I have crossed the Atlantic too many times in the last in the last 13 weeks, I am on my ninth with the return on Friday, not to mention the side trip to Singapore and Australia and a several European trips. The net result is that I an filmed out on American Airlines. So having seen all the new films I turned to the classic movie between Heathrow and Chicago today. I saw Anthony Harvey's The Lion in Winter when it first came out and I had forgotten how good it is. The atmospheric photography of Douglas Clocombe, evocative music, partly derivative of Carmina Burana from John Barry coupled with a tight, witty and provocative script from the author of the original play, James Goldman all add up to an enthralling encounter. I ended up watching it twice.
For those unfamiliar with the film it is the story of a Christmas Court called by Henry II at Chinon at the height of the Avignon empire. As Peter O'Toole playing Henry says, he is the greatest power in a thousand years.
The ascent of Henry to the throne of England, his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine (Katheryn Hepburn in possibly her greatest performance) former wife of the French King forms one of the great stories of history. Eleanor is brought to the caught from prison and her interaction with Alice, daughter of her former husband, now mistress to her current husband and the betrothed of her eldest son Richard (played as a young and magnificently flawed barbarian by Anthony Hopkins in one of this first major roles) that runs through the whole film. No fictional soap opera can compete with the reality of history.
The plot is simple and complex at the same time. The young Henry has died and now his three brothers compete to be named heir to the throne. Henry favors John, later to be vilified unfairly as Lackland by history, Eleanor the homicidal Richard, later to be unfairly praised as a hero in all the Robin Hood stories. In the meantime both ignore Geoffrey who my mind was the most worth successor. All the actors are capable of multi layered plots, as is the new King of France Philip, Richard's former homosexual lover (see what I mean about soap operas).
Throughout the film the actual love of Eleanor and Henry comes through, contrasting these two giants of European politics, who were also lovers of each other and of power, with that of the loyal but ineffectual Alice, Henry's mistress (poorly acted I think with an accent from Cheltenham Ladies College rather than 12th Century France.
I named by daughter for Eleanor of Aquitaine, and that other Eleanor, her granddaughter, bastard of John and wife of the last Prince of Wales.
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