Movies On My Mind

Oct. 30, 1968 - the day of the theatrical release of the unforgettable movie “The Lion in Winter”. A film adaptation of an earlier Broadway play has become famous due to its unbelievable emotional charge and superb acting of the cast. It was based on the story of one of the most famous couples in history - Henry II, the King of England (Peter O’Toole), and his Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (Katharine Hepburn), set at the time when Henry II, having lost his oldest son and heir and feeling that his time is coming to a close, summons to his favourite castle of Chinon his estranged wife Eleanor and his remaining sons in order to choose a new heir to the throne.

The unbelievable love story of Henry and Eleanor, who was 10 years his older and already married to the French King Louis IX when she met the 18-year old Henry and they fell in love and then married - it is all in the past. The days of love between Henry and Eleanor are long gone, she’s been conspiring against him for years, presumably to avenge his marital infidelity, and now they are locked in a mortal battle of wits, conspiring against each other, so that the son one of them favours most would become the heir to the throne. Eleanor’s favourite is Richard (the future Lion Heart, played very energetically by young Anthony Hopkins in his film debut). Henry favours the youngest and rather feeble son John ( the future King John the Lackland - played by Nigel Terry). The middle son Geoffrey(John Castle), generally overlooked by both his parents, is plotting against everyone, using the weaknesses of his retarded younger brother John to ensure John’s place as the future King with him as a real ruler behind the throne.

To add to this explosive situation a young King of France, Philippe II (unbelievably young Timothy Dalton in one of his best performances) is showing up at Chinon to press the marriage of his sister Alice, the bride of the now deceased heir, to the new heir of the English throne or to take her back to France. Unfortunately, the sister has already become a mistress of the King Henry II himself and he has no desire to part with her. The French King has also other matters to pursue in Chinon - including trying to rekindle his past relationship with Richard as well to try to secure his future influence in England through carefully plotted game. The king Henry is left alone amidst this nest of snakes, with only Alice loyal to him, while all others, including his favorite son John, are betraying him one by one.

By the end this cauldron of emotions is coming to a point of explosion, when the King decides that none of his sons with Eleanor deserve a place on the throne and it would be best if he had a new heir with his young lover. The sons unite in their hatred against the father and strike against him and only Eleanor saves him from the untimely death at the hands of his sons.The movie was actually a facsinating, tragic portrait of a very dysfunctional family on the verge of collapse, the family which ironically was created out of one of the biggest romances in the history.

The dialogues between Henry and Eleanor, when they throw their grievances at each other, trying to prove that the other was responsible for this failure, are riveting. O’Toole’s famous temper is fully unleashed here, but behind all the King’s follies, one can see a vulnerability of a man, who’s come to his life’s end and with all his glory and power he is alone and hurt and does not have a soul to turn to. Katherine Hepburn is mesmerizing as Queen Eleanor - a worldly, educated, strong-willed and very dangerous woman, still in love with her strayed husband, but unable to get him back and therefore avenging herself by striking him where it hurts most.

The monologue with the mirror, where Eleanor gives herself a little pep-talk after one of the turns where the king had beaten her at her own game, is one of the best scenes I’ve ever seen in the movies. She is positively shining with the strength and conviction of a woman, who has known many defeats, but came back from them stronger and more resilient. Katherine Hepburn, who was 60 at the time, is also very beautiful in that scene. She had won an Oscar as the Best Actress for her role in this film.

The main question of of the film is asked in the end, when Henry and Eleanor, just having witnessed a rebellion of theire sons against their father, which almost cost him his life, look at each other and wonder how they came to this point of hatred and destruction from all that love that they had before. There is not an easy answer, just regret and sadness in the end.

I was hunting for this movie for a long time. I am a big fan of Jean Reno and had seen the movie previously on VHS, but forgot the title and therefore had some problems tracking it down on DVD. All this was not in vain – the movie was as wonderful and sweet as I remembered it. It’s very difficult to define its genre - it’s a cocktail of comedy and drama, mixed together almost equally.

The story seems to be a bit macabre from the first glance – Marcello (Jean Reno), the owner of a small restaurant in a sleepy little town somewhere in Italy, has promised his dying wife Roseanna (Mercedes Ruehl) that he will bury her in the old town cemetery upon her death, so she could be together with their only little daughter, who died a long time ago. Unfortunately, there are only very few plots left in the old cemetery and it can not be expanded, because the owner of the adjacent land is refusing to sell a parcel of it to accommodate the extension (mostly out of spite to Marcello, which makes negotiations even more difficult).

The cast is very good, Jean Reno and Mercedes Ruehl are very natural and endearing in their roles of a loving husband and wife, who, in all the tragedy that has befallen them, still had not forgotten how to live and love and enjoy the life, whenever they can, while it lasts. I liked the supporting actors - Polly Walker in the role of Cecilia, Roseanna’s independent, strong-willed sister, who is falling in love with Antonio (Mark Frankel), the nephew of Marcello’s worst enemy, even as Roseanna is trying to do some matchmaking for her and Marcello, for that time when she’ll be gone. Sadly, I believe this was the last movie for Mark Frankel, who did in a car accident shortly after the movie was released.

The rest of the cast even in the smallest roles are adding very much to the very romantic and very Italian atmosphere of the movie. They all even speak with the accent (which might be uncomfortable for some viewers, though I personally thought it’s a nice touch!).

The DVD extra features are very few – a theatrical trailer, plus New Line promotional trailers and a DVD-ROM with the links to the New Line promotions.

Oct. 25, 1415 - the army of Henry V, king of England, defeated the French army at the battle of Agincourt. This event was a cornerstone of Shakespeare’s drama “Henry V”. In 1944 Laurence Olivier had created a film with the same name, which had become one of the most famous Shakespeare screen adaptations of all times. The famous Henry V speech, rallying the troops before the battle of Agincourt, had a special patriotic appeal for the British people in the times of the Second World War. The film had brought Olivier, who directed and starred in the movie, an Oscar for the “Outstanding achievement”. The film had also 4 nominations in other categories.

Oct. 25 is a birthday of Leo G. Carroll, British character actor, mostly known for his roles in several Hitchcock movies and later in British teleplays. The roles he played in Hitchcock films were always of the characters in the position of authority, the villains hidden behind impeccable manners and the high post, like Dr. Murchison in “Spellbound” - a former chief of the psychiatric facility, who kills his new replacement in order to stay in the clinic. Later is his life he enjoyed a big succes in the TV series “The Man from U.N.C.L.E” about the spymaster Alexander Waverly.

Oct. 22 is a birthday of:

Joan Fountaine - the star of Hitchcock movies “Rebecca” (co-starring Laurence Olivier) and “Suspicion” (co-starring Cary Grant) and younger sister of the Hollywood star Olivia de Havilland. A chance encounter with the producer David Selznick, who was in the process of selecting a female lead for the movie after Daphne de Maurier’s book, had led to Joan Fountaine’s selection for the main role in the movie. The film was a huge success and brought Joan Fountaine a nomination for the Academy award as the Best Actress, but she actually got the award only next year, for the role in another Hitchcock thriller “Suspicion”. Joan Fountaine enjoyed a long and very successful career in the movies, but she also was very well accepted in several Broadway productions and made quite a few television appearances since the 70s.

Catherine Deneuve - a queen of the French cinema, a beloved star of many famous films, including the classic musicals “Les Parapluies de Cherbourg” (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) and “Les Demoiselles de Rochefort”, Luis Bunuel’s masterpieces “Belle de jour” and “Tristana” and the 1980 film “Le Dernier Metro”, which brought her the highest award in the French cinema, the Cesar.

Jan de Bont - the Dutch cameraman and director. He started as a cameraman in the Netherlands and his work on the Paul Verhoeven 1973 movie “Turks Fruit” has made him famous in Europe. He is more well-known to audiences worldwide, however, for the films he made as a director. His directorial debut was the 1994 movie “Speed”, which brought an instant fame to the stars Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock and had a huge success all over the world, which allowed Jan de Bont to continue his career as a director. He continued with “Speed 2″, “Twister” and his latest film “Lara Croft Tomb Raider”, all of which enjoyed a wide success.

“Meet the Fockers” had a big promise of great fun for me – I’ve liked the first movie, Meet the Parents, quite a lot. Meet the Fockers is about Pam’s parents finally meeting the future in-laws – an event Greg clearly is very nervous about. Things start rather smoothly, even as Pam and Greg get to the Byrneses house, where Jack is happily engaged in the grand-parenting business – a bit obsessively as is a custom with him, with Little Jack (or L.J. for short) as the object of his child-raising experiments, but then they very quickly get on a bumpy road. The main problem is the Fockers are nothing like the Byrneses – they like to live their life at full and in the full view of whoever wants to watch. They never hold their feelings, they are spontaneous to a fault and obviously that throws the old uptight Jack for a curve. A lot of misunderstandings, confusion and embarrassment later finally end up in a grand finale – The Wedding! With Kevin the old boy-friend as a rabbi no less. Unfortunately for me, this time a lot of “funny” moments in the movie revolved around toilet and sex life jokes and it looks to me I was more siding with the Byrneses in my reaction to them than with the Fockers. In short, I did not get it. Most of the funny moments for me were related to LJ – here is a cute funny little guy with the great sense of humor! I did enjoy seeing Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman in the roles of Greg’s parents – I may not like the story much, but those two act as naturally as they breathe and it’s great to watch! Oh, and the two animals in the movie – the cat Jinx and the Chihuahua Moses – those were a lot of fun too. All in all I suppose the movie was OK to watch once, but when I watched it the second time – to see what the DVD extended version looks like – I even found it a bit boring. The extended version has the deleted scenes included and it’s painfully obvious why they were deleted – they don’t add anything to the narrative, only make it longer, not more fun. The other extras I suppose might be interesting for those who did like the movie. There is the Fockers Family Portrait, the story of creation of one of the main props in the movie ( I won’t tell you what it is), Behind- the-scenes with Jinx the Cat and the story of how the role of Little Jack was played – and I rather liked the last two extras, they were fun to watch.

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