MAKSQUIBS CINEMATHEQUE: THE LION IN WINTER (1968)

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Saturday, May 24, 2008

THE LION IN WINTER (1968)

Monstrous gargoyles stare at us during the credit sequence as John Barry's fine, malevolent score pounds away like Stravinsky in Symphony of Psalms mode. (Though the actual theme is suspiciously like the Aegamemnon 'motto' in Strauss's ELEKTRA.) Then Douglas Slocombe’s atmospheric lensing kicks in and, for a while, the dynastic struggles of Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine & Co. make for tasty drama. If only James Goldman, scripting off his own play, wasn't so determined to undercut his best story instincts with hip, ironic or comic tags substituting for wit & substance. The plots & infighting grow progressively pointless and there’s precious little to show for all the braying & barking. The whole contraption starts to feel like a tease. Even so, the film is cleverly produced, Peter O’Toole & Katherine Hepburn get a welcome chance to display their preternatural film acting chops and the little known supporting cast (Timothy Dalton, Anthony Hopkins, Nigel Terry & John Castle) now looks lux indeed.

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A last thought before we go.

Well, enough from me. But before we sign off, here's a great quote from Emile Zola's L'OEUVRE (THE MASTERPIECE), which is about painting rather than the yet to be invented medium of film, but which points a fine critical eye toward the whole idea of art criticism. It's a good, if chilly, thought to keep in mind, especially when you surf the net.

"Has it ever struck you that posterity may not be the fair, impartial judge we like to think it is?

"Suppose the artist's paradise turned out to be as nonexistent as the Catholics, and future generations prove just as misguided as the present one and persisted in liking pretty pretty dabbling better than honest to goodness painting. There are some accepted masterpieces for which I myself wouldn't give a twopenny damn.

"Classical training has given us a wrong view of everything and forces us to acclaim as geniuses a lot of fellows who are no more than well-balanced, facile painters, while what we might really prefer is the work of more emancipated but less even artists known only to an initiated few. Immortality at present depends entirely on the average, middle-class mind and is reserved only for the names that have been most forcibly impressed upon us while we were still unable to defend ourselves...

"Perhaps that's the sort of thing that's best left unsaid. It's certainly the sort of thing that gives me the shudders!"- Emile Zola

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Saturday, May 24, 2008

THE LION IN WINTER (1968)

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A last thought before we go.

DROP ME A LINE