The Lion In Winter. Oh, hell, it's another JRM post, whatever.

Last night I watched The Lion In Winter, the new version, that is. I saw the play back in March (or April?) of '02, at my alma mater. A good friend of mine, Mindy Washington, played Eleanor.* It was fantastic, and I've always been sort of obssessed with Eleanor of Aquitaine (there is, in fact, a home video of me at around age 17, in Disneyworld, insisting that everyone address me as Eleanor of Aquitaine and my younger cousin as Petronelle,) so I'm always a little jealous of whomever gets to play her. (Not as jealous as of any actress who gets to play Shakespear's Beatrice. Someday, when I have time and guts, that role is mine, I swear.) So when I watch a movie knowing that I've already loved the play (or if it's a remake of a movie I loved, or even a book,) I'm always prepared to be disappointed. I wasn't, and it wasn't just because Jonathan Rhys Meyers was in it. (More on him later; did you expect any less?)

All I can say is, the role of Eleanor must be so emotionally exhausting to play. It was kind of exhausting to watch, actually. I happen to love Glenn Close and think she's brill, so she never disappoints me. I couldn't help comparing her to Mindy though. There was a sort of acerbic self-hate to Glenn Close's Eleanor, but Mindy did it with something more like self-deprecating humor and snark. (Every Eleanor of Aquitaine is bound to have some snark, though, and that was part of why I idolized her so much in the books I'd read.) I still love the play more. Odd, I only saw it once and I remember just about everything about it like it was yesterday. The line "What family doesn't have its ups and downs?" was my favorite line in the play and the best delivery; in this movie, it was my second favorite. ^_^ (More later.) Still, Glenn Close is such a joy to watch, though.

Patrick Stewart was kind of OMG TEH SEXXORZ in this. (What is wrong with me?) The guy who played Henry in the Southampton play was also pretty freaking awesome, and I wish I could remember who the hell he was. My third favorite part of the play was when he was arguing with Philip over who Alais was going to marry or not marry. He called Philip "boy" and Philip vehemently stepped up and said, "I am no man's 'boy'" but before he could even finish the line, Henry was up in his grill piece like, "Boy! Sit down, biatch, 'fore I open up a can!" Patrick Stewart's Henry got up in Philip's grillpiece, too, but he didn't yell over him, and I really liked the yelling over him because it was like Henry knew exactly what Philip was going to say before he said it, and he was all over it. But it was still a good scene. I liked it even more because Philip got right back in the king's grillpiece and was like, "don't make me smack a bitch." (This is the kind of play or movie that merits a second watching or even a third, because the second time around you get a clear idea of perhaps why Philip is so defensive over the implication that he is somebody's "boy.")

Also kind of TEH SEXXORS was John Light as Geoffrey. I loved his sneaky eyes and half smile. He's the king of actor that you swear you've seen him in a million things before, but you can't remember what. Then you look him up and find out that he hasn't been in anything you've seen. Who the hell is this guy? He was good, though. Andrew Howard was also a bit TEH SEXXORZ as the ambitious and troubled Richard. (I know, I know, Richard the Lionhearted and all of that, brave King and the good guy if you watch Disney's Robin Hood. ^_~ But he was also the one who started the third crusade and left his country in financial ruin while he was away killing people who didn't believe in god, and that's sort of a touchy subject with me in these last few years [and the next four.] Of course my perspective my be a little off as I view this through pagan colored glasses.) Anyway, but he was great in this movie. Pretty much everyone was, although I wasn't too moved by the girl who played Alais for some reason.

And Johnny. Johnny Johnny Johnny. I've said it before and it still holds: I think sometimes he overdoes it with the temper and the snarling and the yelling. In this movie though? Completely perfect as the clever but still boyish and sometimes naive King Philip of France. I couldn't find a single action or look or word or inflection of his that I didn't think was just right. (FTR, I think that sometimes a lot of this has to go to the director, for better or worse. I've said I felt he was somewhat over the top in Gormenghast; perhaps the director could have asked for more sublety, but he didn't. Same goes when the performance is this spot on--a lot of credit to the director. I think that under the right direction he's maybe one of the most incredible actors around today.) (Also for the record, it was weird, in some scenes he reminded me so strongly of Joaquin Phoenix that I nearly forgot who I was crushing on this month. I think they're both so fabulous and intense, and it's weird that they have similar idiosyncrasies once in a while: the sneering smile that nearly masks the vulnerability but not quite, the languid blink of the eyes, the bizarrely graceful hands. Joaquin. Johnny. Joaquin. Johnny. I can't be the only one who's noticed this. And it's not beauty, it's really not. All right, damnit, yes it is. But only a bit.)

My favorite scene in both the play and the movie was the scene in Philip's bedroom with the tapestries. In the play, this was done with a subtle humor up to a point (if you know the story, then you know which point, and if you don't, then I won't give it away.) In the play, my second favorite line was Philip's "That's what tapestries are for," in response to each of the king's sons asking, in turn, if they may hide behind one as more people came into the room. In the movie, it became my favorite line. You know how I am, I can be watching the absolute hugest production, with lights and dramatic music and screaming and things getting blow'd up and hot men running all around nakie and all of this nonsense, and I will find a hand gesture and fixate on it so that I have to watch it three thousand times. That line was that moment for me, it's something he does with his hands, a quirk of his lip, a snarky blink of his eyes. It's not beauty, damnit. It's art. Shut up.)

So, good movie. Go rent it.

* You could not find a better local actress than Mindy. I've known her since my college theater days; this was back when it was all about Jon and Paul and Mindy and Tom, I mean, they were The Theater Group that you were honored to work with. Her husband was also my music professor, so we go way back. Not odd enough yet? She's also the wildlife rehabber under whose license I ended up working a few years ago, and she's now also the one who's trying so hard to get our orphaned, troubled white German Shepard adopted. She runs Rocky's Fund Dog Rescue.

The Lion In Winter. Oh, hell, it's another JRM post, whatever.

Last night I watched The Lion In Winter, the new version, that is. I saw the play back in March (or April?) of '02, at my alma mater. A good friend of mine, Mindy Washington, played Eleanor.* It was fantastic, and I've always been sort of obssessed with Eleanor of Aquitaine (there is, in fact, a home video of me at around age 17, in Disneyworld, insisting that everyone address me as Eleanor of Aquitaine and my younger cousin as Petronelle,) so I'm always a little jealous of whomever gets to play her. (Not as jealous as of any actress who gets to play Shakespear's Beatrice. Someday, when I have time and guts, that role is mine, I swear.) So when I watch a movie knowing that I've already loved the play (or if it's a remake of a movie I loved, or even a book,) I'm always prepared to be disappointed. I wasn't, and it wasn't just because Jonathan Rhys Meyers was in it. (More on him later; did you expect any less?)

All I can say is, the role of Eleanor must be so emotionally exhausting to play. It was kind of exhausting to watch, actually. I happen to love Glenn Close and think she's brill, so she never disappoints me. I couldn't help comparing her to Mindy though. There was a sort of acerbic self-hate to Glenn Close's Eleanor, but Mindy did it with something more like self-deprecating humor and snark. (Every Eleanor of Aquitaine is bound to have some snark, though, and that was part of why I idolized her so much in the books I'd read.) I still love the play more. Odd, I only saw it once and I remember just about everything about it like it was yesterday. The line "What family doesn't have its ups and downs?" was my favorite line in the play and the best delivery; in this movie, it was my second favorite. ^_^ (More later.) Still, Glenn Close is such a joy to watch, though.

Patrick Stewart was kind of OMG TEH SEXXORZ in this. (What is wrong with me?) The guy who played Henry in the Southampton play was also pretty freaking awesome, and I wish I could remember who the hell he was. My third favorite part of the play was when he was arguing with Philip over who Alais was going to marry or not marry. He called Philip "boy" and Philip vehemently stepped up and said, "I am no man's 'boy'" but before he could even finish the line, Henry was up in his grill piece like, "Boy! Sit down, biatch, 'fore I open up a can!" Patrick Stewart's Henry got up in Philip's grillpiece, too, but he didn't yell over him, and I really liked the yelling over him because it was like Henry knew exactly what Philip was going to say before he said it, and he was all over it. But it was still a good scene. I liked it even more because Philip got right back in the king's grillpiece and was like, "don't make me smack a bitch." (This is the kind of play or movie that merits a second watching or even a third, because the second time around you get a clear idea of perhaps why Philip is so defensive over the implication that he is somebody's "boy.")

Also kind of TEH SEXXORS was John Light as Geoffrey. I loved his sneaky eyes and half smile. He's the king of actor that you swear you've seen him in a million things before, but you can't remember what. Then you look him up and find out that he hasn't been in anything you've seen. Who the hell is this guy? He was good, though. Andrew Howard was also a bit TEH SEXXORZ as the ambitious and troubled Richard. (I know, I know, Richard the Lionhearted and all of that, brave King and the good guy if you watch Disney's Robin Hood. ^_~ But he was also the one who started the third crusade and left his country in financial ruin while he was away killing people who didn't believe in god, and that's sort of a touchy subject with me in these last few years [and the next four.] Of course my perspective my be a little off as I view this through pagan colored glasses.) Anyway, but he was great in this movie. Pretty much everyone was, although I wasn't too moved by the girl who played Alais for some reason.

And Johnny. Johnny Johnny Johnny. I've said it before and it still holds: I think sometimes he overdoes it with the temper and the snarling and the yelling. In this movie though? Completely perfect as the clever but still boyish and sometimes naive King Philip of France. I couldn't find a single action or look or word or inflection of his that I didn't think was just right. (FTR, I think that sometimes a lot of this has to go to the director, for better or worse. I've said I felt he was somewhat over the top in Gormenghast; perhaps the director could have asked for more sublety, but he didn't. Same goes when the performance is this spot on--a lot of credit to the director. I think that under the right direction he's maybe one of the most incredible actors around today.) (Also for the record, it was weird, in some scenes he reminded me so strongly of Joaquin Phoenix that I nearly forgot who I was crushing on this month. I think they're both so fabulous and intense, and it's weird that they have similar idiosyncrasies once in a while: the sneering smile that nearly masks the vulnerability but not quite, the languid blink of the eyes, the bizarrely graceful hands. Joaquin. Johnny. Joaquin. Johnny. I can't be the only one who's noticed this. And it's not beauty, it's really not. All right, damnit, yes it is. But only a bit.)

My favorite scene in both the play and the movie was the scene in Philip's bedroom with the tapestries. In the play, this was done with a subtle humor up to a point (if you know the story, then you know which point, and if you don't, then I won't give it away.) In the play, my second favorite line was Philip's "That's what tapestries are for," in response to each of the king's sons asking, in turn, if they may hide behind one as more people came into the room. In the movie, it became my favorite line. You know how I am, I can be watching the absolute hugest production, with lights and dramatic music and screaming and things getting blow'd up and hot men running all around nakie and all of this nonsense, and I will find a hand gesture and fixate on it so that I have to watch it three thousand times. That line was that moment for me, it's something he does with his hands, a quirk of his lip, a snarky blink of his eyes. It's not beauty, damnit. It's art. Shut up.)

So, good movie. Go rent it.

* You could not find a better local actress than Mindy. I've known her since my college theater days; this was back when it was all about Jon and Paul and Mindy and Tom, I mean, they were The Theater Group that you were honored to work with. Her husband was also my music professor, so we go way back. Not odd enough yet? She's also the wildlife rehabber under whose license I ended up working a few years ago, and she's now also the one who's trying so hard to get our orphaned, troubled white German Shepard adopted. She runs Rocky's Fund Dog Rescue.