Film Review: A Study on “The Lion in Winter” (1968) - [Essay #1 - Dec 2020]

Into the Lion's Den: A Study on "The Lion in Winter"

  *Super Spoiler*

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“I snapped and plotted all my life. There’s no way to be a king, alive, and fifty all at once.” - King Henry II

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 Table of Contents:

1. Summary

2. Historical Facts

3. Production History

4. Cast

5. Acting

6. Art Direction

7.  Cinematography

8.     Editing

9. Sound

10. Conclusion

*Reading time approx: 15 minutes 30 Seconds

*Published December 18, 2020

*Watch the Film

*Listen to Soundtrack

*Listen to Essay

*Featured on IMDB

*Written by Bolivar T. Caceres                   

*Edited by Ricardo Esposito 

 

  

"It's easy for the audience to overlook the finer details in The Lion in Winter behind continuous slights, rebuffs, plots, and schemes."

    "The Lion in Winter" blends thoughtful acting, systematic filmmaking, and artful wit to differentiate itself from the multitude of films that explores the hackneyed family squabble theme. The 1968 classic even dares to pit a rambunctious Peter O'Toole, as King Henry II, against a plucky Katharine Hepburn, as Queen Eleanor. --But the film's most outstanding attribute is the cast and crew's meticulous attention to detail that merges tragedy with laughter. So, set your table for a Merry Christmas!

Summary:

    King Philip's arrival in Chinon in December 1183 threatens England's pseudo-peace, but Henry has other plans for Christmas. He frees Eleanor from her internment in Salisbury for the weekend to be solely a figurehead at court. Henry, too, calls his eldest son Richard and middle-son Geoffrey to Chinon Castle, where he raises his bent youngest-son John. He does so to tell them that they can try for its seat although they have no chance at the throne. 

    He cares none for Eleanor's dreams of the freedom, love, and passion she had in her Frankish days. She knows Richard, as King, shall award this dream. Richard's passion bellows with his surmise that he is the rightful heir of England. He wants his father's respect, but besides tactical schemes, Henry seems to shun Richard. 

    John wants what his father promises him, the English Kingdom. Geoffrey wants notability as a viable and competent ruler. He desires the respect deserved to every Royal son. -- But, again, Henry gives no excrement about what they want. 

    

    Although Henry hatches for the unpronounced heir of England, what he truly seeks is peace of mind and for England's continued strength after his death. 

    Each character's dream for the throne's power transforms Christmas into a comedy of daggers in a castle basement with a mad King Henry II.

Historical Facts:

    England and France's armistice isn't in question during Christmas Court in Chinon. In fact, King Philip never attends Chinon. Although coastal lands and peace are adequate reasons for Philip's pressure on England, after John's death, it's his sister's Margaret's, not Alais's, dowry that concerns him most. How is England to uphold their part of the deal without a future King? 

    Eleanor isn't at Christmas court either. During this time, she is in Normandy, guarded heavily as she and Henry confer with Philip over Margaret's endowments. It is her arrival in Normandy that sets the stage for her freedom. 

    The film consolidates the Plantagenet family squabbles and six years of England and France parley -- from Prince Henry's death in 1183 to King Henry's death in 1189 -- into a weekend in Chinon. In reality, Henry is a lonely lion roaring in his den that Christmas, mourning his son's death.

Production History:

    It’s 1968 when Ski Bum's producers, Martin Toll and Joseph Levine, with actor Peter O'Toole, decide to move on to more inspiring work. They chose James Goldman's play The Lion in Winter -- released two years earlier --  on recommendation from his brother, screenwriter William Goldman. 

    Then, they chose a novice director to lead a proficient team to create a believable family sabotaging each other for power and ambitions. The Lion in Winter is Anthony Harvey's second film. His prior experience came from editing fourteen films done before his directorial debut with Dutchman. Amongst his edited pieces are Lolita and Dr. Strangelove. 

    And although two obstacles aim to threaten to leave The Lion in Winter's on the wayside like Ski Bum, when Anthony Hopkin breaks his arm and when Anthony Harvey catches the flu and syphilis, the cast and crew pull through to produce an underrated classic. Harvey and his team prove their knowledge of the qualities of a good film.

 

Cast:

    Peter O'Toole is a household name with Lawrence of Arabia and his first portrayal of Henry II in Beckett, amongst many other excellent on-screen portrayals. Anthony Hopkins, too, is well known for his skill before the camera. However, The Lion in Winter is the first and only time Anthony Hopkin and O' Toole collaborate, each a quondam member of the Royal National Theatre.

    Too, it is the first and only time Katharine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole share the screen. With her experience -- by this time, she has two Oscars -- Hepburn adds decorum and elegance to the film and its process like a strict mother. "I intend for you to be on time. I hear you stay out at night. You'd better be rested in the morning if you're going to work with me," she remarked to O'Toole one evening.

    John Castle is like Geoffrey, whose skills and knowledge are unknown. The Lion in Winter is his first film, working on television for five years before. The same goes for Nigel Terry, who plays John, the unkempt heir of England. 

    The Casting Director, Paul Lee Lander assembles a star-studded cast with their various experiences, each more like their characters than they think. 

 

 

Acting:

     It's easy for the audience to overlook the finer details in The Lion in Winter behind continuous slights, rebuffs, plots, and schemes. Look at the son's postures as an example. 

    The bearded warrior Anthony Hopkin's passion roars through the screen. As Richard, his back is always straight, except when he comes from behind Philip's curtains. 

    John Castle slithers his way through each scene, leaning over a table to the plot, standing straight to persuade. He leaves his trace in every moment as Geoffrey. 

    Nigel Terry gives John's voice levels. It is bitter from misunderstanding the rules of the game, which his elders play effortlessly. It is soft, like a child learning those rules. And it is pliant, thinking that to please is the sure-fire path to success. John's real struggle, however, is his fight to straighten his back.

    Peter O'Toole plays a ruthless, intelligent, and cunning King. He shows signs of love with Alais but is hot-blooded and flippant with everyone else. O'Toole plays Henry with turmoil and duality. His posture is flexible: bent in a meeting with Philip, straight when talking to Eleanor in the hall.

    Hepburn, in her imprisonment, has poise and eloquence. She is deceitful and emotional, vulnerable, and loving. She snaps and plots the most, but she also brings everyone Christmas gifts. Her posture is sincere, straight in conferences, angled in her scarce weaknesses. 

    It’s the above and many other details that converge to exhibit the cast’s dedication to character and story. -- And it does make for a fine piece of Filmmaking. 

Art Direction:

    Lee Poll, costume designer Margaret Furse, and Art Director Peter Murton produce a drab and forbidding royal class. In an early scene, Henry and Alais eat porridge and hard bread from the same saucer with their soiled hands. In another scene, Henry breaks a layer of ice to wash his face, complaining of the cold like a peasant. 

    One loses a sense of time in The Lion in Winter. Even forgetting it is daytime, as the King and Queen stroll down the bleak Chinon hallway. No banners and gaudy emblems of stature decorate the whole castle. The only noticeable colors are Eleanor's white headscarf and her red shawl. 

    A dirty green and brown attire, a thick leather belt wrapping his waist defines King Henry's wardrobe. In a crowd of his workers, he is difficult to mark. When he dons his royal grab, he is desultory against a proper seventeen-year-old King Philip. Soon, Eleanor, Philip, and the rest of the family will remove their pretense, their royal garbs falling to the ground with their sociability. They will be in the rough with Henry. 

Cinematography:

    Douglas Slocombe’s cinematography illustrates the dysfunctionality that drives Christmas in Chinon into a dagger fight. 

 

   Early on in Chinon’s bleak drawing-room - the scene opening with an establishing shot - everyone is six-feet apart. King Henry slouches on one of the two chairs in front of a fireplace, unlike one ready to conduct negotiations. There’s a back-and-forth medium shot between the Kings as they negotiate their treaty. King Philip, unwavering, stands between the English King and Queen with an unfazed grin. 

    Then, the scene returns to the establishing shot, Alais serving Richard a drink, her future husband. The room is spacious, but the three sons are feet behind their father. Geoffrey and John smirk while Henry assails Philip. Geoffrey and John sabotage against their father; this is why they are in tandem leagues away by the door. Richard is in the direct line of sight to his father, exhibiting their emotional distance, the former always yells, and the latter always ignores. 

    The camera never breaks its systematic pattern: establishing shots and medium-shots, an effect that works for many of the scenes in The Lion in Winter.

Editing:

    The Lion in Winter's first act opens with John over his fallen father. He has a triumphant smile, thinking he finally won in sword practice, but the battle-smart Henry legs his son to the ground. John Bloom's quick cuts that open this scene defines a struggle between father and son that never met a moment of diffusion. The camera never stops in a single static shot. "—But father, I'm your favorite." "Stop whining, boy! Straighten your back!" 

    On warhorses, two armored men thrust their lances at each other. One soars off onto the ground, armor clattering like hammers on steel. Richard removes his great helm, standing over his opponent. A medium shot on Richard zooms in slowly. "Richard. Richard." Although the scene opens with an establishing shot, the medium shots' leisurely pace makes the viewer nervous of a ruthless champion's do-anything-for-victory disposition, an image he wishes his father to see. Richard settles for his mother's love, instead. 

  

    Geoffrey watches from atop a cliff rival soldiers march down a coastline. He signals his battalions to engage. Although he too has a slow-motion zoom in like Richard, it uses the Kuleshov effect that establishes Geoffrey as an intense, focused commandant and strategist. 

    This unflinching eye for victory characterizes every character. However, minor characters have lesser introductions. Philip is met by a disheveled Henry and thrown into the Lion's den. Henry reproves Alais's question about the future of his Kingdom and her place in it. Henry: "It's going to be a jungle of a day, and if I start to growling now, I'll never last." The unhurried dance between camera and character, the attention to when to cut, fashions the film's charisma and cleverness. 

Sound:

    The film opens with Composer John Barry's playful but ominous main theme below an intercut of gargoyles and wall embellishments. The main theme's directness prepares audiences for a film with duality, emotion, and conflict. It is a theme that plays at varying tempos to intensify moments with Henry and other characters: adagio at the beginning with Alias, allegro during the dagger fight, and back to the original tempo during Henry's schemes. This effect is with every character. Eleanor's choral piece plays at a comfortable leisure tempo as her boat sails to Chinon but reaches allegro to heighten emotional moments, and sometimes it's just a whisper when she is alone. Barry's music is a study of each character, using various tempos to express their emotional spectrum. 

    Sound editor Chris Greenham, too, heightens the emotional conflict and disharmony within the Plantagenets. One segment exemplifies this well. After the King and Queen share their plans through a bleak Chinon, they stroll into the castle's mess hall. Their people cheer and welcome them to the banquet. The King and Queen sit at the head of Royal's table, Philip to his right, Richard to her left. As the camera pulls from Eleanor's response to Henry's unrequited affection, the audience sees the royal players, talking and eating. In the middle of the mess, dogs fight, growling like the Royals bellow. Barry's music, Slocombe's cinematography, and the raving dogs lift the audience into the story's conflict. A War at Chinon for the future of England, December 25, 1183. 

¥ Listen to the entire soundtrack for The Lion in Winter.

Conclusion:

    A sedulous team transforms the hackneyed family squabble theme in The Lion in Winter into a battle for respect, freedom, and for the future of England. In the end, Eleanor sails back to Salisbury, the audience knowing next year will be no different.

Bolivar T. Caceres is a Bronx-based artist and writer. His poems appear on ShortEdition and Ariel Chart. He is also the author of the chapbook Outside My Garret Window, published in 2020. He currently writes for the quarterly film blog Film Studies Quarterly and the news blog New York Positivity. Connect with him on social media @BolivarTCaceres and at www.BtcArt.co.

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