Nero's Mistress

Nero's Big Weekend / Mero's Mistress / Mio Figlio Nerone

Nero is normally used as a bad guy opposite a (comic) hero, but here he is himself at the centre of the story. Tension rises when his mother Agrippina visits him in his seaside villa and tries to coerce him into tending to state affairs. She has to rival with Seneca and Poppea who try to manipulate him in the opposite direction. The latter two try to have her murdered but she seems to be immortal. Meanwhile, Nero has taken to singing. An international cast in a unique comedy. I do not mean that it is an all-time masterpiece. Rather, it is a strangely factual comedy. The attempts at Agrippina's life are all taken literally from the writings of Suetonius. All they did was make it all happen in one weekend. Somehow, you get the feeling this is almost exactly what history was like.

The movie was dubbed in several languages. The German dub or the UK version are unavailable. The US version puts more emphasis on Poppea than on Agrippina, but what is worse, it is missing the final punchline - shame! Try the French or the Italian version, which are anyway the only ones available on DVD (as of 2010). English subtitles have appeared on the internet.

This somewhat outdated comedy from Italy somewhat anticipates the coming boom in Italian sword and sandal films. The well-known stories about the crazy Roman Emperor Nero are told. The topic is still very popular, as can be seen impressively in the current film SENECA by Robert SCHWENTKE.

This film by Stefano VANZINA /STENO (PLATTFOOT with Bud SPENCER) impresses with colorful images (on camera: Mario BAVA!!!) and excellent actors. Alberto SORDI (GOLDEN GLOBE for IL DIAVOLO / AMORE IN STOCKHOLM) can be seen as Emperor Nero. Vittorio De SICA (ACADEMY AWARD nomination for A FAREWELL TO ARMS) portrays the poet Seneca. As a big Hollywood surprise, Gloria SWANSON (ACADEMY AWARD nomination for SUNSET BOULEVARD, among others) plays the emperor mother Agrippina. This cast is truly a show! But the main eye-catcher is of course the very young BAMBI AWARD winner Brigitte BARDOT, who as Poppäa gets to bathe beautifully in donkey milk. Mon Dieu! The BB!

The actors are probably also the ones who made it possible for the global streaming service NETFLIX to bring this Italian classic out of obscurity. It doesn't hurt to look!

The epoch of the Roman Empire has inspired many film makers to produce movies set in this age. This is one that'll never be matched. I do not mean that it is of a superb quality, but it stands out as being one of the very few films that make fun of this civilization. The storyline is quite thin - everyone makes his best to stop Nero from singing. Everyone tries to kill everyone: Nero tries to kill his mother Agrippina, Agrippina tries to kill Seneca and Poppea, these two in turn try to kill her too. Agrippina's trials always fail to work - the others' though, work every time. They put vipers in her bed, they give her poison to drink, they drop ceilings on her bed, they flood the ship on which she is travelling. But each time she always appears back as a demon from hell unable to die. Her appearance after each attempt is ghastly, especially the one after Nero orders her ship to be drowned - she appears in the palace dresses in a pale blue dress with lightning flashing behind her. Gloria Swanson is just about the best thing is this film. Her acting is superb as the plotting mother of the mad emperor. The charm she had in the 1920s is still present as late as 1956. Alberto Sordi is fine as the childish mad emperor, Vittorio de Sica is funny as the all-sapient Seneca while Brigitte Bardot fits excellently as the bitchy, wealth-seeking Poppea. All in all it is a fine comedy set in ancient times, bound to be enjoyed by those who watch it.

This Italian-French film from 1956 may seem kitsch, but actually is a good historical analysis of the persons. The shot of the very important historical source Tacitus's Annales in the beginning already suggests a deeper layer to the film.

The insane situation of everybody plotting to kill each other was something that actually occured in the Roman Empire.

I have read many of the letters to Lucilius by Seneca the Younger, and I think this film gives a sharp, albeit slightly satircal, analysis of Seneca's character. In his letters he often writes about being happy while living in poverty and not needing luxury, but he himself lived a luxurious life as Nero's advisor. His philosophy is also pretty well incorporated as well as can be in a comedy.

Also the character of Nero is played well, and probably not even exaggerated, Nero was actually dangerously crazy and obsessed with performing music and theater.

Brigitte Bardot is gorgeous of course. According to Tacitus her character Poppaea did turn Nero against his mother Agrippina.

The scenery and stage of the film is also beautiful.

A very silly movie indeed. A spoof of Nero and ancient Rome. I loved Nero's elegiac song in the palace court, surrounded by the chubbykin cherubs. Nero to mamma Agrippina, "How beautiful you are," he says, as he plans to kill her and others who annoy him or stand in his way in this movie where everybody seems to have homicide on their minds and snakes in their hands. Nero's philosophy: "I have more important things than politics. I have to sing." Seneca turns the criticism of Nero's singing like a dog into a laudatory affirmation.

This is all Marx Brothers mayhem, with the weirdest casting imaginable: Alberto Sordi as the demented Nero (perfect), Gloria Swanson as mom Agrippina (seething), Brigitte Bardot as gold-digger Poppea (lusty), Vittorio De Sica as Seneca (cautiously two-faced). The movie's release in America in a dubbed version was minimal, but it's really quite enjoyable.