Titus (film) - Plot

Plot

A boy eating at a table surrounded by his toys plays war; a bomb blast frightens him but he is rescued and taken to an Amphitheatre, where an invisible audience cheers. An army resembling the Terracotta Army enter; Romans under the command of Titus Andronicus (Anthony Hopkins), the general at the center of the play, return victorious from war. They bring back as spoils Tamora, Queen of the Goths (Jessica Lange), her sons (Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Matthew Rhys, and Raz Degan), and Aaron the Moor (Harry Lennix). Titus sacrifices Tamora’s eldest son, Alarbus, so that the spirits of his 21 dead sons might be appeased. Tamora begs for the life of Alarbus, but Titus refuses.

The Emperor of Rome has died and his sons Saturninus and Bassianus are squabbling over who will succeed him. The Tribune of the People, Marcus Andronicus, announces that the people's choice for new emperor is his brother, Titus, but he refuses the throne in favour of the late emperor's eldest son Saturninus, much to the latter's delight. The new emperor takes Lavinia, Titus' daughter, as his bride much to Titus's, his family's and Bassianus's chagrin, since Bassianus was previously betrothed to the girl. Titus's surviving sons help them escape and run for the Pantheon, where they are to marry. In the fighting, Titus kills his son Mutius. Titus is angry with his sons because in his eyes they are disloyal to Rome. The new emperor, Saturninus, dishonours Titus and marries Tamora instead. Tamora persuades the Emperor to feign forgiveness to Bassianus, Titus and his family and postpone punishment to a later day, thereby revealing her intention to avenge herself on all the Andronici.

During a hunting party the next day, Tamora's lover, Aaron the Moor, meets Tamora's sons Chiron and Demetrius. The two are arguing over which should take sexual advantage of the newly-wed Lavinia. They are easily persuaded by Aaron to ambush Bassianus and kill him in the presence of Tamora and Lavinia, in order to have their way with her. Lavinia begs Tamora to stop her sons, but Tamora refuses. Chiron and Demetrius throw Bassianus's body in a pit, as Aaron had directed them, then take Lavinia away and rape her. To keep her from revealing what she has seen and endured, they cut out her tongue as well as her hands, replacing them with tree branches. When Marcus discovers her, he begs her to reveal the identity of her assailants; Lavinia leans towards the camera and opens her bloodied mouth in a silent scream.

Aaron then brings Titus' sons Martius (Colin Wells) and Quintus (Kenny Doughty) and frames them for the murder of Bassianus with a forged letter outlining their plan to kill him. Angry, the Emperor arrests them.

Later on, Marcus takes Lavinia to her father, who is overcome with grief. He and his remaining son Lucius have begged for the lives of Martius and Quintus, but the two are found guilty and are marched off to execution. Aaron enters, and tells Titus, Lucius, and Marcus that the emperor will spare the prisoners if one of the three sacrifices a hand. Each demands the right to do so, but it is Titus who has Aaron cut off his (Titus's) left hand and take it to the emperor. However, Aaron's story is revealed to have been false, as a messenger brings Titus the heads of his sons and his own severed hand. In Renaissance semiotics, the hand is a representation of political and personal agency. With his hand chopped off, Titus has truly lost power. Desperate for revenge, Titus orders Lucius to flee Rome and raise an army among their former enemy, the Goths.

Later, Titus's grandson (Lucius's son), who has been helping Titus read to Lavinia, complains that she will not leave his books alone. In the book, she indicates to Titus and Marcus the story of Philomela, in which a similarly mute victim "wrote" the name of her wrongdoer. Marcus gives her a stick to hold with her mouth and stumps and she writes the names of her attackers on the ground. Titus vows revenge. Feigning madness, he ties written prayers for justice to arrows and commands his kinsmen to aim them at the sky so they may reach the gods, understanding the method in Titus's "madness", Marcus directs the arrows to land inside the palace of Saturninus, who is enraged by this added to the fact that Lucius is at the gates of Rome with an army of Goths.

Tamora delivers a mixed-race child, fathered by Aaron. To hide his affair from the Emperor, Aaron kills the nurse and flees with the baby. Later, Lucius, marching on Rome with an army, captures Aaron and threatens to hang the infant. To save the baby, Aaron reveals the entire plot to Lucius, relishing in every murder, rape and dismemberment.

Tamora, convinced of Titus's madness, approaches him along with her two sons, dressed as the spirits of Revenge, Murder, and Rape. She tells Titus that she (as a supernatural spirit) will grant him revenge if he will convince Lucius to stop attacking Rome. Titus agrees, sending Marcus to invite Lucius to a feast. "Revenge" offers to invite the Emperor and Tamora and is about to leave, but Titus insists that "Rape" and "Murder" stay with him. She agrees. When she is gone Titus's servants bind Chiron and Demetrius, and Titus cuts their throats, while Lavinia holds a basin in her stumps to catch their blood. He plans to cook them into a pie for their mother.

The next day, during the feast at his house, Lavinia enters the dining room. Titus asks Saturninus whether a father should kill his daughter if she has been raped. When the Emperor agrees, Titus kills his daughter, to the horror of the dinner guests, and tells Saturninus what Tamora's sons had done. When Saturninus demands Chiron and Demetrius be brought before him, Titus reveals that they were in the pie Tamora has just been enjoying, and then kills Tamora. Saturninus then kills Titus after which Lucius kills Saturninus to avenge his father's death.

The scene dissolves back to the Roman Arena where Lucius tells his family's story to the people and is proclaimed Emperor. He orders that Saturninus be given a proper burial, that Tamora's body be thrown to the wild beasts, and that Aaron be buried chest-deep and left to die of thirst and starvation. Aaron, however, is unrepentant to the end. Young Lucius picks up Aaron's child and carries him away into the sunrise.