'THE LIBERTINE' IS ALL DARKNESS.Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic AH, THE RESTORATION! That jolly time in the last half of the 17th century when England kicked the Puritans out of power, brought back the monarchy in the form of party boy King Charles King Charles can refer to:
adj. Characterized by or indulging in vulgar, lewd humor. n. A vulgar, lewdly funny person. [From Middle English ribaud, ribald person, from Old French, from old time. Of course, there had to be a morning after all of the licentiousness Acting without regard to law, ethics, or the rights of others. The term licentiousness is often used interchangeably with lewdness or lasciviousness, which relate to moral impurity in a sexual context. LICENTIOUSNESS. , and - considering the state of the sanitation arts back then - it must have looked as venereally horrible as it appears in ``The Libertine lib·er·tine n. 1. One who acts without moral restraint; a dissolute person. 2. One who defies established religious precepts; a freethinker. adj. Morally unrestrained; dissolute. .'' With all due respect to the concept of accurate historical re-creation, though, why modern filmgoers would want to look at anything so dismal is a question that must be asked. Adapted by Stephen Jeffreys from his smart, sometimes impenetrable play of the same name and directed by British TV commercial graduate Laurence Dunmore, ``The Libertine'' is an oppressive experience. Based on the debauched de·bauch v. de·bauched, de·bauch·ing, de·bauch·es v.tr. 1. a. To corrupt morally. b. To lead away from excellence or virtue. 2. life of John Wilmot John Wilmot may refer to:
The title was created first for Henry Wilmot, but it became extinct at the death of the third Earl, there being no male heirs remaining. , it leaves the impression that not only did nobody enjoy all the sex and drinking in 1670s Britain, but the sun only shone, maybe, three times during the entire decade. All the water must have been muddy, too, as everybody appears caked in the filth and unable to wash it off. This might be worth viewing if the film's characters came to life or its abundant philosophical and moral observations went more than pockmarked-skin deep. Perhaps they do, but since the movie's copious dialogue is spoken in a stylized styl·ize tr.v. styl·ized, styl·iz·ing, styl·iz·es 1. To restrict or make conform to a particular style. 2. To represent conventionally; conventionalize. locution just short of iambic pentameter iambic pentameter: see pentameter. , it's muddled into a highfalutin high·fa·lu·tin or hi·fa·lu·tin also high·fa·lu·ting adj. Informal Pompous or pretentious: "highfalutin reasons for denying direct federal assistance to the unemployed" drone quite early on. No doubt this manner of speech is as historically accurate as everything else in the movie. But that doesn't mean Johnny Depp is good at saying it. Terrific an actor as he is, verbal mouthfuls and deep drama have never been Depp's strengths, and those are precisely the gifts that Wilmot calls for. A born rebel whose roguishness shocked even the liberated society of his time, Wilmot was a close pal of Charles (John Malkovich, not as decadent nor intriguing as Rupert Everett's Charles in last year's ``Stage Beauty''), even though the king couldn't stand some of the earl's more pornographic and politically critical playwriting play·writ·ing also play·wright·ing n. The writing of plays. . Wilmot married a woman that he kidnapped (Rosamund Pike's Elizabeth Malet, long-suffering), whored and drank away her hard-earned affections, and then got himself all hung up on an inept young actress, Elizabeth Barry (Samantha Morton, in the film's best performance), who he trained to become London's brightest stage star. Unfortunately for him, Barry proved to have a mighty reserve of prefeminist self-esteem, just as he was truly falling in love for the first time. Unable to manipulate her and finally losing the king's forbearance, Wilmot went underground. Lucky for him, syphilis or something worse began eating away at his face around that time, making for good disguise. OK, maybe not so lucky. But the film suggests that all of this torment might have had a redemptive effect on Wilmot. That's nice, and tidy, and like everything else about ``The Libertine,'' probably truer than not. It's also pretty puritanical. Man, this movie doesn't want anyone to have to have any fun at all. Bob Strauss, (818) 713-3670 bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com THE LIBERTINE - Two stars (R: sex, nudity, violence, language) Starring: Johnny Depp, Samantha Morton, John Malkovich, Rosamund Pike. Director: Laurence Dunmore. Running time: 1 hr. 50 min. Playing: Royal, West L.A. In a nutshell: Claustrophobic, grim and dark, dark, dark study of John Wilmot, a Restoration-era earl who shocked even the anything-goes English society of the time and paid a heavy price. Relentlessly squalid and a chore to sit through, it never really illuminates character or the philosophical and moral issues it stirs up. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Johnny Depp portrays John Wilmot, the second Earl of Rochester, in ``The Libertine.'' |
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