Год производства: 1981 Страна: France / Italy / USA Жанр: Softcore (Action, Drama, History) Продолжительность: 02:35:22 Язык: Английский Субтитры: Японские (могу ошибаться) Режиссер: Bruno Mattei Antonio Passalia Студия: Italfrance Films В ролях: Vladimir Brajovic, Betty Roland, Françoise Blanchard, Raul Cabrera, Gino Turini, Angelo Arquilla, Piotr Stanislas, Vincent Lo Monaco, Fanny Magier, Laurence Lovall, Antonio Passalia, Dominique Irissou, Marie-Noëlle Arnoult, Silvie Dezabauneix, Kathy Sadik Описание: The film provides an interesting study of the life of Messalina, the Roman Empress first married to the mad emperor Caligula and then after his assassination (which takes place at about the mid-point of the film) to his successor Claudius; and it would have been better titled Caligula and Claudius, or just Messalina. Historically it is not strictly accurate but probably provides a fairly realistic interpretation of life in Rome during the periods of the two Emperors concerned. The first half provides a beautifully crafted confirmation of the dictum that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, but the second shows a very different scene when Claudius takes the throne, introduces careful and incorruptible administrators and rapidly repairs the damage to the fabric of Roman society caused by his predecessor. Presumably the intention is to show that absolute power does no more than give any ruler the freedom to behave in accordance with his natural character, and in this sense it can be regarded as a film with an important message to convey.
Historically the reign of Caligula is regarded as exceptionally violent and cruel, and the film has to make this clear to viewers who are not familiar with the history of this period. Whereas other filmmakers have succumbed to the temptation to exploit the violence in a pornographic way, it is greatly to the credit of this film that unnecessary violence has been largely avoided and much of that which is shown remains implicit rather than explicit. Caligula maintained a vast network of spies, and individuals who spoke against him would often disappear - probably to meet an unspeakable end. This is brought out early in this film, not by showing such a sudden disappearance and what followed, but by a restrained warning from one army officer to another who had been a little too loose in his conversation. There is a brief scene in a Roman torture chamber when plotters against the Emperor are being interrogated, but this is less explicit than similar scenes in many films depicting events in mediaeval Europe. A legend that Messalina, a very junior lady in Caligula's court, was trained by her mother to come to his attention by mastering such masculine skills as swordplay, and then demanding to demonstrate these, has been incorporated into the film; and the nearest it comes to becoming pornographic is during a fairly graphic swordplay sequence in the Coliseum which unexpectedly ends in not Messalina but the gladiator having to appeal to the Emperor to spare his life. This sequence clearly shows the violence and cruelty which was associated with the Roman Circus. However it forms an important part of the story, and in my opinion it is treated with enough restraint to be more acceptable than many of the violent scenes incorporated.This film is definitely not just softcore pornography, and it provides two very important lessons for us today. The first is that absolute power will only corrupt those rulers who are corruptible, whilst the second, even more important but maybe a little less obvious, is that mankind has changed very little during the past two millennial...... Примерный перевод: Фильм предлагает интересное исследование жизни Мессалины, римской императрицы, бывшей замужем сначала за безумным императором Калигулой и затем, после его убийства (которое показано примерно в середине фильма), вышедшей замуж за его преемника Клавдия, и фильм должен бы называться либо "Калигула и Клавдий", либо просто "Мессалина". С точки зрения истории он не сильно точен, но в общем-то представляет собой довольно реалистичную интерпретацию жизни в Риме в период правления этих двух императоров. Первая половина представляет собой прекрасное подтверждение изречения "власть портит, а абсолютная власть - портит абсолютно", а вторая половина показывает разнообразные сцены: как Клавдий захватывает трон, как осторожно и неподкупно он управляет и быстро восстанавливает разрушенную его предшественником основу римского общества. Возможно, цель - показать, что абсолютная власть дает любому правителю свободу вести себя в соответствии со своим характером, и в этом смысле фильм может быть расценен как фильм с важной идеей.
