Cléopatra

Cleopatra, the last Queen of Egypt and the greatest myth of antiquity. She was at the very heart of political ambition, strategic daring and the unbridled ambition that were needed to hold both Greek and Egyptian cultures in an iron grip. But she was also a woman who wrestled with her own inner issues.
Júlio Bressane, Film Maker in Focus in Rotterdam in 2000, had the daring to tackle this historically pregnant moment. His Cleopatra is a sensible and sensitive creature who winds Roman rulers around her finger with her intelligent sensuality. Bressane uses many means to portray this play with eroticism and power: the beautiful rhythmically refined soundtrack by Guilherme Vaz, the flowery, lyrical declamation in Portuguese by all the protagonists (especially Cleopatra, Caesar and Mark Anthony), the sober yet inventive sets and costumes and the occasionally beautiful acting, especially by Alessandra Negrini as Cleopatra. Sober, sometimes photographed in an almost theatrical way, the passionate drama unfolds.
Bressane himself says: ‘Lyrical, tragical, musical, an immersion of passion into reason, an intellectual crossbreeding, a mixture of cultures, a blending state of madness and being sensible, a ‘rêverie culturelle’… that’s Cleópatra.’ (EH)

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