Review of The Libertine (2004) by Greg O — 27 Jan 2008

I want to give brownie points where they are deserved. Laurence Dunmore has directed possibly the dirtiest movie in ages. Literally, I mean. Sure there is sex and extreme levels of it, but that is underscored when compared to the scenery.

The filmmakers were hoping, probably, that by slopping dirt and scum and disease everywhere, that the period would splurg out of the mud and disgustingly come to fruition. It does, if you can see it. I want to shoot the lighting technician.

You can't see a damn thing. All of the grays and blacks are mirrored with dark contrasts that even the candles can't illuminate. The story is worse. Jon Wilmont, second Earl of Rochester, as played by Johnny Depp, is a pig, sour and unforgiving.

He desires sex and proclaims is all for it, all the time. But whether or not he's aware of the explosion of disease back in those days - he must- the reality of his prostitution comes at such shocking force that it takes his life.

This is a movie without a soul and without a point but I cannot say it didn't warn me. Depp makes sure we don't like him, to an extent, but I never hated him. I pitied him. Because like his film, I feel sorry for his existence for there isn't much reason why he's there, only to spread the disease, I suppose.