The Lion in Winter

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  September 20, 2009

  rebvodka042099

  Performances as the ones of Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn in this film never come around twice in a lifetime. Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton equally excellent, but not as devastatingly powerful as O'Toole and Hepburn. The poetry and lyricism of the script is the product...( read more) of a insane mastermind and the direction offers smooth pace and inner retrospection. It's really hard to notice many other things when an entire film is based on its two protagonists who happen to be breathtakingly stunning. A major film of a major era in cinema. I didn't expect to like it, but I loved it. And would see it again any time.

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  February 9, 2009

  FangsFirst

  In high school, I had a class I can only loosely refer to as "world history," notorious both for its lacking "world" element (unless of course one doesn't feel the East is important--at all) and its lacking instructor (we skipped the Industrial Revolution because and I quote, he ...( read more)"[doesn't] like it." If this is reason enough to skip portions of history, why don't I just skip the class, eh? I don't like most history that's carefully instructed. Of course, this also extended to showing numerous films (often the mark, especially in a history class, of a lazy teacher--though, as with anything, this is not a universal rule). I saw, in that class, Spartacus, The Fall of the Roman Empire, this film and a handful of others--I think, perhaps, Mary, Queen of Scots. This was one of the first times I found myself interested in historical films from decades past, as they typically struck me as overly artificial and boring (I've commented on this in my review of A Man for All Seasons--especially my distaste for early period-costuming). In some respects, there's probably something valuable, then, that I took from the class. I of course also earned the right to slander Gladiator when it came out for being an open rip-off, catching this in the theatre when I asked whether the events in it were true. They aren't, and so the events were too similar to be anything but lifted. But that's another story.
  
  King Henry II of England (Peter O'Toole) is coming up on a Christmas Court at Chinon, Anjou in France, where he makes his primary residence. Every Christmas he lets his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine (Katharine Hepburn) out of Salisbury Tower, the only freedom she sees after her lock up a decade earlier for encouraging the revolt of their sons. King Philip II of France (Timothy Dalton, in his debut role) is pushing for the "gift" of his half-sister Alais (Jane Merrow) to the future heir to be either sealed with marriage or returned with her dowry. This works to force Henry's hand in choosing his successor, his son Henry dead and his remaining sons Geoffrey (John Castle), Richard (Anthony Hopkins, also debuting), and John (Nigel Terry) all clamouring for their parents' attention and the throne. Henry favours the snivelling John, while Eleanor favours the militaristic Richard, and never the twain shall meet on this. Reeling out secrets, lies, subterfuge, espionage, deception, revelation, acts, falsities, truths, half-truths and declarations, every one of these souls puts forth numerous plots to gain what they want, each and every one (ok, barring John) constantly a step ahead of some of the others, but two steps behind another yet. Alais is the only benign soul and innocent caught in this, in love with Henry for himself and disinterested in land or politics--but not without some understanding of both.
  
  Only one acting Oscar was given out to this film, that of Best Actress, though James Goldman won for his adaptation of his own play, and James Barry for his score (which recalls Goldsmith's for The Omen at points--or, to be temporally accurate, something in the vein of Orff's "O Fortuna" from Carmina Burana). The film was nominated for Best Picture (it lost to Oliver!), Best Director (it lost to Carol Reed, also for Oliver!) and Best Actor (O'Toole lost to Cliff Robertson for Charly), and the most clearly robbed was O'Toole. O'Toole has still not won an Oscar, which at this point may reflect more on changing attitudes toward the art of acting than anything else. It was only a year later that Easy Rider would come out and begin to revolutionize the approach to scoring (replacing original composition, or at least stock orchestral music, with pop music), and inspiring producers to invest in "avant garde" "New Hollywood" films, which had a hand in changing the approach to acting. Of course, Marlon Brando as the "flagship actor" of Stanislavski's "Method acting" had already put a large dent in the theatrical approach, but it seems it was the advent of the low-budget "auteur"-style film that really drove the nail in.
  
  I mention this because O'Toole has a clear background in stage, not because he historically has one, nor because of when he acted; O'Toole's acting has a different timbre than that of Method actors, or of almost any actor that came along in the decades following the release of this film and really made a name for themselves(hence my supposition that "New Hollywood" eclipsed the style). The Method is typically considered to be absorption into a role until one is living and breathing as the character one is playing. It's falling into a role and getting lost to it, something that is most highly regarded in film these days, and has been for some time. What O'Toole and his school of thinking do is something more like losing themselves in the lines. It's not to say they ignore the character and simply parade out words, but they build their characters so completely through the lines, with little focus on what they are doing outside of them. It's also not that the external and physical are abandoned completely, so much as they are used to enhance the auditory and emotional performance of the lines. Naturally, if one is performing those lines correctly, this will enhance the character itself and complement the reading to create the character in its entirety. Still, it falls to the lines to carry the performer's focus, and it is plays and films like Goldman's here that these actors seem to live for. It's breathtaking to watch someone like O'Toole rant and rage through lines like these, all barbed in just the precise way and with just the right pinch of wit to keep them from becoming to unrealistically witty to fall so often and witty enough to crack a smile or drop a jaw.
  
  This film would suffer, though, if O'Toole were simply dashing about and ranting of his own accord against cardboard cutouts and amateur actors. Hepburn's Oscar is indeed deserved, matching O'Toole in every conversation, suggesting that perhaps this lion is being circled by a lioness, both equally starved but lean, able to nip and bite and viciously claw, but too aware of the other's equivalent power to strike a killing blow. Something is to be said, though, for the emotional undercurrent of their relationship, as it's hard to disbelieve there is not some form of love, or at least something mistaken whole-heartedly by the participants as love, behind their scheming--even when it comes to suggestion of execution, divorce or infidelity. This same relationship can be seen in their response to their children, though all three of them seem utterly disinterested in actual emotion from their parents--even the ever-curious Geoffrey, who demands to know why he was shown nothing but indifference. Hopkins actually puts forth one of his most evil and threatening roles as the cold and ruthless Richard, softening only in response to Philip (creating a murmur of chuckling during my first viewing, as we noticed a strange tendency for the somewhat effete Dalton to find himself in homosexual roles in period films). I'm sure this might shock and confuse anyone familiar with the role he took on most famously a little over twenty years later, but this was probably the one time that I saw nothing of my image of Hopkins in a performance from him. Terry is good at his snotty, bratty teenaged prince, but the role doesn't demand much more of this than him--beyond, I guess, a careful sense of timing for his unfailingly stupid insults to be reeled out, putrid in comparison to the delicate but poisonous flowers of every other line (which makes them pretty damn funny much of the time). Castle is as machinistic as his Henry describes his son Geoffrey in the film, and so is also relegated to a similarly limited role, that of the endless schemer--similar to Philip, who mixes this with a need to prove his skill despite his youth.
  
  The only concession to make about this film is that you must like dialogue and performance--that's all that this film is composed of, and most of what it is good for. I don't see much hand in Anthony Harvey's direction (I suspect it was a role far closer to that of other studio-system directors in guidance and assembly terms than the coming "auteur" definition), and technically little if anything actually happens. It's all scheming and lying and twisting and stabbing---but all metaphorical, theoretical or verbal. It's captivating to watch if you've an eye for dialogue, though, and well worth your time for that.

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  March 1, 2008

  sainttom93

  OH! MAN! What can I say about this but it is the BEST! Every line Kate utters is a 1-liner --and Peter plays Henry II so well, he also played him in Becket! A GREAT MOVIE!

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  August 8, 2007

  katharinec

  Go Katharine Hepburn! Plus, I have special, beloved memories associated with this play. And it is and excellent play. And the acting all around is great.

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  April 12, 2009

  scottgregory25

  What a great movie! This movie should be required viewing for every aspiring actor. The entire casts' acting is utterly superb. And the script and direction are both tops. Intelligent, flawless dramatic movie.

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  October 24, 2009

  gultenreiz

  This has a very Shakespeare- like feeling about it, but is based on a play by J. Goldman.
  The plot is a bit complicated, but there are some facts:
  -the story is inspired by real events, occurred during Henry II reign, when England was in full centralize process.
  -the action is se...( read more)t in Chinon, during Christmas, the year -1183.
  Before becoming king, Henry married Eleanor of Aquitaine, after her divorce from the king of France, so he gained a wife and a huge territory on the side.
  When the marriage became a mess, Eleanor encouraged her sons to rebel against the king. The queen was put under house arrest, as a punishment, but freed "on special occasions", like Christmas.
  So, how would a Christmas in the Plantagenet family look like? well, like a war at home...
  Even if the story is interesting, the strengh of the movie comes from the complex characters ( a bit to complex for my taste) and the strong performances by a really inspired cast.
  Hepburn is mesmerising as Eleanor. Was there ever e better actress? O'Tool is equally good, as well as the very young Anthony Hopkins (Richard), Nigel Terry as John, T. Dalton as king Philip, but my favorite from the supporting cast was Iago like Geoffrey ( John Castle).
  On the negative side, although I'm a lover of dialogue driven movies, at times this was too much even for me.
  And all the characters were struck by bipolar disorder?
  A last thought, I saw the 2003 tv version, with Close and Stewart, I find it pretty close, actually.

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• 
  
  October 22, 2009

  logged81

  I was not exactly thrilled with the overall feel of this movie and was left somewhat disinterested. I think that was more of the way the director presented it. The overall performances were quite intriguing. Timothy Dalton, I think, surprised me the most. Now, the biggy... A very...( read more) strong performance by Katherine Hepburn, not the best performance of the year, that belongs Barbara Streisand, hands down. Not a tie, as was presented at the Oscars.

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  August 24, 2009

  SageSlowdive

  Great movie. Hepburn is fantastic.

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  August 12, 2009

  jam233

  Extremely well done, but it is a bit long and talky. The acting is superb, everyone in the cast is great. The art direction is well done, but a bit claustrophobic. In spite of the length, it's always interesting and quite a remarkable film.

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• 
  
  June 29, 2009

  vgaslady

  How can you not love and appreciate this move ? Some of the best one liners, Peter O'Toole at his finest - Katherine Hepburn at her finest. Together just an incredible pair - not to mention a young Tony Hopkins.

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• 
  March 10, 2007

  jeronimojoe411

  the only version needed ever!

• Peter O'Toole
• Katharine Hepburn
• Anthony Hopkins
• John Castle
• Nigel Terry
• Timothy Dalton
• Jane Merrow
• Nigel Stock
• O.Z. Whitehead

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