The Lion in Winter

Rating:
Summary: Great dialogues
Review: This movies deserves it's great reviews. The story, I found, is somewhat difficult to follow at times and you have to watch it several times to appreciate all that goes on. And I did watch it three times in a row. Katherine Hepburn is inimitable as the queen. She delivers her lines with such acuteness. The pacing of the dialogues is really faultless and what the movie 'lacks' for in live action, it more than makes up in dialogue and humour. And who needs swordfights anyway if there is so much action to be found in a well written dialogue? There are not enough movies made this way nowadays. Very much recommended.

Rating:
Summary: When the stars align
Review: Perfect is the word that best describes this film. Lead actors, direction, dialog, musical score, supporting performances all converge to make a glorious film. Henry and Eleanor are two of the most fascinating people in history. O'Toole and Hepburn bring them to life in a manner recognizable to anyone who cares to watch. Henry and Eleanor are the moon and sun and the supporting players revolve around them. These are two powerful people who started their relationship in a blaze of passion. Henry was a young Duke who wanted it all -- a kingship and the French Queen Eleanor.The older Eleanor already had a king and the richest duchy in Europe but she wanted Henry -- their adultery and the subsequent divorce and war made it all possible. They ruled together and apart and ultimately they turned on one another and did terrible things to each other. BUT after all of the venom, backstabbing, etc. at the end there is the fundamental truth that Henry and Eleanor love one another but so much has happened to them, they cannot live together because they cannot trust one another. Hepburn and O'Toole make you believe them when they are trying to verbally destroy one another and, in their tender moments, make you feel the love that is still there. Kate won the Oscar for this performance which is one of her finest. She is regal, beautiful, intelligent, domineering, scheming, and alone -- the personification of Eleanor. O'Toole is strong, cunning, wicked, and resourceful. You can believe that this man could have been bold enough to commit adultery with the Queen of France just as you can believe that this woman would have risked possible execution to consummate their passion. You believe that love and hate are two sides of the same coin depending on the circumstances. In this film, the coin spins as the circumstances change. This was Katharine Hepburn's first film role after the death of the love of her life Spencer Tracy, I think she brought the knowledge of great love and loss to this role and in doing so created an indelible performance that everyone else in the cast rose to meet.