Review of Caligula (1979) by Dustin S — 14 Jul 2007

Few films (I can only think of Pink Flamingos and Cannibal Holocaust) have ever outdone Caligula in notoriety, and it is no mystery why: Gore Vidal famously refused credit for his screenplay, John Gielgud and Peter O'Toole attempted to distance themselves from the film after Bob Guccione inserted various scenes of hardcore porn, and the overall veneer is one, at first glance, of a tasteless "porn epic" rather than a biopic.

However, beyond all the overblown controversy (though many of the scenes, both erotic and violent in nature, are blood-curdling and stomach-turning), the film is one of outrageous, Felliniesque audacity and decadence.

Danilo Donati's costumes and sets are completely unrealistic and hardly Romanesque, but they create an otherworldly, arabesque atmosphere; the music score (filled with Khachaturian and Prokofiev) is immensely effective.

Malcolm McDowell's title performance is both hilarious and scarifying; his sheer ability to deliver some of the absolutely operatic lines is amazing. A very young Helen Mirren, Sir John Gielgud (rather sedate and foxy), Peter O'Toole (outrageous as the syphilis-scarred Tiberius), and John Steiner are also excellent.

On the whole, this is not a film for the squeamish or the prudish, but it is a classic in its own bizarre, debauched sphere.