The Biggest Difference - Hephaestion

 

 

 

The biggest difference that I saw between the Director's Cut and the Final Cut of Alexander was the portrayal of Alexander's sexuality, most specifically where Hephaestion was concerned.

 

Nearly all of Hephaestion's scenes are left out of the Director's Cut of the movie, which makes the ones that are included not make much sense, or seem like they are coming out of nowhere.

 

In the Director's Cut, the first scene with any real interaction between Alexander and Hephaestion is the balcony scene, which takes place around an hour into the movie.  This is also the first time in the Director's Cut where we can definitively match a face to the name Hephaestion.  Until this point, there are many short shots of Hephaestion that honestly don't make any sense because we have no idea who this man is or why his reaction to something might matter, or simply mentions of his name in group scenes.  This scene also differs between the Director's and Final Cuts.  In the Final Cut, the conversation between Alexander and Hephaestion lasts longer and contains more evidence of the relationship between Alexander and Hephaestion.

 

In the Final Cut of the movie, however, we can match names with faces ten minutes into the movie when we see a shot of each of Alexander's generals as he mentions them by name and the first scene with interaction between Alexander and Hephaestion starts thirteen minutes into the movie.  In this scene, Alexander and Hephaestion are talking as they walk through camp the night before the Battle of Gaugamela.  During this scene, Alexander compares himself and Hephaestion to Achilles and Patrochlus, who were believed to be lovers.  When Hephaestion points out that Patrochlus died first, Alexander tells him that if he were to die then he would avenge him and follow him down into the house of death and Hephaestion replies that he would do the same.  This shows Hephaestion's importance to Alexander.

 

The comparison to Achilles and Patrochlus happens more than once throughout the movie, the other major time being during the balcony scene when Alexander asks Hephaestion "...what destiny do we- I have?" and Hephaestion responds  "Well, if I'm Patrochlus, I die first; then you, Achilles."  These lines and the entire scene in the camp were not included in the Director's Cut.

 

Another scene with Hephaestion that was not included in the Director's Cut takes place after Alexander has killed Cleitus.  In the scene, Roxane tries to go see Alexander in his tent, where he has been for the past few days due to his grief, and Hephaestion, who had been with Alexander, turns her away.

 

 



 

 

 

There are also short shots throughout the movie that are not included in the Director's Cut that show Hephaestion's importance to Alexander.  Short shots where Alexander will look to Hephaestion for reassurance, or that show Hephaestion's distaste when Alexander gives attention to Bagoas or Roxane.  There are also a couple small snippets where Hephaestion is being teased or mocked by the other generals because of his relationship with Alexander.

 

All in all, a large portion of the scenes that were included in the Final Cut but not the Director's Cut seem to include Hephaestion, along with a couple scenes featuring Alexander and Bagoas, with the result being that the Director's Cut shows a more heterosexual Alexander than the Final Cut does.