Helen Mirren in Caligula (1979)
Pagan Rome, 37 A.D. With the reign of the frail, syphilis-ridden, and half-mad Emperor Tiberius drawing to a close, Prince Gaius Augustus Germanicus, aka Caligula, arrives at the demented ruler’s palace of sin on the island of Capri. And after the murder of the bedridden Tiberius, Caligula becomes the new emperor. Then, Caligula proclaims Julia Drusilla, his beloved sister and lover, as his equal, much to the disgust of the Roman Senate. And as the dangerous megalomaniac Caligula declares himself a god, he begins a four-year reign of depravity and terror, betraying allegiances, destroying virginities, and weeding out the competition through torture and execution. However, how much longer can the Roman Empire tolerate the insane tyrant’s uncontrollable mania?
