Mar 25 2009
B+ Movie Review: The Libertine
When I was a kid, I never understood why the Oscar always went to the biographies over the sorts of films that I liked. I didn’t understand what went into Ben Kingsley’s portrayal of Gandhi or F. Murray Abraham’s skillful work as Salieri in Amadeus. Besides, those movies didn’t have explosions or swordfights or superpowers or anything that I understood to be special effects.
Perhaps I’d have developed an apprecation at a younger age if I’d seen more biographies like The Libertine.
The Libertine first came to my attention because it was to feature a guy-guy kiss with some actor and the always entertaining Johnny Depp. It was enough to make me wonder what sort of film it might be, enough to make me record and watch it, even if, alas, the scene was cut. What wasn’t cut, however, was the great deal of guy-girl kissing that went on, along with far more explict sexual themes, fighting, drinking and general examples of bad behaviour.
The movie’s subject is John Wilmot, The Earl of Rochester, who was a poet in the 17th century and a notorious scoundrel. The first scene is Rochester, played by Depp, staring straight into the camera and explaining that we will not like him, that’s okay and that despite that we’ll want to sleep with him and that’s okay too. Thus the tone is set for a tale of drama, debauchery and tragedy.
Not a light hearted picture by any stretch, it does feature some fine acting and some truly beautiful sets. In addition to the excellent work of Depp (even if he is using much the same accent he uses for all English charcters of his), there is some fine work by John Malkovich as King Charles II. The film is blatant and honest in its storytelling, exposing us to both the good and bad in the characters and doing so honestly, allowing us to make up our own minds with a minimum of bias.
The pacing of the film is good and the majority of the interactions between the characters are very believable, though there’s a climactic scene that takes place in parliment that seemed a little forced to me. That said, there’s little in which to be disappointed where the story is concerned. It’s not a happy tale but it is an understandable one.
The Libertine presents John Wilmot as a sort of 17th century James Dean, a rock star amongst poets, reveling in his wantoness and imperfections while, able to let you know up front that he’s a horrible person, use that fact as an attraction and when the truth of it comes to pass then simply ask what it was you expected. His story is one worth hearing, either as entertainment or warning, and the version of it that was brought to film presents it in a way that is very pleasing to the eye.
The Libertine gets a solid B+. Even if it could have used more explosions. But then again, so could have Gandhi.
