Review of The Lion in Winter (1968) by I Don't Know W — 27 Jul 2011

A trenchant, incisive look into how the British royal family REALLY kept its power, The Lion in Winter lays bare all the foibles, flaws, infighting and fickle fidelity of the family of Henry II. Peter O'Toole is unbelievable in his raw performance as the tired, hurt, tempestuous and arrogant King.

His performance is the other side of the coin to the treatment he gave the king in Becket. Now that he's the star of the show, he tackles his role with even greater gusto than he showed four years earlier.

But he has to match wits with the great Katharine Hepburn who showcases the most varied range of emotions as Henry's distant, imprisoned wife. Practically every line she spouts is full of mordant, acerbic wit; she gets most of the best lines in the film.

The back-and-forth between herself and her husband is the highlight of the movie, and their confrontations are filled with intelligence and emotional charge. Their rows are laced with genuine hurt and antipathy, in a manner akin to Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

The movie also boasts impressive incipient performances from Timothy Dalton and Anthony Hopkins, both of whom match the intensity and impetuousness required of their callow characters. The whole of the cast is perfectly realized, and the momentousness of the situation -- how best to steer England while serving their own selfish needs -- is given a particular slant based on each character.

John Barry's sinister, dolorous music does well in matching the film's tone and raising the emotional stakes even more. The script is crackling with wit and intelligence, and it is blessedly realized by the smart performances who give this film the pulse and pressure it needs.

The story is marvelously constructed with give-and-take, backstabbing, and plotting galore. It's a morbid bit of fun and an Anglophile's dream. Just don't ask me how much of it actually happened.