The Lion in Winter (1968 film)

For the 1966 Broadway play, see The Lion in Winter.

The Lion in Winter
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Anthony Harvey
Screenplay by	James Goldman
Based on	The Lion in Winter 1966 play by James Goldman
Produced by	Martin Poll
Starring	Peter O'Toole Katharine Hepburn Jane Merrow John Castle Timothy Dalton Anthony Hopkins Nigel Stock Nigel Terry
Cinematography	Douglas Slocombe
Edited by	John Bloom
Music by	John Barry
Color process	Color
Production company	Haworth Productions
Distributed by	AVCO Embassy Pictures
Release date	October 30, 1968 (1968-10-30)
Running time	134 minutes
Countries	United Kingdom United States
Language	English
Budget	$4 million
Box office	$22.3 million

The Lion in Winter is a 1968 historical drama centred on Henry II of England and his attempt to establish a line of succession during a family gathering at Christmas 1183. His efforts unleash both political and personal turmoil among his estranged wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, their three surviving sons, the French king, and the king's half-sister Alais, who is Henry's mistress. The film was directed by Anthony Harvey; written by James Goldman (based on his own play of the same name); produced by Joseph E. Levine, Jane C. Nusbaum, and Martin Poll; and starred Peter O'Toole, Katharine Hepburn, John Castle, Anthony Hopkins (in his first major film role), Jane Merrow, Timothy Dalton (in his film debut) and Nigel Terry.

The film was a commercial success and won three Academy Awards, including Hepburn's historic tie with Barbra Streisand for Best Actress, making Hepburn the first three-time winner in the category. A television remake of the film was released in 2003.

Plot

It is 1183 in the medieval Angevin Empire. Fifty year-old Henry II of England seeks to establish a line of succession while he is still powerful enough to do so. He summons his family for Christmas as his castle in Chinon, Touraine. Henry wants his youngest son, John, a weakling, to inherit his throne, while his estranged wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, temporarily released from by Henry from imprisonment in England for the holidays, favours their eldest surviving son, Richard, a proven warrior.

King Philip II of France, the son and successor of Louis VII, Eleanor's first husband, is invited, as Henry has important outstanding business with him. His father had made a treaty with King Henry pledging Philip's half-sister Alais, who is currently Henry's mistress, to be married to Henry's future heir; he demands either a wedding or the return of her dowry, the strategically important county of Vexin near Paris.

Katharine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine, an Oscar winning performance

Henry agrees to give Alais to Richard to wed, and make him heir-apparent. He brokers a deal with Eleanor for her freedom in return for Duchy of Aquitaine, to be given to John. When the deal is revealed at the wedding, Richard, who wanted the Aquitaine for himself, refuses to go through with the ceremony - just as Henry had anticipated.

Having believed Henry's ploy, John is manipulated by his scheming middle brother, the "unloved" Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany, to plot with Philip to make war on Henry, in return for becoming John's chancellor. Machinations then ensue between Philip and Richard, who is manipulated by Philip while John and Geoffrey hide behind a curtain. Henry and Philip then meet to discuss terms, with all three princes in hiding. He soon learns that Philip has been plotting with John and Geoffrey, as had Richard separately, and that Philip and Richard may once have been lovers. Philip portrays their "love" as always having been a scheme. Richard emerges and decries this, but Philip, saying he had always loathed Richard's sight and touch, just turns the knife deeper.

Recognizing their limitations, and their various and multiple plotting against him, Henry dismisses all three sons as unsuitable heirs to his throne and imprisons them. He readies a train to to travel to Rome to demand an annulment by the Pope of his marriage to Eleanor, intending then to wed and have new sons with Alais. She protests he will never be able to release his with Eleanor from prison as they will slay any new legitimate offspring. Elanor confirms this, stabbing a verbal dagger into her husband by telling him not to worry, they will wait till he is dead to do so.

Henry recognizes the peril to his plan and confronts all three sons at once, holding them at bay three knives to one. Condemning them to death, he raises his sword over Richard first, but brings the blade down harmlessly on the flat upon his armored shoulder. He cannot kill his own children; weepingly, he lets them escape.

Realizing all his hopes are lost, and that he has been successfully checked by Eleanor, he is resigned, and falls into her arms.

In the morning she leaves on her barge, waving affectionately, and he bellowing vociferous friendly nonsenses, each realizing their love for one-another and their mutual plight, each being under the other's spell.

Cast

• Peter O'Toole as Henry II, King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy and of Aquitaine, Count of Anjou
• Katharine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine, his estranged queen
• Anthony Hopkins as Richard the Lionheart, their eldest surviving son
• John Castle as Geoffrey, their middle son
• Nigel Terry as John, their youngest son
• Timothy Dalton as Philip II, King of France
• Jane Merrow as Alais, Philip's half-sister and Henry's mistress, betrothed to Henry's heir by treaty
• Nigel Stock as Captain William Marshall
• Kenneth Ives as Queen Eleanor's personal guard
• O. Z. Whitehead as Hugh de Puiset, the Bishop of Durham

Production

Writing

The original stage production had not been a success, getting a bad review in The New York Times and losing $150,000. Producer Martin Poll optioned Goldman's novel Waldorf for the movies. They discussed Lion in Winter, which Poll had read and loved. He hired Goldman to write a screenplay.

Casting

Poll was meant to make a film with Joseph Levine and Peter O'Toole, The Ski Bum (which would be written by James Goldman's brother William). That project fell through and Poll suggested they do Lion in Winter instead. O'Toole, who was 36, and had portrayed Henry II in 1964's Becket, plays Henry II at age 50.

In October 1967, the actors rehearsed at Haymarket Theatre in London. Production started in November 1967 and continued until May 1968.

Filming

The film was shot at Ardmore Studios in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland, and on location in Ireland, Wales (Marloes Sands), and in France at Abbaye de Montmajour, Arles; Château de Tarascon, Carcassonne; and Saône-et-Loire.

The sculpted stone figures appearing during the main title music were an unexpected find by the director while shooting scenes in France. They were filmed along the artist's driveway and the pictures later edited to create the title sequence where they appear to be on interior walls of the castle.

Reception

The film premiered on 30 October 1968 (29 December 1968 London premiere).

The film earned an estimated $6.4 million in distributor rentals in the domestic North American market during its initial year of release. It was the 14th most popular movie at the U.S. box office in 1969.

Renata Adler of The New York Times wrote that the film was "for the most part, outdoorsy and fun, full of the kind of plotting and action people used to go to just plain movies for."

Variety called it "an intense, fierce, personal drama put across by outstanding performance of Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn. Anthony Harvey, a relatively new director, has done excellent work with a generally strong cast, literate adaptation by the author, and superb production values assembled by Martin H. Poll, who produced for Joseph E. Levine presentation under the Embassy banner."

Roger Ebert gave the film 4 stars out of 4, writing, "One of the joys which movies provide too rarely is the opportunity to see a literate script handled intelligently. 'The Lion in Winter' triumphs at that difficult task; not since 'A Man for All Seasons' have we had such capable handling of a story about ideas. But 'The Lion in Winter' also functions at an emotional level, and is the better film, I think."

Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times declared, "Top honors for the most literate movie of the year, and for the finest and most imaginative and fascinating evocation of an historical time and place, can be awarded this very day to 'The Lion in Winter.'"

Pauline Kael of The New Yorker was less positive, writing that the film miscalculated in attempting to elevate the melodramatic plot "with serious emotions, more or less authentic costumes and settings, pseudo-Stravinsky music, and historical pomp. And it just won't do to have actors carrying on as if this were a genuine, 'deep' historical play on the order of 'A Man for All Seasons' ... They're playing a camp historical play as if it were the real thing—delivering commercial near-poetry as if it were Shakespeare."

In a mixed review for The Monthly Film Bulletin, David Wilson called Katharine Hepburn's performance "perhaps the crowning achievement of an extraordinary career" but described the film as a whole as being "essentially a piece of highly polished theatricality, and not much else if one looks beyond its insistently sophisticated surface gloss."

Rotten Tomatoes collected 43 reviews giving the film 91% approval and an average rating of 8.2/10. The critical consensus reads, "Sharper and wittier than your average period piece, The Lion in Winter is a tale of palace intrigue bolstered by fantastic performances from Peter O'Toole, Katharine Hepburn, and Anthony Hopkins in his big-screen debut."

After the seeing the film, Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman offered Dalton the role of James Bond for the first time, as a replacement for Sean Connery in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969). Dalton declined because he felt he was too young, although he would later be cast in the role in The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989).

Accolades

Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref.
Academy Awards	Best Picture	Martin Poll	Nominated
	Best Director	Anthony Harvey	Nominated
	Best Actor	Peter O'Toole	Nominated
	Best Actress	Katharine Hepburn	Won
	Best Screenplay – Based on Material from Another Medium	James Goldman	Won
	Best Costume Design	Margaret Furse	Nominated
	Best Original Score for a Motion Picture (Not a Musical)	John Barry	Won
British Academy Film Awards	Best Actress in a Leading Role	Katharine Hepburn (also for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner)	Won
	Best Actor in a Supporting Role	Anthony Hopkins	Nominated
	Best Screenplay	James Goldman	Nominated
	Best Cinematography	Douglas Slocombe	Nominated
	Best Costume Design	Margaret Furse	Nominated
	Best Film Music	John Barry	Won
	Best Sound	Chris Greenham and Simon Kaye	Nominated
	United Nations Award	Anthony Harvey	Nominated
British Society of Cinematographers	Best Cinematography in a Theatrical Feature Film	Douglas Slocombe	Won
David di Donatello Awards	Best Foreign Production	Martin Poll	Won
Directors Guild of America Awards	Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures	Anthony Harvey	Won
Golden Globe Awards	Best Motion Picture – Drama		Won
	Best Director – Motion Picture	Anthony Harvey	Nominated
	Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama	Peter O'Toole	Won
	Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama	Katharine Hepburn	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture	Jane Merrow	Nominated
	Best Screenplay – Motion Picture	James Goldman	Nominated
	Best Original Score – Motion Picture	John Barry	Nominated
Laurel Awards	Top Drama		Nominated
	Top Female Dramatic Performance	Katharine Hepburn	Won
National Board of Review Awards	Top Ten Films		7th Place
New York Film Critics Circle Awards	Best Film		Won
	Best Actor	Peter O'Toole	Nominated
	Best Screenplay	James Goldman	Nominated
Writers Guild of America Awards	Best Written American Drama		Won
Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards	Best British Screenplay		Won

Preservation

The Academy Film Archive preserved The Lion in Winter in 2000.

Historical accuracy

Map of France in 1180. The Vexin is located northwest of Paris, between it and Rouen.

Though the background and the eventual destinies of the characters are generally accurate, The Lion in Winter is fictional: while there was a Christmas court at Caen in 1182, there was none at Chinon in 1183. In reality, Henry had many mistresses and many illegitimate children; the "Rosamund" mentioned in the film was his mistress until she died. The Revolt of 1173–1174 provides the historical background leading to the play's events. There was also a second rebellion, when Young Henry and Geoffrey revolted in 1183, resulting in Young Henry's death. While some historians have theorized that Richard was homosexual, it is not certain.

Geoffrey died in 1186 in a jousting tournament held in Paris (with some speculation that Geoffrey was involved in plotting against Henry with Philip at the time). A third rebellion against Henry by Richard and Philip in 1189 was finally successful, and a decisively defeated Henry retreated to Chinon in Anjou, where he died. Richard the Lionheart succeeded Henry II, but spent very little time in England (perhaps 6 months), after which he became a central Christian commander during the Third Crusade, leading the campaign after the departure of Philip. Richard won some considerable victories, but he did not succeed in retaking Jerusalem. John finally succeeded Richard in 1199 after Richard's death. During his unsuccessful reign he lost most of his father's holdings in Northern France and angered the English barons, who revolted and forced him to accept and add his seal to Magna Carta. John is also known for being the villain in the Robin Hood legends. Lastly, William Marshal, who during the film is harried about by Henry II, outlived the English main characters and eventually ruled England as regent for the young Henry III.

See also

• List of historical drama films
• List of Christmas films

Notes

Bibliography

• Paden, William (2004). Utz, Richard; Swan, Jesse G (eds.). I Learned It at the Movies: Teaching Medieval Film in: Postmodern Medievalisms. Cambridge: Brewer. pp. 79–98.
• Bergan, Ronald (1996). Katharine Hepburn: An Independent Woman. Arcade Publishing. p. 155. ISBN 9781559703512.
• Callan, Michael Feeney (2004). Anthony Hopkins: A Three Act Life. London: Robson Books. pp. 98, 100, 105. ISBN 186105761X.
• Wapshott, Nicholas (1984). Peter O'Toole: A Biography. Beaufort Books. p. 145. ISBN 9780825301964.

External links

• The Lion in Winter at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• The Lion in Winter at IMDb
• The Lion in Winter at the TCM Movie Database
• The Lion in Winter at AllMovie
• The Lion in Winter at Rotten Tomatoes