Aging King Henry II (Peter OâToole) has decided to hold a Christmas court at an out-of-the-way castle in order to deal with the question of succession. In attendance, besides peasants and soldiers, will be the queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine (Katharine Hepburn), who he has had imprisoned for the past ten years, and their three sons, the near psychotic Richard the Lionheart (Anthony Hopkins), the conniving Geoffrey (John Castle), and the obnoxious man-child John (Nigel Terry). Also arriving will be the teenaged king of France, Philip II (Timothy Dalton), and his twenty-three-year-old sister Alais (Jane Merrow), who by treaty must marry the heir or Henry must return her dowry, which he has no intention of doing. Complicating her marriage is the fact that Alais has lived in England since she was four, and raised for part of that time by Eleanor, and is currently Henryâs mistress and none-too-happy about marrying one his sons. Further complicating matters is that Eleanor supports Richard for king, and gave him the Aquitaine, land that Henry considers essential to his kingdom, while Henry supports John, who is his only son not to have raised an army against him.
This is a magnificent film, with historical weight, personal drama, insight into love and hatred and greed, all turned up a notch from reality. Itâs thoughtful and entertaining and I was stunned after first watching it, and doubly so after my most recent viewing. Itâs electric.
Itâs a near perfect translation from stage to screen. James Goldman adapted his own play, and smartly adjusted little of the dialog. It was a great play, so donât fix it. And the movie isnât âopened upâ needlessly. People donât go running around just to be running around, keeping few locations and the feeling intimate. Instead, the change in format is used to give us a proper depiction of the Middle Ages. The Lion In Winter has been used in college history classes to show what it was like. The castle is damp and dirty, with pigs (literal pigs) mixing with royalty. Itâs cold, and nothing can keep those gowns clean. This is no fairytale world.
Not that it should be taken as a documentary, though itâs one of the more accurate historical films. The major alteration from fact is that the Christmas gathering as presented didnât happen. Rather the film fuses multiple meetings and events into a single day, but otherwise it sums up the situations as they were, at least according to one chronicler or another.
Before Henry II, England didnât exist as we know it, and in 1183, what being King of England meant was still in the process of being determined, as was the rules of succession. Whatever rules there were, it came down to who could hold the thrown. If Henry didnât lock down the succession, his kingdom would fall apart after his death (which, in part, it did). None of these three sons was supposed to inherent. The throne was to have gone to Henry The Young King, his second child with Eleanor and the first to survive to adulthood. He was crowned co-King with his father (a French tradition) and had been a rock star to the people, or perhaps a sports star is the better term as he was thought of as the greatest jouster of the time. He had been loved by all, though history allots him little of the intellect afforded the rest of the family. And heâd died as a result of one of his rebellions against his father, and their wasnât a clear replacement. Henry The Young King hadnât wanted to wait for power, and his brothers realized they wouldnât be given any, so, along with Eleanor, they rose up, against their father, and against each other, but none could dethrone Henry. So family reunions were going to be tense.
These were people of extremesâsmarter, crueler, stronger then mostâwho took extreme risks, and lived lives itâs hard to imagine now. Henry II was a warrior by the time he was 14, and ruled an empire heâd made as much as inherited by 21. He was considered the greatest warrior of the time both in individual combat and in strategy. Eleanor was considered the most beautiful women in the world, and both as clever and ruthless as her husband. And while Richard wasnât their intellectual equal, he racked up the body count while he was young. These were historical giants, and here they are portrayed by cinematic giants. This is Peter OâTooleâs second great performance (after Lawrence of Arabia). Heâd played Henry II a few years earlier in Becket, but that was feeble by comparison. Here heâs energeticânearly manic, yet always believable, presenting us with a true character Itâs the best cinematic performance of the year, and one of the best of all time.
Katherarine Hepburn puts in the second best of the year (and her best ever), Timothy Dalton the third, Anthony Hopkins the forth, and John Castle the fifth, with Nigel Terry and Jane Merrow not far behind. This is everything film acting should be. They arenât giving us drab reality, but something more, something absolutely authentic, but not mundane. This is an actorsâ film.
Not that it is all down to the acting. An actorsâ film needs to give those actors great lines and things to do, and The Lion and Winter does both. The plot is filled with betrayals and compromises, love-making and assassination attempts, and it flows like a river.
As for the dialog, nearly every line is quotable:
War agrees with you. I keep informed. I follow all your slaughters from a distance.
Henry’s bed is Henry’s province. He can people it with sheep for all I care, which on occasion he has done.
Her eyes in certain light were violet, and all her teeth were even. That’s a rare, fair feature: even teeth. She smiled to excess, but she chewed with real distinction.
I even made poor Louis take me on Crusade. How’s that for blasphemy. I dressed my maids as Amazons and rode bare-breasted halfway to Damascus. Louis had a seizure and I damn near died of windburn… but the troops were dazzled.
Of course he has a knife. He always has a knife. We all have knives! It’s 1183 and we’re barbarians!
The Lion in Winter is great line after great line, in wonderfully composed scenes, wrapped in fascinating politics and personal stories, and all performed perfectly. Itâs one of the great films.