Chichester Cinema at New Park
SPARTACUS
The 18th Chichester International Film festival
Treasures from the Archives
New restored 35mm print
At the time of its first release in 1960, Spartacus was hailed as the first intellectual epic since the silent days - the first Roman or Biblical saga to deal with ideas as well as spectacle. Even the ending was daring. The crucified hero is denied a conventional victory, and has to be consoled with the hope that his ideas will survive.
Seen four decades later in a lovingly restored version, it still plays like an extraordinary epic. Its intellectual strength is still there, and some elements were ahead of their times, including a muted but sophisticated understanding of sexual motivation.
Olivier's character becomes more complex in this revival than it was at the time, because of the restoration of a key scene, cut by censors, in which he and Tony Curtis share a bath together, and he confesses, "I like both oysters and snails," leaving little doubt where either is to be found as far as he is concerned. That brings his desire for Jean Simmons into focus: He wants her not merely to possess her, but as a form of victory over Spartacus.
Perhaps the most interesting element of Spartacus is its buried political assumptions. The movie is about revolution, and clearly reflects the decadence of the parasitical upper classes and the superior moral fibre of the slaves.
But at the end, Spartacus, like Jesus, dies on the cross. His wife stands beneath him and holds up their child, saying "He will live as a free man, Spartacus."
USA · 1960 · Stanley Kubrick · 187min
