The Lion in Winter

Christmas, 1183. Henry II of England brings his wife Eleanor, whom he has kept imprisoned for ten years, to court for the holiday. Their three sons are there and all of them want the throne. The king of France is a guest too. Over one day everyone allies with everyone, breaks the alliance and forms it again. The subject is not history but a family who know each other only well enough to do damage. Henry and Eleanor genuinely love each other, which is exactly why they know where to strike. The film vindicates nobody and nobody wins. The form is close to theatre: enclosed rooms, long speeches, sharpened lines. The source is James Goldman's play and he wrote the screenplay himself. The speech deliberately carries a contemporary idiom; twelfth-century characters talk like people of today, and that choice is the film's most argued-over aspect. Its awards history is notable. Katharine Hepburn won the best actress Oscar and that year the award was tied with Barbra Streisand, the only tie in that category in Academy history. The film also won for screenplay and score. Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton made their film debuts in it. Peter O'Toole plays Henry. Anthony Harvey directs. Who it is for: viewers who like historical drama built on talk. Who it is not for: anyone expecting action or period authenticity; the film is all dialogue and its language is deliberately modern.