The Libertine
Tags: murder

Plot synopsis:
The story begins with John Wilmot, Second Earl of Rochester (Depp), delivering his prologue, the main themes of which are his fondness for drink, his sexual proclivities, and his disdain for his audience.
King Charles II (Malkovich) decides to summon his great friend, the earl, back to London, retracting a year-long banishment for humiliating him, after only three months' exile. Rochester arrives in London to find his friends in a bawdy house; they are known as the "Merry Gang" and include George Etherege (Hollander) and Charles Sackville (Vegas). On the street, Rochester comes across a thief, Alcock (Coyle), whose frankness about his dishonesty impresses Rochester. He hires Alcock as his gentleman on the spot. The Merry Gang introduce its newest member, 18-year-old Billy Downs (Friend). Rochester warns Downs, "Young man, you will die of this company."
Rochester invites Downs to attend a play with the Merry Gang, where they see actress Elizabeth Barry (Morton) getting booed off the stage and then refusing to participate in a curtain call. Rochester is taken with Barry, and secures her re-employment with the theatre company after she is initially fired. Rochester invites Barry to meet him at the playhouse the next day to coach her in acting, and she hesitantly accepts. Barry's acting improves dramatically and she delivers a brilliant performance in her next production. The King then approaches Barry, asking her to spy on Rochester to keep track of his progress. A loyal subject, she agrees.
Charles, in need of money from France, asks Rochester to write a play in honour of the French Ambassador's visit. The king requests it be a "testament" to his reign. Rochester writes Sodom, or the Quintessence of Debauchery, a scathing satire of the king's reign, which he claims is indeed "a testament to Charles" — just what the king had asked for. The play involves live sex acts, vulgar imagery, and a brutal portrayal of the king, played by Rochester himself. At the premiere, Charles coolly interrupts the play, coming up onto the stage to confront Rochester. Later, Downs is killed in a sword fight outside the home of a Constable; Rochester backs away from his dying friend, whispering, "I told you."
Hiding from the king in the English countryside and sick with symptoms of syphilis, Rochester peddles phony gynaecological "treatments" for women, including the selling of "potions" made from Alcock's urine. Rochester's face has become disfigured by syphilitic gummata, which he hides beneath a mask. Charles eventually tracks down Rochester, but decides that the worst punishment possible is to simply "let you be you." Rochester returns to his wife, Elizabeth (Pike), admitting to having been constantly under the influence of "the drink" for five years straight. It becomes apparent that despite Rochester's health and infidelities, Elizabeth continues to love him.
Meanwhile, Charles' unpopular choice of heir, his Roman Catholic brother James, Duke of York, has led to a showdown with Parliament, which introduces the Exclusion Bill to deny James the throne. Rochester makes a dramatic entrance into Parliament, wearing a silver nose-piece and heavy pancake makeup to conceal the ravages of syphilis and hobbling on two canes. He makes a brief but effective speech, rationally and eloquently denouncing the Bill. As Rochester then hobbles off, the subsequent vote kills the proposed Bill. He goes to see Barry, who reveals they had a daughter together, ironically named Elizabeth like his wife. She rejects him.
Rochester returns home to his deathbed, where he dies aged thirty-three with Elizabeth, his mother, a priest summoned to "bring God to him" as she did not want Rochester to die as an atheist, and Alcock. Before he dies, Rochester asks the priest to recite from Book of Isaiah, chapter 53; he also asks his wife to retell the story of how he had abducted her as an 18 year old lady when they fell in love. The film then cuts between Rochester's actual death, and the death scene of The Man of Mode, the play about him written by his friend Etheridge. In a final irony, Elizabeth Barry is playing his wife on stage.
The film closes as it opens, with an epilogue. Rochester slips into the background in the wavering candlelight, sipping his drink and asking repeatedly, growing less arrogant and more vulnerable with each utterance: "Do you like me now?"

Review: Here was a man so highly intelligent, yet so bored with life that he thrived by consistently pushing his limits and the boundaries of his relationships.Johnny Depp eloquently and emotionally portrayed the Earl of Wilmot.
Before passing judgment on this film I suggest that one see it at least twice so as to appreciate the full impact of the movie  to fully identify with the meaning and the thought behind this production.The Libertine is a wonderful piece of art, representing the true raison d'être of this poet with incredible wit and insight.
I found myself holding my breath so many times, because Depp's acting was so amazing.When Rochester starts to show the ravages of his disease towards the end, all I could think of was that Johnny FINALLY got his wish....to play a character as ugly as possible with his face so mutilated and scarred that he was almost beyond recognition.
Perhaps a likable rake, a dissolute, even fashionable but very colourful icon of male supremacy - to be forgiven by female fans if they can watch from the safety of a cinema seat!The reality is a disturbingly different film, dark and sombre, a 17th century candle-lit England, a portrait of the poet and debauchee John Wilmot, and one that ultimately bows out to a feminist heroine in the form of the great actress Elizabeth Barry (played by Samantha Morton).In an opening prologue, Wilmot tells the audience that they will not like him.
The desaturated colours and muddy, rain-sodden English countryside create an air of foreboding entirely appropriate for a work that is more serious than its title suggests.Intellectually, we are treated to the drollness and intelligence of Wilmot but realise that he is a 'locked-in' and isolated character, a loner and barely appreciated trailblazer (in some respects like the great Marlon Brando to whose memory, among others, the film is dedicated).
The first forty-five minutes focuses mainly on John Wilmot's drunken and lecherous ways, and the final forty-five minutes (roughly at around the time that Johnny removes his wig), the sad and awful truth of the life of Rochester kicks in, and from then on, its a cracking story.
Though I am a big Johnny Depp fan, I truly didn't know what to excpect.Considering the movie started off with Johnny's character 'pleasuring' his wife.....
I was a little shocked, but the film really turned itself around and turned out to be funny, sad, disgusting and just a little rude.I personnaly feel that Johnny Depp gave the most impressive performance of his career, and deserved considerable praise.
She showed her true acting ability, and also portrayed a difficult character with ease.Laurence Dunmore showed true potential in his debut film, and directed an EXTREMELY controversial piece making it stand out.In my downright opinion, the Libertine has not received at all as much praise as it should be receiving.
This Oscar worthy performance by Johnny Deep truly needs to be experienced.The film was the perfect vehicle in allowing Laurence Dunmore his creativity to soar with its wonderfully wicked and gritty feel and intense acting from Johnny Depp and Samantha Morton.
John Malkovitch was superb as well, however, I would have liked to have seen more scenes with him and Mr. Depp.After watching Johnny Depp in The Libertine, I am convinced, he is a powerful force who, not only took my breath away, but held me on his rock hard pedestal and kissed my soul..
The Libertine is a central story centered in one debauching, drunk, poet, charismatic, relentless and magnific man called Earl of Rochester.As it often happened with other great men in the past centuries, Earl is posthumously recognized later as a great personality.More than excellent acting for all the cast with Johnny Deep equal to his mastery performances, Malkovich, with a small role, equally great, a classical set of the XVII century, the royal court, the local vagrant Inns, brothels and theaters makes this business fly.The story of a man without moral principles but at the same time intelligent, subtle and with a possession of a genuine libertine archetype, rare for the most common men.The frantic image of a poet-drunker, embedded with the long-time relationship with prostitutes and a somewhat laziness ambiguous behavior of irrational life against the reason.He falls in love with a rookie actress, "humiliates" the English King with an uncommon play presented to the french ambassador/representative of the French King and dares to do what it pleases him most: Erotic playwriting...Excellent movie, that's all...
He started to see the error of his ways by the end of the film, a little too late I'm sure he realizes, makes attempts to mend with mixed success, and thus asks the question "do you like me now." 4) Johnny Depp's performance is beyond description.
The Libertine at least takes a bawdy and desperate character like the Earl Of Rochester and MAKES you love him despite everything he does to make you feel otherwise.
And, though such a mix CAN work in some motion pictures, The Libertine just doesn't seem like one of them.The Libertine takes place in 17th Century England and follows the questionable life of John Wilmot, the Earl of Rochester (a very atypical role played by Depp).
One can argue that The Libertine was done in poor taste and dragged at many points, as does it leave the viewer completely puzzled in many areas.However, the acting by Depp and all supporting cast was SUPERB, the costuming was wonderful and the grim atmosphere was achieved with utmost ease by the director (in his own words at the screening, he wished it to portray England as "a very dirty and vile place".) Like it or not, The Libertine will leave you thinking about it's message and images long after you leave the theater..
"You will not like me," Depp as John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, states at the beginning of the film.
The Libertine takes as its subject John Wilmot, the second Earl of Rochester (Johnny Depp), an English 17th century courtier, who was a drunken, womanising rake (with a taste for the occasional man or boy) and a writer of obscene verses, which made fun of his peers, including his friend, King Charles II (John Malkovich); but who, at the same time, was a sublime poet when he chose.
Few of the characters are outstandingly attractive, and even the actress Elizabeth Barry (played by Samantha Morton), who becomes Rochester's ingénue and mistress, wears little make up, and is unglamourous by today's usual standards.But above all, this is Depp's movie, though he is ably assisted by the prosthetics technician responsible for constructing his ravaged face, crumbling under the effects of drink and the pox.
This film "The Libertine"is probably a little deeper and more thought provoking than some viewers can get into.When I first started watching the film I thought it would be boring.As the film progressed it was more and more interesting.When the film was finished I just kind of sat there awestruck for a couple of minutes.It is hard to describe the movie.I guess the best way to describe it is the feeling one has after viewing something beautiful.You really don't know what to say.You just really appreciate the Art of it.This may be the finest acting performance Johnny Depp has given yet.I was surprised a little.If this performance isn't worthy of an Oscar there is something bad wrong somewhere.I'd recommend anyone that can appreciate a fine acting performance to see this film.Bravo,man!Well done!.
Johnny Depp captured the character of John Wilmot/Lord Rochester so perfectly, showing the depth a playwright/poet gives to his lifestyle.
Taking a story like this and not turning it into either a sex romp or a woe is Johnny Depp sob story, and instead creating a beautifully lit, beautifully scored, and beautifully acted triumph of film is no small feat.
I love a whore with sentiment."Combine "Leaving Las Vegas" with "Dangerous Liaisons" and add a sprinkle of Marquis de Sade-like debauchery, and you have this literate and poetic tragedy called "The Libertine".The tragedy is not the demise of a man, so much at it is a demise of promise and talent.Johnny Depp, an actor who has arguably become the most popular actor of the last decade, stars, in what I consider to be one of his finest performances, as John Wilmot, the Earl of Rochester.
He could also be labelled handsome, playful, witty, literate, wise, insightful, romantic, experimental, courageous and unique."The Libertine" explores the final year of his hard-drinking life as he drifts away from his wife (Rosamund Pike), courts a young actress (Samantha Morton) in the playhouse, and is himself courted by the King to write a magnificent play that will impress his political connections and fellow dignitaries.But the Earl of Rochester is a self-loathing man, so consumed by his own thoughts and brilliance that the world bores him.
She holds her own with Depp in a perfect scene where the Earl teaches the young actress how to play truth on stage rather than the imitation of it.Rosamund Pike plays Elizabeth Wilmot, the lonely wife who sees her husband destroying his own life, and simultaneously hers.
With nice turns in this year's "Pride & Prejudice" and "The Libertine" coupled with an atypical choice to appear in the action flick "Doom", Pike is well on her way to breaking the Bond girl jinx and making it as an actress of note.John Malkovich, who also produced this period-piece, is note perfect and subtly understated as the King who prods the Earl to sort his life out so he can get the literary masterwork out of him."The Libertine" explodes on to the screen for the first hour but falters slightly in the second.
In the movie, Johnny Depp plays John Wilmot, the Earl of Rochester who was best known for being a 17th century poet.
In the opening prologue of "The Libertine" Rochester says, "You will not like me; I don't want you to like me?" And surely from the weird beginning throughout the entire movie does the audience begin to loathe Depp's character the Earl of Rochester but somewhere near the end the film the entire mood changes and the audience feels differently.This is not a movie for a main-stream audience.
I think Mr. Dunmore did a good job capturing the emotions of the characters including their anger and frustration but some of the shots were disappointing.So in the end, "The Libertine" is a movie for a very small crowd.
With that being said I recommend this movie for fans of Johnny Depp and people who enjoy slow moving character studies.
This movie was the worst movie I have ever seen in my life time.Johnny Depp's performance was great.
However, Dunmore neglects many crucial parts of Wilmot's life which could have made the film and the character more interesting e.g. how much he loved his children and country, his relationship with his wife was very much a loving one etc...there are lots of historical inaccuracies.Depp is both sublime and enigmatic and he brings the subtle humour and his character's torment, ambivalence and weakness with élan.
Based on the highly regarded play of the same name by Stephen Jeffreys who thankfully transferred his poetry to the screen in a brilliant screenplay, THE LIBERTINE glows with a sense of history, of social conscience, of the tawdry court of King Charles II in England, and relates the brief but scandalous yet ultimately poetic life of John Wilmot, the second Earl of Rochester (1647 - 1680).
The film may bit a bit heavy for some viewers, but for those who cherish the English language written and spoken like Shakespearean poetry this film is a brilliant work.Johnny Depp as the Earl of Rochester delivers a dazzling portrayal complete with utter debauchery, incessant drinking, crude antics, razor sharp observations about life and the senses that marked the 33-year life of his character.
Rosamund Pike is radiant as Wilmot's frustrated and neglected wife and Samantha Morton brings the actress Lizzie Barry to life as the only woman Wilmot seemed to love - or was it really the theater he loved, the venue where he could allow his true motivations to be experienced instead of being trapped in the body ruled by libido in which he lived, eventually dying of the Great Pox (syphilis) in a wretchedly distorted body yet able in his last days to support the monarchy in an unexpected, highly dramatic appearance before Parliament.The large and impressive supporting cast includes cameos by Paul Ritter, Stanley Townsend, Francesca Annis, Tom Hollander, Johnny Vegas, Richard Coyle, Hugh Sachs, Tom Burke, Rupert Friend, Billy Downs, Kelly Reilly, Trudi Jackson, and Claire Higgins.
Whether or not viewers are well read, or even literate, the film entertains as more than just dramatized philosophy, but a rare breed of period entertainment.Depp plays Rochester, who's prologue informs us that we won't like him and that he doesn't want us to.
Worth seeing it, and more than once, actually.Johnny Depp's performance is brilliant, as it is Malkovich's and Samatha Morton's, a film to be remembered and seen thoroughly.Not a film for everyone, though, but it gives so much, that it's just a pleasure to enjoy every minute of it.I truly hope it gets all the awards it really deserves.Either if you like politics, poetry, drama, and/or the complex human relations, you will be able to enjoy it from start to end.The characters' traits are awesomely portrayed!Certainly, very far from a "Hollywood Product." (Thank God!).
This was full if debauchery,sex and humour.I really enjoyed this film from beginning to end.Johnny Depp is an actor that can portray any character with brilliance.I am a lover of Period dramas and this had it all.Johnny Depp plays John Wilmot a brilliant poet and writer of his time, who leads a scandalous decadent lifestyle.Although married this is not enough to satisfy his lust and he goes from one prostitute to another till he falls passionately in love with Elizabeth Barry (Samantha Morton).Unfortunately nobody can save him from the slow and agonising death he endures as his body is ravaged by the diseases he inflicted on himself through his sexual exploits.I felt very sad when his life ended as he could have possibly have been one of the great statesmen of his time had he chose another path..
I'm still etching to see it again.The performance of the casts is executed wonderfully and exceptionally.I have seen some of Johnny Depp's films, but none of which is as captivating and riveting as The Libertine.
The role of John Malkovich as King Charles II and Rosamund Pike as Wilmot's wife was important and add grace to this film.The script is brilliantly crafted.There were a couple of times where it was quite difficult to decipher the dialogue, but it's not problematic.
Although John Wilmot tells us at the beginning of the movie that we will not like him, Johnny Depp portrays ...
Appropriately Johnny Depp does that in the opening scene, and that should suffice, but it doesn't prepare you for what is coming: a film that rivals the stylistic choices we have seen before in movies like "From Hell", experiences that were disturbing and annoying at the same time but we were also unable to stop watching.There are some aspects of this film that will have people squirming in their seats, mainly its subject matter.
Supporting wise, Malkovich also seems to be enjoying his role as the king, appearing in another British movie after Johnny English two years ago (another Kevin Spacey emerging here?) Morton is adequate but still has a rather snobbish manner to her and probably thinks she's performing better than she is.
I really feel like that character that is created in this movie and so well played by Johnny Deep.
Truly, Lawrence Dunmore did an amazing job as a director to bring the play to screen in such a powerful and intriguing manner - from the captivating first monologue to the most painful scene between Depp and Morton towards the end - the movie hooked me in its entirety.Depp gave a superior performance as "Johnny, the Earl" and made it so believable, every moment of it --- the humor, the anguish, the despair --- all but the sex part of it!
He is set against the Earl of Rochester (johnny) played by Depp.Depp excels at the fornicator - adulterer - live life-to-the-excess but it is Charles request to do something to define his reign which stretches Depp and makes the film transition from something shocking into something really testing.Depp excels yet again (he has this habit of pulling out amazing performances when he feels like it) and the story while peppered with expletives (as a way to define London at the time?) is still very engaging and touching.If you are a fan of Depp, watch this.
His performance is closely followed by a powerful stone-like King Charles II, portrayed by John Malkovich.As we all know, Johnny Depp is renowned for his perfection when using an accent or voice in a role.
When he was thirty-three years old, he was dying of syphilis associated to alcoholism and he converted to a religious man."The Libertine" is the unpleasant story of the repulsive and despicable poet John Wilmot, the Second Earl of Rochester, but magnificently performed by Johnny Depp, who deserved a nomination to this Oscar.
"The Libertin"e is about John Wilmot, second Earl of Rochester, the Restoration rake and poet, and he's played by Johnny Depp, whom most of the people in the movie address as "Johnny." Did Depp feel right at home?
What I think happened is this: a good leading cast (Johnny Depp, Samantha Morton, and John Malkovich) was assembled with a first-time director, Laurence Dunmore, who either didn't know quite what he was doing with the material &/or tried too much (ok, we get it, you can do a hand-held camera move going in circles around two actors, what are you driving at though?), along with a screenplay that just doesn't work for me.