Titus (1999)

Sir Anthony Hopkins is the eponymous general who returns, victorious, from war and to great acclimation. He declines the throne allowing the elder son of his predecessor "Saturninus" (Alan Cummings) to accede instead. The new Caesar quickly declares his intention to marry Titus' daughter Lavinia (Laura Fraser) - a match nobody is keen on. She tries to flee, but her father prevents this escape, killing one of his own young sons in the process - but the damage is done. The emperor marries "Tamora" (Jessica Lange) - a hostage Queen of the Goths brought back from the war and what now ensures is Shakespeare at his most brutal - just about every crime in the book is featured - a battle for survival in which no-one is safe. The style of this production mixes the traditional (Oscar nominated) costume based drama with a more modern interpretation of other aspects of the complex story. The screenplay does try to stick to the play in general (though the men in the pie bit is perhaps an addition!) and the quirky nature of the characterisations are well captured by the likes of Cummings - a sort of Charlie Chaplin meets Hitler persona; Harry Lennix stands out as "Aaron" - a man who really epitomises evil and there is fun to be had from "Demetrius" (Matthew Rhys) and "Chiron" (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) whose leather clad antics are worth seeing before pie-dom looms. The direction from acclaimed theatre director Julie Taymor offers us quite an unique perspective on this lesser known but powerful tale of lust, greed and power and that perspective enhances some of the more physically (limiting) theatrical aspects of this play - especially when filmed out of doors. Sir Anthony is on authoritative form and Jessica Lange's malevolently sexy performance is probably the best depiction of that character I have seen on stage or screen. It's long, but then it's a long play so I'd get some Malbec in and enjoy!