Borgia

[AcetyleneLamp]

Anyone else here watched the tv series Borgia? (Not the Showtime series The Borgias, a show produced for European tv, but in English). Highly recommended for Italian Renaissance fans (only ones who can handle some fairly grisly torture/execution scenes though), it's available on Netflix in the U.S.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borgia_(TV_series)

I kind of like that the actor who plays Rodrgio Borgia/Pope Alexander VI just goes ahead and uses his regular accent instead of attempting a cheesy Spanish/Italian one. It sort of works as a way of indicating that he is of a different nationality from the Italian characters.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I've seen it. I've seen the other series, too.

Both shows have scenes that are absolutely stomach-turning. I know it's fake, but my imagination is too good at perceiving scenes like these.

I have to say I prefer Jeremy Irons' interpretation of Rodrigo Borgia, and the actress who played Lucrezia in that series as well.

The two series had different areas of focus. It was nice to get away from the obsession with Caterina Sforza. It was even nicer to have a real ending to the series, instead of the other situation of the "finale" being a rather pathetic script sold on Amazon Kindle instead of at least a TV-movie.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I only watched the Jeremy Irons series and I liked it so much I can't bring myself to see the other.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Well, you do need a strong stomach to watch the Fontana version. There's far too much blood, guts, & gore, as well as an after-death scene that would have made even the CSI people toss their lunches.

One of the interesting things at the end, though, was when the actors gave a kind of 'historical end note' wrap up for their characters. I'd had no idea that the actor playing Cesare is Irish (Cesare Borgia with an Irish accent... ).

I bought the Jeremy Irons series on DVD. The Fontana version... maybe. Some day. There's a lot of interesting intrigue among the cardinals and their families. But if I hadn't already known about Micheletto from the Irons series, I wouldn't have realized who the character in the Fontana series was supposed to be. The Fontana version has even less charisma than a piece of wet cardboard, whereas the other has inspired a whole subgenre of Borgia fanfic.

Each of the series has strengths and weaknesses the other doesn't have. Both have good actors playing Cesare, but I have to say I prefer Francois Arnaud. Ditto Jeremy Irons as Rodrigo.