Titus (1999) on Netflix
R19992h 42mDramaHistoryThriller
Titus Andronicus returns from war with captives, among them Tamora, the Goth queen, whose eldest son he has killed. He refuses Rome's crown; the new emperor claims Titus's daughter in marriage.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb7.0/1022,381 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes68%
Trailer
Plot summary
A boy playing with toy soldiers is startled by a blast and finds himself in an amphitheater, in a Rome where ancient and modern things sit side by side. Titus Andronicus marches his army home from the wars, bringing captives: Tamora, the vanquished Goth queen, her surviving sons, and Aaron the Moor. Titus has Tamora's eldest boy put to death to honor his own slain sons, despite her pleas. When the emperor dies, the people name Titus, but he passes the crown to the late ruler's elder son, Saturninus. Saturninus picks Lavinia, Titus's daughter, for a wife; she is already promised to his brother Bassianus and runs off with him. Titus kills one of his own sons for aiding them. Saturninus marries Tamora instead, and she counsels patience toward the family she intends to punish.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Titus (1999)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Titus was a box-office bomb, earning only $22,313 on its opening weekend from a limited release in two theaters and ranking number 57; its widest US release was 35 theaters, and it finished with a worldwide total of $2,920,616.
- The arena at the beginning and end of the film is the real Arena in Pula, Croatia, the Emperor's palace is represented by the Fascist Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana in Rome, and the forest scenes were shot at Manziana, near Rome.
- Julie Taymor set the play in an anachronistic fantasy world using locations, costumes and imagery from many periods, including Ancient Rome and Mussolini's Italy, and opened with a heavily choreographed triumphal march of Roman troops complete with motorcycle outriders.
- The score was composed by Elliot Goldenthal, Taymor's longtime friend and partner, and has the epic, inventive and dissonant feel typical of his soundtracks.
SPOILER
The film's ending is more positive than that of other productions of the play, including Taymor's own stage production, in which Young Lucius is fixated upon the “tiny black coffin” holding the dead infant.
