‘Seneca’ Review: John Malkovich Shows Dogged Determination As Titular Stoic Philosopher
deadline.comGerman director Robert Schwentke’s directorial career has swung in a few directions; he has made Hollywood actioners like Flightplan with Jodie Foster, the adaptation of The Time Traveler’s Wife and a film that almost defines the idea of a personal movie, based on his own diagnosis with testicular cancer.
He has both written and directed Seneca – On the Creation of Earthquakes, an eccentric competition choice, even by the inclusive standards of the Berlinale – starring John Malkovich as the eponymous Stoic philosopher.
Over two hours, he delivers what is largely a monologue: as a performance, it has at least the strength of dogged determination.
As a film, however, Seneca is almost unendurable. Shot in and around an open colonnaded pavilion constructed in the Moroccan desert, Seneca draws on Roman historian Tacitus’ account of the great thinker’s reluctant suicide in AD 65.
Read more on deadline.com