Cleopatra

Cleopatra

Year: 1970

Runtime: 155 mins

Language: English

Director: Michel Auder

Documentary

The film mirrors Warhol and Morrissey’s relationship to Hollywood, using the 1963 Joseph Mankiewicz Cleopatra—starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton—as a framework. Auder’s troupe watched that classic and then improvised each scene. The cast is drawn from Warhol’s circle, including Viva, Louis Waldon, Taylor Mead, Ondine, Andrea Feldman, Gerard Melanga and others.

Cleopatra (1970) – Spoiler-Free Movie Summary & Plot Overview

Get a spoiler-free look at Cleopatra (1970) with a clear plot overview that covers the setting, main characters, and story premise—without revealing key twists or the ending. Perfect for deciding if this film is your next watch.

In a distant future where humanity watches the stars for hidden threats, three scholars—Jirō Tani, Hal Witcher, and Maria Fellow—stumble upon a chilling hint of an alien agenda known only as the Cleopatra Plan. The revelation propels them into a daring experiment: using a recovered time‑machine to slip back centuries, they hope to pry open the ancient mystery before it can reshape the world. The film’s tone is a heady blend of avant‑garde improvisation and reverent homage, echoing the chaotic energy of Warhol’s circle while framing a classic Hollywood epic in a new, speculative light.

The travelers’ mission forces them to inhabit the bodies of key figures within the legendary Egyptian queen’s court, each assuming a role that mirrors their own expertise and temperament. Cleopatra becomes the magnetic focal point around which their observations revolve, while the trio’s alter egos—each a conduit for curiosity, cunning, and compassion—allow them to navigate an environment where politics, superstition, and personal ambition are tightly entwined. Their presence creates a subtle, almost lyrical tension between the sterile precision of the far‑future and the opulent, myth‑laden world of antiquity, inviting the audience to feel the electric dissonance of two eras colliding.

Set against the looming shadow of Rome’s expanding influence, the story unfolds in a landscape where power is both performance and survival. The improvised cast, drawn from the iconic Warhol entourage, injects a raw, unscripted vitality that mirrors the unpredictable nature of the mission itself. As the trio watches history bend around them, the film suggests that the past is not a static tableau but a living stage where desire, strategy, and the unknown intertwine—leaving viewers to wonder how far a single revelation can echo across time.

Last Updated: December 04, 2025 at 23:10

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Experimental Historical Films like Cleopatra

Films that boldly reinterpret the past through a modern, experimental lens.Discover movies like Cleopatra that take creative liberties with history. This collection features films that use the past as a framework for improvisation, artistic commentary, or meta-narrative exploration, offering a unique and intellectually charged viewing experience for fans of unconventional historical drama.

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Narrative Summary

Stories in this thread deconstruct established history, often using it as a jumping-off point for improvisation, satire, or a critique of cinematic conventions. They follow a loose, associative structure rather than a strict linear plot, focusing on the process of creation and the friction between the past and present.

Why These Movies?

These films are grouped together by their shared approach to history as a malleable concept. They prioritize artistic expression and conceptual framing over factual accuracy, creating a distinct, often avant-garde, vibe that connects them more through method than through subject matter.

Tense Tragic Epics like Cleopatra

Sweeping stories where ambition, love, and fate collide with devastating consequences.If you liked the high-stakes drama and tragic romance of Cleopatra, explore these movies. This thread features epic-scale stories where political intrigue, power struggles, and doomed love affairs lead to a heavy, bittersweet conclusion, perfect for viewers seeking emotionally intense historical or speculative fiction.

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Narrative Summary

The narrative pattern follows influential characters navigating complex webs of political intrigue and personal desire. Their quest for power is inextricably linked with a deep, often destructive romance. The story builds with fast-paced betrayals and escalating tension towards an inevitable, tragic collapse of their ambitions and love.

Why These Movies?

These movies share a potent mix of high emotional weight, tense pacing, and a tragic, fateful atmosphere. They are united by the core theme of grand ambition being thwarted by personal passions, creating a specific vibe of majestic despair and dramatic inevitability.

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Cleopatra Summary

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Cleopatra Summary

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Cleopatra Timeline

Characters, Settings & Themes in Cleopatra

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Characters, Settings & Themes in Cleopatra

More About Cleopatra

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