Titus returns victorious from war, only to plant the seeds of future turmoil for himself and his family.Titus returns victorious from war, only to plant the seeds of future turmoil for himself and his family.Titus returns victorious from war, only to plant the seeds of future turmoil for himself and his family.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 4 wins & 19 nominations total
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- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWriter, producer, and director Julie Taymor used anachronistic props and clothes throughout this movie (chariots, tanks, swords, and machine guns) because she wanted to symbolically depict 2,000 years of warfare and violence.
- GoofsWhen Tamora leaves the party/orgy to join Aaron on the balcony, her hands are clasped across her chest. In the next shot she is holding a cigarette.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: Simpatico/The Third Miracle/Titus (2000)
Featured review
Titus Andronicus is the strangest of Shakespeare's tragedies and the tragedy which most underlines the modern day observation that his tragedies are often comic and his comedies fairly tragic. Particularly the final chain murder has always made me laugh in the theatrical renditions and this one is definitely up to par. As for the rest of the movie, it is a mix of beautiful images, wonderful acting, rotten acting and failed attempts to surrealize an already surreal play. Anthony Hopkins is almost perfect as Titus, Colm Feore pretty good as his righteous brother and Jessica Lange intolerable as Tamora, while most of the rest range from mildly indifferent to pretty okay. As for Aaron in the shape of Harry Lennix he is actually quite convincing albeit not quite in the same league as Kenneth Brannagh who did the all time finest Shakespeare mischievery playing Iago in Othello. But Brannagh as a Moor would be downright laughable - so a compromise well turned out.
The modernisation of Shakespeare is in my opinion an impossibility. Some of his plays have a plot which makes a good basis for a modern production, but Shakespeare's absolute forté is his language and his linguistic jokes and acting in old English requires settings true to the play. That said, I think some of the scenes worked better in this surrealistic environment than they would have - scenes like Titus assembling his men for the shot at the Gods, or the messenger returning his sons' heads in a theater truck. That was novel.
As for the overall feel of this movie, only one word suffices: Madness.
The modernisation of Shakespeare is in my opinion an impossibility. Some of his plays have a plot which makes a good basis for a modern production, but Shakespeare's absolute forté is his language and his linguistic jokes and acting in old English requires settings true to the play. That said, I think some of the scenes worked better in this surrealistic environment than they would have - scenes like Titus assembling his men for the shot at the Gods, or the messenger returning his sons' heads in a theater truck. That was novel.
As for the overall feel of this movie, only one word suffices: Madness.
- Thomas Nielsen
Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $2,007,290
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $22,313
- Dec 26, 1999
- Gross worldwide
- $2,259,680
- Runtime2 hours 42 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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