The Libertine is definitely not a feel good story, but it is interesting, funny at times and delightful in its wickedness. However, if there is anything brilliant about it, it's Johnny Depp's performance. He is my favourite actor; I've seen almost everything he has ever done and he has NEVER been better and should be nominated for an Academy Award for this role. I couldn't take my eyes off him; he totally blew me away! This is a very decadent story, set in 1675 during Charles II's reign, of a man's moral, emotional and psychological slide into oblivion who manages to redeem himself somewhat in the end. Johnny plays a drunken, debaucherous court poet of noble birth, John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, who falls in love with an actress played by Samantha Morton who doesn't love him back although she acknowledges that he is responsible for turning her into a great actress. Wilmot is a cynical man who no longer takes pleasure from life and ends up dying a slow, horrifying death from syphilis.
Depp was stunningly beautiful to look at for the first half of the film but as Wilmot deteriorated from syphilis his face became hideous while his character's emotional conflict was never more evident.
John Malkovich starred as Charles II and he was excellent as always, as was the exceptional Samantha Morton who stole many of her scenes with Depp. Rosamund Pike was very good as Wilmot's devoted but tortured wife although why she stayed with him is a bit of a mystery. The fantastic Richard Coyle of the BBC sitcom Coupling, played Wilmot's servant Alcock and he was wonderful, offering several moments of comic relief. Jack Davenport, who also starred in Coupling and with Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean was underused but did well with what he had to work with.
I was a little distracted by the way the film was lit and the fact that the focus wasn't always sharp but I would watch it again for the sheer enjoyment of Depp's sensational performance.
Depp was stunningly beautiful to look at for the first half of the film but as Wilmot deteriorated from syphilis his face became hideous while his character's emotional conflict was never more evident.
John Malkovich starred as Charles II and he was excellent as always, as was the exceptional Samantha Morton who stole many of her scenes with Depp. Rosamund Pike was very good as Wilmot's devoted but tortured wife although why she stayed with him is a bit of a mystery. The fantastic Richard Coyle of the BBC sitcom Coupling, played Wilmot's servant Alcock and he was wonderful, offering several moments of comic relief. Jack Davenport, who also starred in Coupling and with Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean was underused but did well with what he had to work with.
I was a little distracted by the way the film was lit and the fact that the focus wasn't always sharp but I would watch it again for the sheer enjoyment of Depp's sensational performance.