Review of The Lion in Winter (1968) by Gregg P — 02 Sep 2009

Over the Christmas holiday of 1183 King Henry II (Peter Oâ??Toole) of England (and various other territories including much of France) summons his family to join him. He is attended by his wife Eleanor (Katherine Hepburn) of Aquitaine (released from her imprisonment for the holidays) and his sons; Richard (Anthony Hopkins) the future King Richard the Lionheart, Geoffrey and John (Nigel Terry) later King but best known to most as Prince John as well as Henryâ??s mistress Alais and King Phillip II (Timothy Dalton) of France. While attempting to maintain a veneer of family and friends the various characters constantly scheme and plot both with and against one another jockeying for favor and position.

While the film has exceptional production values the principal enjoyment comes from the performances and the writing. All of the principles engage in numerous discusions with one another that are layered with both meaning and subtext.

While the protagonists are actual historical figures, the film covers a fictional gathering. The internecine struggles amongst the family are well documented and the discussions and confrontations depicted here may have happened elsewhere and at different times have been distilled here for story telling purposes.

The film was directed Anthony Harvey for whom this would be his career high point as a director, though he also had considerable success as an editor on some very good films. The wonderful score by John Barry would win him one of his 5 Oscars.

The film would win three Academy Awards for Best Actress â?? Katherine Hepburn, Best Screenplay and Best Score. It was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor â?? Peter Oâ??Toole and Best Costume Design.

Although Hepburn was 25 years Oâ??Tooleâ??s senior and its somewhat apparent if you look for it, they are both so effective in their performances that its a non issue.