A movie directed by Joseph Mankiewicz. It tells the story of, guess who, Cleopatra (Elizabeth Taylor). "if her nose had been shorter, the history of the world might have been changed", Blaise Pascal once wrote, and the movie tells us why. Why struggling to keep power in Egypt, the Queen seduces the great Julius Caesar (Rex Harrison). She bears him a child, and joins him in Rome, but Caesar is then killed by Brutus and his friends. Cleopatra has to flee...
Octavian (Roddy Mac Dowall) and Marc Antony (Richard Burton) finally seize power in Rome, forming the second triumvirate with Lepidus. Marc Anthony is in charge of Asia, and he needs Cleopatra... And falls in love with her. However, to Cleopatra this isn't like Caesar... This time she is much more deeply in love. However, Octavian wants to get rid of Marc Antony... War is coming.
This movie is a long spectacular peplum, like Ben Hur. However, due to many problems, ranging from Elizabeth Taylor being extremely sick and forcing the movie set to be moved from England to Italy, to the movie's being cut down from six hours to four (Mankiewicz thought he was making two movies, not one), the movie went way overbudget, and indeed was one of the most expensive of all times. It almost put the 20th century Fox to bankruptcy. Due to the massive cutting, the story is not always clear ; Elizabeth Taylor's acting is far from perfect. Yet I am fond of this movie, its glamor, and its strength at times...