Caesar and Cleopatra (1970)

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Movie
Original title Caesar and Cleopatra
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1970
length 105 minutes
Rod
Director Ottofritz Gaillard (theater)
Vera Loebner (film)
production German television broadcasting
music Wolfgang Pietsch
camera Reiner Hofmann
Rosemarie Sundt
Ekkehard Krüger
Friedrich Angermann
Habbo Lolling
cut Rose-Marie Fuhs
occupation

Caesar and Cleopatra is the 1970 German television recording of a production by Ottofritz Gaillard of the history of the same name in five acts by George Bernard Shaw in a translation by Siegfried Trebitsch at the Volksbühne Berlin .

action

Julius Caesar marched with his legions in Egypt and welcomes a Sphinx , in which he recognizes a peer partner. Suddenly a female voice from the foot of the Sphinx speaks to him with "Old Lord" and asks him not to run away. He recognizes a 16-year-old young woman who asks him to come up to her, otherwise he will be eaten up by the Romans. She introduces herself as Cleopatra , Queen of Egypt, who is here on the run from the Romans. Normally she would live in the palace in Alexandria , but her little brother Ptolemy rules there, who has driven her from there. Then Julius Caesar reveals himself as a Roman, which is why Cleopatra is very frightened, but he can calm her down and she takes him to her palace.

With Caesar's support, Cleopatra can assert herself for the first time in her life against her wet nurse Ftatateeta, which gives her great pleasure. Now she really feels like a queen and since the Romans are standing in front of the gate, she dresses accordingly. The now entering legionaries salute their leader, of course, so that Cleopatra finally realizes who she was dealing with all the time. Although she really only likes young, strong men, the old man manages to turn her into a woman that night.

But Julius Caesar has to march on because the true ruler of Egypt resides in Alexandria. It's Pothinus , Cleopatra's brother's guardian. Cleopatra, who is traveling to Alexandria, first throws her brother from the throne , but takes him back on Caesar's advice when he hears that it is the custom in Egypt among the rulers to be allowed to marry only blood relatives, which is why Ptolemy not only you Brother but also i is future husband. Caesar has the idea of ​​dual power, which is not accepted by Pothinus and who wants to have him arrested, which does not succeed. Caesar is also accused of not paying enough attention to the fact that the Egyptians beheaded Pompey , who fled from him because both were opponents. Then the court leaves the royal palace in order to besiege it a short time later with his strong army, after it had already defeated part of the Roman legions.

Caesar decides to occupy the lighthouse of Alexandria , which is located on an island in front of the city, in order to secure a way back to Rome for himself and his remaining troops. He doesn't want to take Cleopatra with him on this mission, which she is very disappointed with. After his departure comes Apollodorus, an artist and carpet dealer from Sicily, who, with the help of Ftatateeta, can penetrate to the queen's palace. Since Cleopatra is not allowed to leave the palace, she comes up with the idea of ​​having Apollodorus bring her to the lighthouse wrapped in a carpet, which she succeeds. But the island is attacked by the Egyptian troops, so that Caesar and Cleopatra can only save themselves by swimming.

Back at the palace in Alexandria, Caesar has to endure the siege for another six months. During this time, Cleopatra is becoming more and more confident and she now feels able to rule the country alone in the future without Caesar's support. She also tells Pothinus, who has lived as a prisoner in the palace for six months. But she refuses his request to give him freedom. So he goes to Caesar and tells him that the queen wishes he should travel to Rome again so that she can become the sole ruler of Egypt. For this betrayal, Cleopatra has her brother's guardian killed by her nurse Ftatateeta. In her arrogant self-assurance, Cleopatra explains to the general and friend Caesar's Rufio that a woman killed Pothinus, for which only her wet nurse can be considered. A short time later, Ftatateeta is found dead by her.

Caesar regains power over Alexandria and can thus go back to Rome. Before leaving, he appoints Rufio to be his governor in Egypt. Only Cleopatra does not want to say goodbye to him properly, which only changes when Caesar promises to send her Mark Antony , a young, strong and good-looking man whom she knew before Julius and with whom she fell in love at the age of 13 was. When Apollodorus wants to comfort her and tells her that Caesar will definitely come back, she only replies: "I hope not".

Production and publication

The premiere of this production took place on September 9th, 1967 in the Berlin Volksbühne with the complete design by Wilfried Werz . The first broadcast took place in the 2nd program of the German television on May 16, 1970 as a direct broadcast in color.

criticism

In New Germany , Rainer Kerndl remarked at the premiere in 1967:

“The sharpness of the thoughts finds expression in the scenic process. The witty revealing joke is not just the result of amusing dialogues; he shares situations that have been played out tightly and tightly. The very political - and very topical - ridicule becomes a tangible theatrical event. The humorous intensification of some scenes is played out vigorously. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Neue Zeit of December 6, 1967, p. 8
  2. ↑ Neues Deutschland, September 12, 1967, p. 4