Imperium: Augustus (2003) (TV)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Roger Young

Writer (WGA):

Eric Lerner (written by)

Release Date:

30 November 2003 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama | History | Romance | War

Tagline:

History will bear the mark of his rule.

Plot:

Caesar Augustus (O'Toole) tells of how he became the emperor to his reluctant daughter, Julia (Belvedere) following the death of her husband Agrippa (Duken).

Plot Keywords:

Enemy | Banishment | Forbidden Love | Daughter | Illicit Affair

Cast

Peter O'Toole	...	Augustus Caesar
Charlotte Rampling	...	Livia Drusilla
Vittoria Belvedere	...	Julia Caesaris
Benjamin Sadler	...	Gaius Octavius / Young Augustus
Ken Duken	...	Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa
Russell Barr	...	Gaius Maecenas
Juan Diego Botto	...	Iullus Antonius
Martina Stella	...	Young Livia
Valeria D'Obici	...	Atia
Michele Bevilacqua	...	Tiberius
Riccardo De Torrebruna	...	Decimus
Giampiero Judica	...	Scipio
Vanni Materassi	...	Musa
Elena Ballesteros	...	Octavia
Gérard Klein	...	Julius Caesar (as Gerard Klein)

Also Known As:

Augustus (Australia) (DVD box title) (USA) (video title)
Augustus - El primer emperador (Spain) (DVD title)
Augustus: The First Emperor (UK) (DVD title)
Imperium: Augusto (Italy)
Mein Vater, der Kaiser (Germany)
Mi padre, el emperador (Spain)
My Father the Emperor (UK) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for some war violence.

Runtime:

200 min | UK:177 min (cut) | USA:178 min | Spain:161 min (DVD edition) | Argentina:180 min

Country:

Germany | Italy | Spain | Austria | France | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:15 (DVD release) | UK:12 (cut UK version) | UK:15 (uncut) | USA:R (DVD and VHS) | Spain:13 | Australia:M | Germany:12 | Singapore:PG

Company:

EOS Entertainment

Trivia:

Some of the actors spoke good English with good accents, however in order to sell the film in the US, they too were dubbed.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The legions in the founding of the Second Triumvirate are going into battle but not carrying their standards. Roman legions *always* carried their standards.

Quotes:

Augustus: I lost the man I loved the most today.
Livia: Not just the man, Augustus. You loved him more then any woman too.
Augustus: No. I did love you, Livia.
Livia: Yes? But then?
Augustus: Then? Well, then you made life so complicated.

Movie Connections:

Version of "Empire" (2005)

Not as bad as the above

The above comments are too harsh, but the film is by no means great.

The bad parts first. The CGI - if thats what it is - is very poor for audiences raised on "Gladiator" and the rest of the sword-and-sandal epics, to say nothing of contemporary TV productions like Channel Four's "The Ancient Egyptians". All of the battle scenes suffer as a result, and this is worsened by some shots of legionaries being hit by arrows and pila that are utterly laughable - one soldier can be seen to pull the spear into his body, others are already grabbing the part the arrow hits before it hits. Moreover, the battles they represent are meaningless, as they neglect to show either Phillipi or Actium in any detail that could do them justice.

The script is a bizarre mishmash of historical accuracy and modern elements, the most obvious being the character of Maecenas, brought in for some reason to be both comic relief and "the only gay in the village". The continual harping on about Rome also grates somewhat, though this tends to die out towards the end; for that matter the original insistence that Octavian and Agrippa were "country boys" is incorrect - Octavian's father had been praetor.

The filming location - in Bizerte - is also very obviously not Italy, and since a recurring element of the film is the activity in and around the forum, this is noticeable more than it would have been if the activity was focused in the senate.

Despite all that, there is still an OK film lurking beneath the surface. Peter O'Toole does a good - if bored - turn as the elderly Augustus, Livia (who the historical sources believe was as manipulative as she is portrayed here Marcus - Caligula was to call her "Ulysses in petticoats") is played well by both actresses, with exactly the right amount of malice; Michele Bevilacqua's Tiberius is suitably reluctant to assume the burden of the Empire and Julia, as well as nagged by Livia (though he shunned Julia, and appealed against her banishment - so the rape scene was unjustified).

Despite what Marcus wrote above, the treatment of Julia in this film - aside from the rape - is justified by the extant evidence, she was banished for adultery, after a complaint by her father using a law he had brought about with Iullus.

Its also much more historically accurate than most films - it sticks closely to Suetonius's "Life of the Deified Augustus" (aside from the gripes mentioned above) and far better than more expensive films (King Arthur bow your head in shame), and is well worth watching for anyone who is prepared to accept some bizarre script moments in order to learn something of history.