Queen Cleopatra review: casting is not the problem with Netflix docudrama
Adele James is superb as Cleopatra but the series is ‘too soapy’ for history buffs
Netflix’s drama-documentary made headlines last month when the Egyptian government denounced it as a “historical fallacy”, because the show insists that Cleopatra was black, said Anita Singh in The Daily Telegraph. No one knows what colour Cleopatra’s skin was, but she is widely believed to have been of Greek-Macedonian descent.
So what evidence has the series got to support its theory? Well, it mainly relies on the work of the American academic Shelley Haley who, in the first episode, recalls her grandmother telling her: “I don’t care what they tell you in school, Cleopatra was black.” And that is that really.
As for the rest of the series, it mixes talking heads with historical reconstruction, to explain why Cleopatra “was such a significant figure”. It does that well enough, but ultimately falls between two stools. It’s “too soapy” for history buffs, and not soapy enough to entice fans of “juicy historical dramas”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Still, Adele James is superb as Cleopatra, said Leila Latif in The Guardian. And the reenactments are “fun”. It is just a shame they are interrupted by interviews with people who seem more “fans than historians”.
James is “mesmerising”, agreed Hugo Rifkind in The Times. Other aspects of the casting are more questionable – such as Michael Greco (Beppe from “EastEnders”) as a “hairy, sexy” eunuch. But what is perplexing was the decision to mix up enjoyable enough drama with dense explanation, and producer Jada Pinkett Smith intoning things such as, “What is a Pharaoh? She is the sands and the skies and everything in between.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Kate Summerscale's 6 favorite true crime books about real murder cases
Feature The best-selling author recommends works by Helen Garner, Gwen Adshead, and more
By The Week US Published
-
6 elegant homes in the Mediterranean style
Feature Featuring an award-winning mansion in Colorado and an Alhambra palace-inspired home in Washington
By The Week Staff Published
-
Juror #2: Clint Eastwood's 'cleverly constructed' courtroom drama is 'rock solid'
The Week Recommends Nicholas Hoult stars in 'morally complex' film about a juror on a high-profile murder case
By The Week UK Published
-
Explore a timeless corner of Spain by bike
The Week Recommends Take a 'dawdling route through the back-country' far from the tourism hotspots
By The Week UK Published
-
Saoirse Ronan: how the actress went viral
In the Spotlight The actress dropped a 'chat-icide bomb' on Graham Norton's BBC show
By The Week UK Published
-
Edmund de Waal on this year's Booker Prize shortlist
The Week Recommends The chair of judges details works by Rachel Kushner, Percival Everett and others
By The Week UK Published
-
Griddled salmon and vegetables with miso and melted butter recipe
The Week Recommends Hokkaido comfort food classic with a delicious twist
By The Week UK Published
-
Shattered: Hanif Kureishi's 'inspirational' memoir of accident that left him paralysed
The Week Recommends 'Exhilarating' book is composed of diary entries dictated to his son Carlo
By The Week UK Published