The Libertine

The DVD was in brilliant condition. The film is a must see, amazing - Johnny Depp and Samantha Morton are amazing. By the end of the film you understand the character Johnny Depp portrays and even grow to like him. A great watch.

I hardly know where to begin talking about this maginificent film. It's certainly not the sort of thing that I could reccommend to everyone, since its difficult and bleak subject-matter would probably benefit from an audience's basic prior knowledge both of the mentality of the Restoration era and of the life of John Wilmot himself. I suppose with that in mind it's a little easier to at least understand why The Libertine was not treated as favourably as it deserved by the critics on its release into cinemas; for people to come unsuspectingly to a film that portrays a period in history in all its painful, cruel ugliness is asking a lot, particularly when most people have been raised on a diet of the more chocolate-box, Merchant Ivory style of costume dramas.That said, I cannot praise The Libertine highly enough. Having never really paid a great deal of attention to Johnny Depp's career in the past, I had very few preconceptions about what he might bring to the role of the Earl of Rochester, that troubled, unhappy, fiercely contradictory man. But Depp surely surpasses himself in a performance that is intelligent, judged with astonishing sensitivity and demonstrating a depth and range of emotion that brings precisely the sort of conflicted pain, anger, bitter humour, cruelty, cynicism and, yes, tenderness to this difficult role that was endemic in the real John Wilmot, a man who could barely stand the reality of life as the person he was, particularly as his outer shell is stripped away and his inner torment is given a physical manifestation. It also goes without saying that the film is breathtakingly beautifully written, at once smart, sexy, poetic, very amusing and finely judged. I would actually say that its stage origins, instead of hampering its transfer to the screen, serve to highlight the theatrical quality of people's lives in Charles II's England, when much of the behaviour of the elite classes was purely defined by performance, lives led on a gaudy, superficial knife-edge. First-term director Laurence Dunmore adds an appropriately modern, unsentimental aspect to the film, with the use of natural lighting and an almost documentary-style of filming. Amongst the supporting players, performances by Samantha Morton and Rosamund Pike stand out, deftly seeming to portray the two opposing sides of Wilmot's nature.So all I can really offer as advice to people approaching this film for the first time is: hold your nerven, toughen up your stomach and, most importantly, open up your mind. If you try to see The Libertine in the way it was intended, I guarantee the experience will be a rewarding and, ultimately, beautiful one. I will be proud to own this film when it is released on DVD.

Depp said he likes this film best out of all his films and he is correct. Fantastic.

It's not often I say that a film is outstanding. Most of the stuff people rave about strikes me as reasonably good, three star stuff.Mind you, that's Hollywood (but it wasn't just because this was a joint British/Australian production that I think it's so imp0ressive, honestly).Outstanding performances all round, but particularly from Johnny Depp as the debauched and melancholy Rochester.This isn't entirely historically accurate - for instance, Rochester knew his child by Elizabeth Barry, and even took her out of her custody at one point, and it wasn't his speech that had such an effect over the succession crises in the time of anti Cahtholic hysteria - but these deviations from the less dramatic truth made for good impact in the structure of the play.I liked the way the squalid side of life in Restoration England was brought out; too often, the mud and cruelty are swept under the carpet (there could have been more emphasis on the general poverty of the population n this, but after all, it is about a aristocrat).My main objection was the colouring; the theme was so tragic that really, the effect of muted colours was as superfluous as it was with the old BBC production of King Lear. I would have liked to see some gorgeous colours. Was the lack of brilliance supposed to reflect Rochester's viewpoint?

I found this film a thoroughly engaging way to spend a couple of hours. Whilst the film is a little wordy and betrays its theatrical roots, there is enough action and it is fast paced enough that my attention rarely flagged.If you are in any doubt whether to see this film, then may I commend to you the performances of the main players. Johnny Depp once again proves himself a versatile and talented actor and there is a splendid supporting performance from John Malkovich.But it is the triumvirate of truly delicious English actresses that provide more than enough justification for seeing this film. Samantha Morton is compelling as Elisabeth Barry, whilst Kelly Reilly is as ravishing as ever as Jane; rarely have I seen a screen kiss played with quite so much enthusiasm - perhaps the fact that Johnny Depp was involved helped!However, taking the acting honours is Rosamund Pike as Depp's long suffering wife. The opening scene in the carraige hints at the passion that once existed in their marraige and at the intensity in his life that Rochester craves. Personally, you'd have had to drag me from the house screaming if Ms Pike was "her indoors", but therein is the key to the film: it's a stark depiction of a destructive personality, who is, ultimately at least, partly redeemed.

Tells the story of rollicking poet and earl, John Wilmot. It's a very bawdy tale, brilliantly brought to life by Johnny Depp and John Malkovich (as Charles II). A must see bodice ripper. The Seller is outstanding, item arrived within 48 hours of ordering.

Good seller awful film

Arrived fast and not the greatest movie but alright

Ich habe schon lange darauf gewartet, daß es dieser Film endlich auch nach Deutschland schafft, aber da er schon in England erst Jahre nach dem Dreh anlief, kann es wohl noch eine Weile dauern. Vermutlich haben sie Probleme mit der Übersetzung... Nun habe ich mir also endlich doch die englische DVD angeschafft, denn neben Johnny Depp und John Malkovich interessiert mich an "The Libertine" vor allem die Hauptfigur, deren Gedichte ja auch erst vor ein paar wenigen Jahren ins Deutsche übersetzt wurden. Außerdem interessierte mich, seit ich das grottenschlechte Machwerk "Stage Beauty" gesehen hatte, dieser Film, der etwa in derselben Zeit spielt.Ich war sehr gespannt, da ich im Internet sehr unterschiedliche Rezensionen gelesen hatte, auch nicht besonders positive - allerdings hauptsächlich aus den USA; vielleicht hatten sie dort ein paar Probleme mit den weniger netten four letter words. Aber der Film hat alle meine positiven Erwartungen voll erfüllt - vor allem liegt zwischen "The Libertine" und "Stage Beauty" das ganze Weltall: Schon allein die denunzierende Karikatur des Charles II. in letzterem und dagegen die grandiose Studie von John Malkovich in ersterem... Alles stimmt hier: die wie durch eine Camera obscura bei Kerzenlicht gefilmte Szenerie; die Besetzung (vom Feinsten), die Kostüme, die grandiosen, intelligenten Dialoge, die Gedichte des Earl, die Musik...Allem voran der unglaubliche Mr. Depp, der den Lebenshunger und den Lebensüberdruß, die Gier und die Verzweiflung, die Sehnsucht nach Nähe und den Zynismus, die Rohheit und die Zartheit so authentisch spielt. Das ist großes, anrührendes Kino, das es wirklich verdient hätte, auch in Deutschland auf die Leinwände zu kommen - vielleicht ja in der Originalfassung mit Untertiteln. Mich hat der Film jedenfalls sehr bewegt und mit einer Gänsehaut zurückgelassen.

Received it fast, and despite not being new, works perfectly fine.

SPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERS...but that doesn't mean he isn't spectacular in it. But the way he delivered many of his lines got to be annoying. I've decided that that was his idea of Wilmot as a most-of-the-time-halfway-to-drunk person. But he delivered his lines the same way in scenes where I wasn't sure Wilmot was supposed to be drunk. But at the end of the film, Wilmot claims to his wife that he has been drunk for most of the previous 5 years -- roughly about the span of time covered in the film -- sooooo, OK, he was drunk all the time and so slurred his words like that all the time. Fair enough.But I didn't come back to watch this time and again for Johnny, but to watch nearly everybody else in their parts. This is just about the best supporting cast I've ever seen. I already loved Rosamund Pike and Tom Hollander and knew they were both capable of excellent work and they absolutely live up to their talents. This is the only thing I've ever seen Samantha Morton do (except for watching "Max and Ruby" with my preschoolers; she was the original voice of Ruby) and she is SO breathtaking. I could watch her "Lizzie acting" scenes forever and never get tired of them. It made me feel sad that I can't actually go to a theater and SEE her play the roles her character was acting in the film. I wanted even more of her; there's just not enough of Lizzie in this film. And Johnny Vegas! Who knew??? He was fantastic as Charles Sackville and I will forever wonder what "the full wibbly-wobbly" is. ;-) And, of course, John Malkovich, like Pike and Hollander, is ALWAYS good and he is here SO good yet again. I barely recognized Kelly Reilly; it was too big a change from her Mary Morstan Watson or Caroline Bingley characters for me to even recognize her until about the 3rd time I saw it. Rupert Friend was fine; he had such a small part here that I didn't get much of an impression. He's got some amazing cheekbones, and he DID do an EXCELLENT dying scene.I don't think the prologue/epilogue does much for the film. I just don't see why the audience needs either one. We are charged with deciding whether or not we'll "like" John Wilmot, even though that's not something the audience needs to be reminded to do. It's jarring and doesn't add anything meaningful to the film. Perhaps it played better on stage; I wouldn't know.Did this film get the promotion it deserved when it came out and I just wasn't paying attention? Because I never heard of it until just a couple of years ago. Sandwiched in between the first 2 "Pirates" films maybe it just got lost in the kerfuffle.This is "R" for a very good reason. I normally don't pay much attention to a film's ratings, (it's not how I judge a film's merits) but in this case I would really recommend the kids under 17 (or at least under 12) not be awake or at home when you're watching. I kept wondering what they had to cut OUT to keep it from being NC-17! Because I'll bet there are even raunchier scenes that went under the guillotine in order to get that R.

Awesome movie, but how could it not be, it's JOHNNY DEPP.