The Libertine
Bit of a curate’s egg of this film, with fragments more harm than good. What I expected was an entertaining stroll through the 17.
century London Underground, with incisive commentary on the character and lifestyle of those involved. What I got was some secondary characters “cardboard cutout ‘, tediously repetitive dark interior bar / brothel scenes, gratuitous profanity and unpleasantness serves no apparent dramatic purpose and - worse - a failure to perform or develop the character of Rochester, so that his actions were inexplicable. For example, while John Malkovich portrait of King Charles II was very good, I was convinced that the reasons for the King repeatedly bringing the count back from exile.
And finally, when you do your good deed for which the King is grateful, but not Rochester ‘for s’, we stayed in the confusion of why on earth was going to do one thing - there has been no previous indication of that side to his character. I liked the scenes between Johnny Depp and Rosamund Pike and his wife injured, which I found convincing, especially the lovely Samantha Morton as Lizzie.
The climax of the film for me was the Count giving Lizzie some acting classes, and I spent the rest of the film waiting for another scene with the sexy lady! These are not really bad for bits though - so my advice is, do only if you’re a big fan of the stars, and be prepared to be shocked and / or disappointed.