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‘Titus’

JULIE TAYMOR’S VERSION of Shakespeare’s “Titus Andronicus”, the 1999 film “Titus” (with Anthony Hopkins in the title role), is a rather interesting modern interpretation. It has rather whimsical aspects, such as the ‘SPQR News’ microphone the characters are seen speaking into. The rivals for the imperial throne bedeck their supporters in the colors of Rome’s rival football teams: the red and yellow of Roma for Saturninus and the pale blue and white of Lazio for Bassianus. I especially enjoy the Senators bedecked in old-school white suits making them appear like a convivium of Kentucky colonels. Worth seeing.

Published at 8:43 pm on Tuesday 20 March 2007. Categories: Cinema Design Tags: , .
Comments

I, too, thought Taymor’s “Titus” an interesting interpretation. It certainly is visually remarkable.

By the way, that building is one of Mussolini’s fascist monoliths.

— kd 20 Mar 2007 10:18 pm

My husband (who teaches upper-level Shakespeare) has this film but I’ve never watched it – just reading the play gives me the willies!

I hadn’t realized they filmed it in EUR in Rome, though. Talk about brutalist architecture (though technically it isn’t “brutalist” the school).

Why isn’t Colm Feore a bigger deal as an actor? He would be if he was British. IMO.

— Meg Q 20 Mar 2007 11:03 pm

I like Taymor’s film quite a bit and own it myself. My lovely wife, who generally eschews graphic violence, likes the movie herself.

Meg – I like to call the brutalish architecture of the 30’s “Totalitarian Gothic.”

— The Maximum Leader 23 Mar 2007 5:02 pm
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