Seneca

Seneca was a stoic philosopher and moralist known today for his letters, dialogs and plays, all of which are readily available and eminently readable. He survived the brutal reign of Caligula, was exiled under Claudius, and was a tutor and advisor to Nero. Like many close to this emperor (or Mr. President in the film), Seneca did not survive the experience, and committed suicide in 65 AD on orders of Nero.

Malkovich delivers a fine performance while quoting various Senecan type things. It's very close to a monologue. Being an art film, it has some very weird twists, most of which fall very flat indeed - from Nero's sunglasses to the bizarre paper-mache microphone and the bizarre staging of the play-within-a-play, Seneca's own Thyestes. That aside, it's an interesting meditation on death, and worth watching if you're a fan of the classics.

The modernization and attempted comparison to modern falls flat, and spoils what might have been a fascinating stoic 'letter' to the present.

Senator Seneca (John Malkovich) is a close advisor and supporter of Emperor Nero (Tom Xander). He has been Nero's teacher since childhood. He talks non-stop and constantly advises Nero to be an ethical ruler. As Nero becomes tyrannical, he is forced to bend his views into excusing Nero's excesses. After an attempt on Nero's life, an innocent Seneca is still accused. Nero gives him the gift of taking his own life.

This is a historical dramatization of the Stoic Seneca. It's a smallish production with a nice cast led by Malkovich. It reminds me of a play in the park except it's in beautiful Morocco locations. I find myself drawing parallel lines between this movie and the present day. Some connections are more clearer than others. It's funny that he asks why bad things happen to good people. That's probably my high point. All his excuses ring very real for today. I'm less interested in his decline and his declaration of the Roman decline. He is centuries too early for Rome and anyone comparing this with America is probably almost as early.

John Malkovich is amazing in this movie!! Despite being the great philosopher, the character Seneca is shown as a human being, with back and forth and reevaluation of his thoughts and feelings, almost letting the audience enter his mind. His opinions though are unaltered and consistently recited from Seneca throughout the movie, mostly to the regret of his companions.

Incredible work also by Robert Schwentke who put the movie into a somehow theatrical setting. At some points he leaves the audience in question with modern requisites and scenery in the picture only to reveal their meaning in the end.

I saw this movie at the Berlinale '23 and it left me laughing, disgusted and enlightened. In its unique style, it didn't fail as delightful food for thought.

To be honest, I almost turned it off at the very beginning of the film because it seemed like a bad joke. I read some very bad reviews and some great praises, so I decided to be open-minded about it. Obviously, it's controversial, which might be what's so fun about it.

I appreciated hearing some of the insightful thoughts presented by Seneca (John Malkovich) about the human nature, life and death etc. In this way, the film is meditative.

I enjoyed the visuals to an extent. I noticed the grotesque visual elements, which were certainly not easy on the eyes, but they had a purpose and actually went well with Nero's horrible character, as well as the absurdity and malignancy presented in the movie. There also were some "quirky" and seemingly unnecessary components.

However, in general, the characters and spaces seemed to be visually portrayed in accordance with the personalities - when you observe them, it just makes sense. Furthermore, this piece also contains elements more pleasing to the eye. I liked the recording style, the perspectives, the way scenes were organized, the colors used. That being said, the movie still definitely has a bizarre quality to it and not everyone could enjoy it.

While the piece offers some profound thoughts, it also contains plenty of frivolous elements. There were things I liked and things I disliked, as well as some choices that just didn't seem to make sense.

All things considered, I don't regret watching it. It was certainly entertaining and even thought-provoking. It's an occasionally smart movie, but it's not supposed to be taken too seriously.

Seneca the Younger was a fascinating character and this movie is an interesting exploration of that character. I think that historians will be displeased with the liberties that this story takes with truth and historical accuracy, and I suspect that much of the general audience will be lost because of the lack of historical context that this movie provides. I am a fan of Seneca and I enjoyed this, but it definitely isn't a tentpole film.

There is an audience for this film though, and I wish that it had been better promoted in the U. S. and that it had seen a wider release, because John Malkovich, Lilith Stangenberg, Tom Xander, Geraldine Chaplin, and Andrew Koji and several others have delivered excellent performances here. Frankly, John deserves an Oscar for his performance, and, while John, Lilith, Geraldine, and Andrew are all seasoned actors, Tom Xander in particular deserves special credit for taking on and nailing such a complex role.

The cinematography is beautiful, the directing is great, the writing is tight, and the acting is on-point, but the subject is somewhat obscure, and so it is probably never going to be a top-ten film. Perhaps some day Seneca will get the Oppenheimer treatment, but until then, this may be the apogee of Roman history in 21st Century cinema.