The serpents clasped to an unhappy woman's breast. It's a historical tail that couldn't be better fiction if it had been written that way. Most of it also plays out well on screen but the script suffers from being interminably long. The first half is very engaging as we watch the romance develop between Cleopatra and Caesar. Rex Harrison makes a very likable Julius and his chemistry with Taylor is decent. But once we get beyond into her affair with Anthony, the film loses major momentum. It's just plain too long. Ten minutes watching Cleopatra's entourage come into Rome, complete with dancers, jugglers, and magicians. Sea battles that leave you yawning rather than gaping.

It's a case of too much at one time and the film would have worked better with the second half shaved down by an hour to more minimal details. Still the acting is quite good, featuring additional talents like Hume Cronyn and Francesca Annis (Claire in Wives & Daughters). The set design is absolutely gorgeous and the cinematography just beautiful, but the costumes for Cleopatra are clearly inaccurate, designed purposefully for reminding us time and again just what a tiny waist the actress had. There is also some shocking content, a reminder that Hollywood censors were no longer in effect. No graphic love scenes make their way into the script but it does indulge in near-nudity on several occasions and there is a fair amount of sexual dialogue. Caesar makes it quite plain early on that Cleopatra will do whatever he tells her to, whenever the urge strikes him, and then forcibly kisses her. Cleopatra is seen laying in her bedchamber on numerous occasions, always eventually joined by a lover.

Cleopatra's notoriety as a lover is discussed rarely and she accuses Anthony's wife of being virginal and overly modest. What I found more disconcerting was the constant cleavage that upstaged Taylor's performance, and the near-nudity. Cleopatra's entire back, most of her side, and a portion of her breasts are shown while she's having a massage. Another time Caesar comes to her in the baths and she shows a great deal of thigh while arguing with him (this was on purpose; hearing that he was coming, she undressed). A man is seen in a tub, intimate details obscured by murky water; a woman is shown the same way. The wine taster's costume is very sheer and reveals complete shadowed nudity from behind, but it's brief. Barely-clothed girls dance for Anthony and pet and pamper him. The most shocking scene involves an almost completely nude woman dancing mid-screen for several minutes, wearing only a loincloth and small patches over her nipples. There are a few mild profanities (d*mn is said once, the term "whore" is used four times) and most of the violence is non-graphic, but we are treated to the illusion of a severed head in a basket.

Egyptian mysticism and Roman augurs are consulted on occasion, with historically accurate but spooky results. Since I'm doing a study on Ancient Rome, I found the movie to be interesting but a little too overdrawn and melodramatic. The same story could have been told in moderation, with a few less belly dancers.

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