The Lion In Winter

They don't make movies like this anymore. Folks, this film (which I recently caught on TCM) is the perfect storm of nerdiness. For the movie nerds, you have stellar performances by Peter O'Toole as Henry and Audrey Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine, an endlessly quotable script with razor-sharp dialog that crackles with riveting drama and biting comedy and the first screen performance of the future Sir Anthony Hopkins. The story centers around Christmas Eve 1183, as Henry summons Eleanor from her prison and his three sons to his château and primary residence in Chinon, Anjou to decide who will succeed him as King. Henry favors John, Eleanor favors Richard and no one favors middle child Geoffrey. Throw in a very young Timothy Dalton as France's King Philip II, the son of Eleanor's ex-husband King Louis VII and you have a Machiavellian chess game of political and familial intrigue. Audrey Hepburn very nearly steals scenes from the mighty Peter O'Toole, instilling Eleanor with wit, precision intellect, fire, steal, love, heartache and vulnerability. O'Toole's Henry is a veritable force of nature, a man's man, virile and formidable even in his twilight years, but also weary of wars and intrigue. I can honestly see no other people in these parts: you need giants to portray giants.

For history nerds, here is a film that Hollywood has forgotten how to do: an historical drama that doesn't show us people in 1183 acting like people in 1968 only with funny costumes. Yes, there are some inaccuracies and anachronisms: Richard the Lionheart barely spoke English and spent nearly all of his life in France, John was probably not the loutish wank depicted so slovenly by Nigel Terry and Eleanor's mention of syphilis predates the coining of the name by 347 years, but you won't find modern sensitivities or prejudices creeping into the portrayals of these historical personages. The people depicted are very much people of their times, unlike some recent Hollywood efforts like Kingdom of Heaven or Troy that tried to give their subjects modern attitudes they simply would not have had.

The life and legacy of Henry II -- Henry Plantagenet, King of England, Count of Anjou, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, and Lord of Ireland is fife with historical and literary significance. Henry appointed his best friend and confidant Thomas Beckett as Archbishop of Canterbury, thinking he could have control of the clergy, but when Beckett proved to be loyal to the Church first, Henry famously cried, "Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?" Some of Henry's knights took his outburst to be an order and murdered Beckett, who became a martyr and a saint, and whose shrine was the object of the pilgrimage depicted in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

One of Henry's sons and future heir was none other than the famous Richard the Lionheart. Another son and also future king was John Lackland, who is important for two reasons: he was considered such a right bastard that the English nobility forced him to sign the Magna Carta, limiting the power of the crown and paving the way for today's rule of constitutional law; and secondly Prince John figured prominently as the main villain in the Robin Hood legends.

I leave you with these quotes that best sum up the masterpiece that is The Lion in Winter:

Prince John: "Poor John. Who says poor John? Don't everybody sob at once! My God, if I went up in flames there's not a living soul who'd pee on me to put the fire out!"

Prince Richard: "Let's strike a flint and see."

Eleanor: "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. "

Henry II: "My life, when it is written, will read better than it lived. Henry Fitz-Empress, first Plantagenet, a king at twenty-one, the ablest soldier of an able time. He led men well, he cared for justice when he could and ruled, for thirty years, a state as great as Charlemagne's. He married out of love, a woman out of legend. Not in Alexandria, or Rome, or Camelot has there been such a queen. She bore him many children. But no sons. King Henry had no sons. He had three whiskered things but he disowned them."

Henry II: [Henry brings candles into the dungeon] "What we do in dungeons needs the shades of day. I stole the candles from the chapel. Jesus won't begrudge them and the chaplain works for me."

Eleanor: "I adored you. I still do."

Henry II: "Of all the lies you've told, that is the most terrible."

Eleanor: "I know. That's why I've saved it up until now."