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.

My library provides Kanopy as a streaming service. Tonight we decided to try "Seneca."

The plot, the setting, the characters remind me of stage plays that take themselves too seriously and after a while make the audience go to the restroom for some fresh air. I'm halfway through it and can't decide if I want to keep going. I think I've already got the message and it is not reassuring. We are all in trouble and good people cannot stop it hurtling at us.

I can't stop thinking of my own era as I watch this film. Things in the U. S. are even worse than when the film was made. There is a ton of connections to the era I find myself in.

Just in the last few days Trump's E. P. A. Has turned its back on important climate legislation here and in the world, the President is on a tear because he wants us to look elsewhere (Epstein, Obama, 2016 election, "nasty people," more) instead of at his behaviors and desires. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has shut down because of funding cuts, we're getting pseudoscience regarding the nature of carbon in the atmosophere, for lack of funds my state has closed down major programs and our access to records in our historic Minnesota Historical Society that was founded before statehood, the air in my state has been unsafe for many days this summer because of planetary wildfires, the ocean warming is causing conditions for hurricanes, the Supreme Court has condoned rogue opinions promulgated by haters against our citizens and the years of cumulative advance toward a better life for the many, the nighttime temperatures for the planet have inched forward to prevent essential cooling that thwarts overly high daytime temps, the Administration's eccentric announcements about tariffs and tribute to be paid by nations who negotiate "deals" with Trump have caused whipsaw movements in the stock market and made impossible the creation of an orderly business climate. Knowledge is now considered boring and the Constitution is only a set of guidelines, not a sacred document, a contract between Americans for the betterment of all. The founding fathers never planned on Nero wanting the Presidency.

Messengers appear out of nowhere to tell us that we have no power. The costumes of the film players look like Zippy the Clown of the comic strips, but the maddening passivity of Zippy is also present. No one one speaks clearly on behalf of any forces that oppose the Trump juggernaut. Our citizens have shown their disdain for tradition, truth, longterm goals, and kindness to the rest of the world and our own grandchildren's generation. Yes, Seneca is threatened by Nero with death. Will he die? We see the juggernaut approaching. No one can help him. Cynicism and selfishness override altruism and good faith. If Seneca, Nero's mentor, gets killed by Nero, well, hey. So it goes.

Please pass me the bowl of chips and a beer.

The basic motif for see it was the presence of John Malkovich , no doubts. The feeling seeing Seneca was about a most reasonable version of Caligula by Tinto Brass. Not for eccentricity or for kitsch, but for same fair reflection about power , apparences against deep reality, profound loneliness, fall of world and wisdome as imperfect tool, violence and death, about a Rome who escapes to a precise period for universal message, if it is not faithfull reflection of present .

The good point - the cast. And the admirable performance of John Malkovich. And the nice, sure, respecting a Hollywood recipe, portrait of Nero - the title the President reminds the novels of Garcia Marquez - .

A film who I like . For the irony who seems ignoring the limits, for one of last roles of Julian Sands, for Geraldine Chaplin as matrona refugied in artificial world, for young Louis Hofman and, not the last, I repeat, for Tom Xander as Nero.

Not deserves to be ignored Andrew Koji as Felix.

And for the try to remind essential values, so easy ignored by our time. Not last, for remind of more than significant name for European culture of Lucius Annaeus Seneca.

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.

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.