The Libertine (2005 film)

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The Libertine

The Libertine film poster
Directed by Laurence Dunmore
Produced by John Malkovich,
Lianne Halfon,
Russell Smith
Written by Stephen Jeffreys
Starring Johnny Depp
John Malkovich
Samantha Morton
Rosamund Pike
Editing by Jill Bilcock
Distributed by The Weinstein Company
Release date(s) 23 November 2004( UK), 10 March 2005 (U.S.)
Running time 130 minutes/UK: 114 mn
Language English
IMDb profile

The Libertine is a movie that was widely released in the United Kingdom on 25 November 2005, and on 10 March 2006 in the United States. (Having first been shown on 16 September 2004 at the Toronto Film Festival, and then opening in New York and Los Angeles on 25 November 2005, for a one-week award-qualifying run.)[1]

It stars Johnny Depp, John Malkovich, Samantha Morton, and Rosamund Pike. It is directed by Laurence Dunmore (his debut film) from Stephen Jeffreys' adaptation of his play of the same name. Johnny Depp plays the main character, John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, a notorious rake and libertine poet in the court of King Charles II of England. Samantha Morton plays Elizabeth Barry, an unskilled actress who becomes a brilliant one when coached by Rochester, who is her lover. John Malkovich plays the King who cares about John dearly, but cannot have him ruin his reputation as King. A prevalent aspect of the film is the use of sex and sexually related activities as a form of common escapism. The film was rated R by the US MPAA. In the UK, it has been rated 18.

Lord Rochester's suspected bisexuality is only hinted at in most of the film (besides the prologue, in which he makes a fairly blunt warning to the audience that his sexual appetite extends farther than heterosexual limitations). Tabloids had Johnny Depp (Rochester) sharing a steamy kiss with Rupert Friend (Downs), but their relationship has been reduced to two brief, ambiguous scenes.

Tagline: He didn't resist temptation. He pursued it.

Contents

[edit] Plot

In need of Wilmot’s writing skill, King Charles II (Malkovich) summons the Earl (Depp) back to London, retracting his earlier banishment. As in life, Wilmot is shown carrying on with his friends, the Merry Gang, including George Etherege (Hollander) and Charles Sackville (Vegas). On his way back to the court, Wilmot comes across a thief, Alcock (Coyle), and hires him as his gentleman on the spot. For one of his first social engagements in London, he takes in a play featuring Elizabeth Barry (Morton), who is booed off the stage and fired by the company for her poor performance. Wilmot is taken with Barry and bets Etherege that can make her a renowned actress in a year’s time. As when he met her in reality, he immediately begins to tutor Barry and they fall in love.

Meanwhile, Charles asks Wilmot to write a great work about him, to bolster his legacy as king. Barry delivers a brilliant performance at her next play and Etherege pays off his debt to Wilmot. The king pays Barry to spy on Wilmot to keep track of his progress. Billy Downs (Friend) joins the Merry Gang, and becomes a close friend of Wilmot’s. Charles, in need of money from France, asks Wilmot to write an extravagant play in honor of the French Ambassador’s visit, hoping it will impress the Ambassador to lend his support. Instead, Wilmot writes A Satyr on Charles II, which involves nude actors, phallic imagery, the distribution of ornate dildos, and a scathingly veridical criticism of the King played by Wilmot himself. Outraged, Charles interrupts the play and Wilmot flees.

For six months Wilmot escapes the scrutiny of the King while suffering the effects of syphilis. Hiding in the English countryside under the pseudonym of Doctor Bendo with the help of Alcock and Jane, his concubine and confidant. Wilmot conceals his facial gummata beneath a mask and peddles medical services. Eventually he is found, but instead of any capital punishment, the King decides a worse fate would be to ignore him, in his words, “condemning you to be you for the rest of your days”. Wilmot continues to slide into debauchery, creating a skirmish outside a house of prostitution that leads to Downs’s death. He goes to see Barry who reveals they had a daughter together, yet she rejects him. Finally, he returns to his wife (Pike) who takes him in.

In the meantime, Charles’s unpopular support of Catholicism in England has led to his political beating in Parliament. Unable to conceive any heirs with his wife it was feared that his Catholic brother, James, Duke of York would become king. So Parliament introduced the Exclusion Bill to deny James the throne which seemed sure to pass by 15 votes. Wilmot makes a dramatic entrance into Parliament, wearing a silver nosepiece, because he is noseless, heavy pancake makeup to conceal the ravages of syphilis, and hobbling on two canes, and eloquently renounces the Bill, to his heroic shame. As Wilmot walks off, the subsequent vote kills the bill by over 40 votes. He returns to his home to his deathbed. His mother convinces him to renounce his atheism and accept Christianity. Recalling fond memories, he dies with his wife, mother, and Alcock by his side.

[edit] Cast


[edit] Box office

The film has grossed a total of $4.8 million in the United States and $10.8 million worldwide [2]

[edit] Trivia

[edit] External links