Johnny Depp is a truly remarkable actor who's long and fulfilling career has including roles as diverse as the worst director of all time, a chocolate factory magnate, a rogue CIA agent in Mexico, a mental patient who thinks he's Don Juan, a drag queen, a pirate, an astronaut, and a boy with scissors for hands. His Earl of Rochester in Laurence Dunmore's THE LIBERTINE is something new, and for an actor who's built his career on playing something new, that's really saying something.
The Earl is a famous poet in the 1600's, who falls out of favor with the King (John Malkovich) every now and again but is always called back into his royal service. Why? Because the Earl, while lusty, offensive and sometimes downright cruel, is a brilliant writer and a great drinking buddy. Rochester chooses to bury his gift under a mountain of wine, women and song, until his bad habits finally catch up to him and he is claimed by syphilis at the age of 33.
The film is fascinating as a portrait of a man who prides himself on wallowing in the filth, until he realizes the filth has gotten too deep to ever emerge from. While his hedonism certainly didn't help, it was ultimately his cynicism that killed him. Depp is remarkable in this role, which is one of his ugliest and most raw performances. He starts off a miserable cur, but he's fun to watch because, though he's cruel and obnoxious, he's entertaining. As the disease starts to take hold of him and his behavior becomes fatally reckless, the fun is gone but the fascination is intensified. Not since LEAVING LAS VEGAS has a character self-destructed so vividly.
While the performances are top-notch across the board, and the screenplay is witty and moves the film along crisply, I have nothing but bile in my keyboard for the production values. The film is unforgivably murky-looking, grainy and offensive to the eyes. I can't think of the last time a film looked so ugly. Not ugly in a stylistic sense, either, although the scenario certainly calls for it and the director and crew will undoubtedly try to pass it off as intentional. The film looks amateurishly ugly, like it was shot by a first-year film student who hasn't learned anything about lighting techniques. Depp's performance deserves a better showcase.
The Earl is a famous poet in the 1600's, who falls out of favor with the King (John Malkovich) every now and again but is always called back into his royal service. Why? Because the Earl, while lusty, offensive and sometimes downright cruel, is a brilliant writer and a great drinking buddy. Rochester chooses to bury his gift under a mountain of wine, women and song, until his bad habits finally catch up to him and he is claimed by syphilis at the age of 33.
The film is fascinating as a portrait of a man who prides himself on wallowing in the filth, until he realizes the filth has gotten too deep to ever emerge from. While his hedonism certainly didn't help, it was ultimately his cynicism that killed him. Depp is remarkable in this role, which is one of his ugliest and most raw performances. He starts off a miserable cur, but he's fun to watch because, though he's cruel and obnoxious, he's entertaining. As the disease starts to take hold of him and his behavior becomes fatally reckless, the fun is gone but the fascination is intensified. Not since LEAVING LAS VEGAS has a character self-destructed so vividly.
While the performances are top-notch across the board, and the screenplay is witty and moves the film along crisply, I have nothing but bile in my keyboard for the production values. The film is unforgivably murky-looking, grainy and offensive to the eyes. I can't think of the last time a film looked so ugly. Not ugly in a stylistic sense, either, although the scenario certainly calls for it and the director and crew will undoubtedly try to pass it off as intentional. The film looks amateurishly ugly, like it was shot by a first-year film student who hasn't learned anything about lighting techniques. Depp's performance deserves a better showcase.