''Seneca – On the Creation of Earthquakes'' () is a 2023 German-Moroccan

historical drama A historical drama (also period drama, period piece or just period) is a dramatic work set in the past, usually used in the context of film and television, which presents history, historical events and characters with varying degrees of fiction s ...

dark comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

film directed by

Robert Schwentke Robert Schwentke (; born 15 February 1968) is a German film director and screenwriter. He is best known for directing '' Flightplan'' (2005), '' The Time Traveler's Wife'' (2009), '' Red'' (2010), '' The Divergent Series: Insurgent'' (2015), '' T ...

, starring

John Malkovich John Gavin Malkovich (born December 9, 1953) is an American actor. He is the recipient of several accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and ...

as Seneca. The film is about the last days of the ancient philosopher

Lucius Annaeus Seneca Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger ( ; AD 65), usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, a dramatist, and in one work, a satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. Seneca ...

and the beginnings of Emperor

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...

's despotic regime in Ancient Rome. The film marks one of

Julian Sands Julian Richard Morley Sands (4 January 1958 – ) was an English actor. He had his breakout role as George Emerson in '' A Room with a View'' (1985) and went on to appear in '' The Killing Fields'' (1984), '' Gothic'' (1986), '' Siesta'' (1987), ...

' final roles, being released following his disappearance in the

San Gabriel Mountains The San Gabriel Mountains () are a mountain range located in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, California, United States. The mountain range is part of the Transverse Ranges and lies between the Los Angeles Basin and the Mojave Desert ...

in January 2023 and prior to the discovery of his body. The movie was selected at the

73rd Berlin International Film Festival The 73rd annual Berlin International Film Festival, usually called the Berlinale (), took place from 16 to 26 February 2023. It was the first completely in-person Berlinale since 70th Berlin International Film Festival, the 70th in 2020. The fe ...

in Berlinale Special Gala, where it had its world premiere on 20 February 2023. It was released in cinemas on 23 March 2023.

Plot

Emperor

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; ; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54), or Claudius, was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusus and Ant ...

banishes Seneca to Corsica and then marries young Agrippina. Later, she requests to Claudius that Seneca becomes tutor to their 12-year-old son

. Seneca returns and stands by Nero for several years, exerting a great influence on him, even after he becomes emperor. In 65 AD, Nero struggles to defend his tyrannical claim to sovereignty. Seneca, accused of being part of a conspiracy against Nero, is ordered to kill himself.

Cast

Production

Filming began on 25 September 2021 in the southern Moroccan city of

Ouarzazate Ouarzazate (; , ), nicknamed ''the door of the desert'', is a city and capital of Ouarzazate Province in the region of Drâa-Tafilalet, south-central Morocco. Ouarzazate is a primary tourist destination in Morocco during the holidays, as well as ...

. On 29 October 2021, the schedule was completed.

Release

''Seneca – On the Creation of Earthquakes'' had its premiere on 20 February 2023 as part of the

, in Berlinale Gala Special. It was screened at the 54th International Film Festival of India in 'Cinema of the World' section on 25 November 2023. It was released in cinemas on 23 March 2023. It was reported in December 2022 that Picture Tree Intl, a Berlin-based sales company has taken up the sale of the film.

Reception

On the review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

website, the film has an approval rating of 29% based on 7 reviews, with an average rating of 1.7/10. Wendy Ide for

ScreenDaily ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned ''Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involve ...

wrote in review that "It’s a film that features a lot of empty posturing, extravagant wigs, distracting set design full of stuff that is inexplicably on fire in the background, and numerous over-masticated performances." Stephen Farber of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' calling the film "lame historical lampoon" wrote, "The problem is with the underlying conception. Schwentke’s attempt to create a parable of the decline of the American empire seems mainly forced and fatuous."

Accolades

References

External links

* *
''Seneca – On the Creation of Earthquakes''
at Berlinale
''Seneca – On the Creation of Earthquakes'' – Official Trailer
at YouTube

at Picture Tree
''Seneca – On the Creation of Earthquakes''
at Film portal * {{Robert Schwentke 2023 films 2023 drama films Films directed by Robert Schwentke Films scored by Martin Todsharow 2020s German films German historical drama films 2020s English-language films German black comedy films Moroccan drama films Films shot in Ouarzazate Arte France Cinéma films Cultural depictions of Seneca the Younger Depictions of Nero on film English-language historical drama films