LIAC Film Reviews: The Libertine
IIt always seemed to me that John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, should be, along with Martial, one of LIAC's tutelary geniuses.
So I took myself to see the Libertine, a jolly little film, whose distribution in Britain has been inexplicably delayed. I'm afraid I cannot recommend it; those fascinated by Rochester, as I am, will be annoyed. Those indifferent to him will remain so. Johnny Depp does Rochester marvellously, particularly in the late syphilitic phase, but the self-disgust seems to be less than complete. John Malkovich as Charles II is good, though he has some stinkers of lines to deliver. There's not enough of the poems, three as I recall, A Ramble in Hyde Park, and bits of A Satire on the King, and the Imperfect Enjoyment. Signor Dildo is sung as part of a stage production of Sodom for the French Ambassador, which is rather wonderful.
English viewers may be tickled by the appearance of a liquorous and lecherous Johnny Vegas as one of Rochester's set; the trouble is, in full-bottomed Restoration wigs, sooner or later in the rather overlong course of the film all the male actors come to resemble Mr Vegas, and it is hard to remember who is who. The debate scene in the House of Lords is quite absurd. The music, by Michael Nyman, largely recycles his material from the Draughtsman's Contract, hoping that it was so long ago no one will notice. What a pity, when the latter part of the seventeenth century was such a wonderful time for English music
LIAC rating: two cunts (out of a possible five). Read Graham Greene, or the Earl himself. I leave the last word to Nick Cave: "John Wilmot penned his poetry riddled with the pox".
So I took myself to see the Libertine, a jolly little film, whose distribution in Britain has been inexplicably delayed. I'm afraid I cannot recommend it; those fascinated by Rochester, as I am, will be annoyed. Those indifferent to him will remain so. Johnny Depp does Rochester marvellously, particularly in the late syphilitic phase, but the self-disgust seems to be less than complete. John Malkovich as Charles II is good, though he has some stinkers of lines to deliver. There's not enough of the poems, three as I recall, A Ramble in Hyde Park, and bits of A Satire on the King, and the Imperfect Enjoyment. Signor Dildo is sung as part of a stage production of Sodom for the French Ambassador, which is rather wonderful.
English viewers may be tickled by the appearance of a liquorous and lecherous Johnny Vegas as one of Rochester's set; the trouble is, in full-bottomed Restoration wigs, sooner or later in the rather overlong course of the film all the male actors come to resemble Mr Vegas, and it is hard to remember who is who. The debate scene in the House of Lords is quite absurd. The music, by Michael Nyman, largely recycles his material from the Draughtsman's Contract, hoping that it was so long ago no one will notice. What a pity, when the latter part of the seventeenth century was such a wonderful time for English music
LIAC rating: two cunts (out of a possible five). Read Graham Greene, or the Earl himself. I leave the last word to Nick Cave: "John Wilmot penned his poetry riddled with the pox".
posted by Lovelorn Swain | 11:00 pm
I've been a miserable fuck all day, but have chuckled off and on over the phrase "two cunts (out of a possible five)." Thanks for that.
I have investigated this Martial whom you mentioned. He appears to have chat-up lines almost as bad as JiB's. Here's one in translation from the original Latin:
You want to be fucked, Saufeia, but you don't want to have a bath with me. I suspect that there's something extremely dreadful: either your breasts hang down ragged from your chest, or you fear that when you are nude you might betray the furrows of your belly, or your mangled groin gapes open with an infinite chasm, or something sticks out from the mouth of your cunt. But, I trust, there's none of these things and you're very beautiful naked. If that's true, you have a worse blemish: you're a fool.
*jots down for future reference*