#caligula 1979

[wickershells]

Hmmm……. Some initial thoughts:

- I really enjoyed the fact that the film, excessive as it is, is bookended with the only true tender moments throughout: lovers, draped in white, dancing; ending as it began, gentleness pre-slaughter, post-depravity

- Cannot emphasise enough how beautiful the sets + costumes + lighting are. Also Helen Mirren it seems I have grown quite fond of you etc

- Unfortunately for me the score isn’t on Spotify. So sad

- The degree of sexuality on display gets exhausting after a while — particularly near the end I found my eyes kinda glazing over — but then it occurred to me that I actually quite like that. The more pleasure you have, the less pleasure you feel; a hedonist must eventually become a libertine, and that will always make the human body feel gratuitous, unnecessary, gluttonous, at least to me

- Malcolm McDowell plays the shit out of a rapist I’ll give him that

- Lesbianism as emblematic of the degeneracy of Rome is both so funny and so true. Watching unsimulated pussy eating while nefarious chanting plays and Caligula has an incestuous threesome I can’t lie to you kinda slays

- Speaking of explicit scenes slaying I’d be remiss not to mention the one where Caligula announces his intention to ‘invade’ Britain & the soldiers begin to march & a woman gives a man a blowjob & the music swells & he cums in her mouth. Imagery a little on the nose but I liked it and also isn’t that the whole point

- The first text onscreen being “Pagan Rome” immediately followed by Mark 8:36… very funny very poetic

- Some great lines of dialogue (“I’m a viper in Rome’s bosom”/“I think I shall resign myself to living forever”)

- I find portrayals of deformity interesting, here used specifically (as you’d expect) as a visual marker for disgust, satyrs and nymphs with multiple hands, multiple faces; the extent of moral corruption in Tiberius showing in the syphilitic (?) marks on his face. It always says a lot about cultural and societal perceptions of “beauty”, how even in art meant to critique oppression the line between what is imagery and what is discrimination gets blurred

- Caligula replying “scrotum” — one final act of vulgarity, one final insult

- Sooo many penises. Quite frankly I’m all penised out

[jellogram]

Snippets of Rotten Tomatoes audience reviews for Caligula (1979)

[byjove]

This is sick but I hate the movie review accounts that only review mainstream American movies from the last 20 years. “I think I found a movie more controversial than Licorice Pizza!” Watch Caligula (1979). I want to see what would happen to you if you watched Caligula (1979).

[ivraeas]

TERESA ANN SAVOY and MALCOLM MCDOWELL as DRUSILLA and CALIGULA in CALIGULA (1979)

[smokycinderella]

Caligula (Tinto Brass, 1979)

[didoleonina]

Prize for the winner of the 1k art raffle I did on twitter ♡

[korn-y-copia]

Playing With the Caligula Copia Theory...

So I just had a thought about the Caligula Copia theory in which he is assassinated by the ghouls (and man, do I pray that it doesn’t happen-or doesn’t happen anytime soon…)

But anyway, I am playing with that theory. This is a very ‘x reader’/‘x oc’ type thought so, I’m just putting a little warning here if that’s not your cup of tea:

warning: x reader (It’s not for everyone, that’s cool), Copia dying (I’m sorry)

TW: general death + child death

So, Caligula, his wife, and child were all assassinated by the praetorian guard, and I’m sure you already see where I’m going with this but…

Just try not to imagine Copia, his beloved prime mover/significant other, and their child(ren) all being assassinated together to end his bloodline so a new Papa can arise (kinda, sorta like what happened with the other Papas, supposedly ending Peepaw Nihil’s bloodline). Like it’s not a happy thought, not at all, but, realistic? Maybe :(((

And to make it worse, I just have the image of them lying there on the steps, either somewhere in the ministry/ after a concert, all dead, or dying, and the last thing Copia does is wrap his arms around his family protectively, breathing shakily, knowing that despite it all, he could not protect them, as they all fade away together. I am so sorry. I don’t know why my brain makes me think of these things. (Scene loosely inspired by the final scene in the 1979 ‘Caligula’ film)

[amatesura]

Caligula (1979) | dir. Tinto Brass

[superiorsuicide]

me, watching caligula 1979 for the first time: bit mid innit

me, a month later, unable to sleep: when Caligula sees his would-be assassins dithering endlessly and remarks, ‘I think I shall have to resign myself to living forever,’ and Caesonia replies, ‘I hope you do,’ the indignation and grief that crosses his face is the truest human emotion ever represented in film actually

[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

[luegootravez]

Helen Mirren & Malcolm McDowell in 'Caligula' (1979)

[honeycrispjamz]

something that is probably just a stretch but still makes me happy is the fact that Misty’s feast updo seems (vaguely) inspired by Helen Mirren from Caligula (1979)

I just feel like this is definitely a movie that Misty’s parents owned on VHS and she would sneak downstairs to watch it just to see Helen over and over again

[elcctra]

Hello! I'm really interested in ancient rome and would love to watch some shows or films based on it. Not anything educational but more so entertaining so do you have any recs? What are your favorite pieces of media about this time period?

Oh this is my personal playground lol here are some:

For tv:

Rome HBO of course is a must watch

I, Claudius too is one that will come up a lot, but keep in mind that it's an old made for tv production so it's very dated in terms of production (but so influential that it's not as dated as it could've been in terms of writing - save for how sexist it is lol)

Domina SKY is very much I, Claudius: Girlboss Edition, recommend if you love awful women and awful marriages

I adore Spartacus! It's very stylized and not for everyone, but I loooove it. Recommend if you like Black Sails because it has similar themes

Britannia, Romulus and Barbarians are ones that I either haven't got around to watch or fell behind but they are worth it afiak

For movies:

Imperium: Augustus and Imperium: Nero are.... everything to me. Especially the later. Doesn't mean that they are good lol but if you love messy families as much as I do then this is it

Il Primo Re is about Romulus and Remus, it's shot entirely in latin and it's soooo good

Any movie about Cleopatra? I'm partial to the liz taylor version from 1963, but if 4-hour long old hollywood epics aren't your thing then go with the one from 1999

Speaking of old hollywood, Julius Caesar 1953, especially if you're a Shakespeare nerd. If you can get your hands on the national theatre production of Antony and Cleopatra w/ Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo, do it!!! It's my favorite

Hannibal: Rome's Worst Nightmare is a documentary I guess but it's entertaining to ME Alexander Siddig is perfect in it

Gladiator gets soo many points for "not educational but entertaining"

Agora with Rachel Weisz and Oscar Isaac!!

[chronophotographic-gun]

Caligula (1979)

[iamtryingtobelieve]

I have existed from the morning of the world and I shall exist until the last star falls from the night. Although I have taken the form of Gaius Caligula, I am all men as I am no man and therefore I am a God. Caligula (1979) Dir: Tinto Brass

[pixiedeadbeat]

Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren in Caligula, 1979