Lucrèce Borgia

planktonrules wrote on IMDB:

This is not a bad film, but for several reasons the average viewer might be either bored by the whole thing or put off by its surprising amount of nudity--an oddity for 1935 (and which resulting in its being banned in several countries when it was first released). As you can guess, it's not a great film for the kiddies since it's pretty explicit. However, it also is very hard to follow for someone not well-versed in late 15th century Italian history. While I am NOT an elitist snob, I could follow it pretty well since I am a history teacher and am pretty familiar with the Borgia family--definitely placing me in the minority!! As far as its value in telling about the awful Borgia family, the film is definitely a mixed bag. I've read books written by both anti-Borgia contemporaries AND pro-Borgias--and both give a very different slant on the family. But, a few things that both sides would agree on is that they were certainly NOT the Cleavers!!   [ show more ]

The patriarch became Pope Alexander VI--no small feat as he had already produced three bastards that he publicly acknowledged!! His sexual prowess and greed for power is pretty much accepted fact by both sides.

His son Cesare, though DEFINITELY a conniving and power-hungry snake (even his FANS acknowledged this--Macchiavelli actually admired him for these personality traits!), seemed almost comical in how bad he was in the movie--claiming that he murdered and raped practically everyone in sight (including killing his brother and his sister's husbands--murdered, that is, not raped in these cases). All this COULD be true, but unfortunately, history doesn't really confirm these most salacious behaviors--but it sure makes for a sleazy and interesting movie!!! So, it might be a lot of exaggeration (and I am sure the way he raped every woman in sight like he did in the movie is a huge exaggeration--he probably would have died a lot sooner out of sheer exhaustion), but it makes for pretty compelling viewing!

As for Lucretia, the film actually takes a much more sympathetic view. Again, some contemporary historians described her as practically the bride of Satan while others painted her as an innocent woman stuck with two rather power-mad brothers and a terrible father. The movie chose to show her as a victim of evil Cesare--unaware that lover after lover were killed by him. The film also seemed to STRONGLY imply that this might have been the result of unrequited incestuous feelings by Cesare for his sister (yuck)! Pretty racy stuff,...along with the nude scenes of Lucretia!

Oddly, the film took a rather non-committal look at Alexander VI. In reality he was a vile and conniving pervert (who can deny this? It's fact according to every sane historian), he was shown as a very passive pawn of Cesare! Considering he became Pope and constantly grabbed for more and more gold and power during his reign, this isn't a very accurate portrayal.

Okay, the boring historical stuff aside, what we have is a sexually charged historical epic of questionable accuracy that is still fun to watch in a "DALLAS" or "GENERAL HOSPITAL" sort of way. Not exactly high art like director Gance's great epic NAPOLEON, but still pretty watchable. [ show less ]

psteier wrote on IMDB:

Episodes from the life of Lucrecia Borgia's. Spoiled and willful, she has many love affairs and tries to resist her ruthless and scheming brother César Borgia's plans to marry her off for political advantage.

Episodic and hard to follow to those not familiar with Italian geography and with the political situation of the time. Nice sets and costumes but the 16 millimeter print I saw did not show them well.

The kind of movie the French New Wave rebelled against.

dbdumonteil wrote on IMDB:

"Lucrece Borgia" is not among Gance's finest works.The beginning looks like a relic from the silent era ,with its interminable depiction of the abominable Cesar Borgia,complete with orgies (one of Gance's recurrent features;these ones are rather tame and timid compare to the ones you can watch in "La Fin du Monde" (1930)) ,rapes and drinking sessions.Oddly Juan Borgia and Lucrece are not given that much time.The highlight ,so to speak,is nevertheless Lucrece's bath for we can see her almost completely naked ,which was exceptional in the French cinema of the thirties.Christian-Jaque's own "Lucrece Borgia" starring Martine Carol,was not an improvement on it twenty years later for that matter.   [ show more ]

The legend has made Lucrece a scandalous hussy.Historians generally disagree ,and the ending of the film is faithful to what you find in her entry in encyclopedias: a patron who used to like music,poetry and arts.For that matter ,it's historically accurate: a pawn in her brother's and her father's game,they used her to ally themselves with dangerous enemies.

It is a relatively short movie and I wonder if the current version is complete: the scene when Cesar shows Lucrece her so called lovers' graves is totally irrelevant ,for the life she leads in the film is rather chaste (the extramarital life of course).

Gance's best talkies were still to come in 1935: "Un Grand Amour de Beethoven" "J'Accuse" (brilliant remake of the silent work) "Paradis Perdu" "Venus Aveugle" and "Le Capitaine Fracasse". [ show less ]