Oscar nominee Johnny Depp delivers “a tour de force performance” (Baz Bamigboye, The Daily Mail) in the “seductively entertaining” (Jan Stuart, Newsday) The Libertine. As the celebrated writer and bad boy John Wilmot, second Earl of Rochester (1647-1680), Depp brings to life a decadent 17th century London. There, Wilmot falls passionately in love with his aspiring actress muse (Oscar nominee Samantha Morton), but is cast from the heights of privileged society when he scandalizes King Charles II (Oscar nominee John Malkovich) with a shockingly audacious play. At the depths of ruin, the rebel seeks redemption on his own terms. “Johnny Depp is brilliant,” raves Cosmopolitan, while Peter Travers of Rolling Stone calls The Libertine a “one-of-a-kind spellbinder.”
I admire Depp’s performance, which plays fair with his opening comment and contains nothing that would inspire us to like him. I was engaged by the patience of Charles II, played by Malkovich as a man smart enough to prefer amusement to flattery; when he cautions Rochester to dial down, it isn’t that he’s personally offended, but that it’s a bad idea for the king to be seen giving license to offense. Samantha Morton’s character bewitches Rochester by out-thinking him, which he finds more intriguing than any sexual favor. And Rosamund Pike, as Rochester’s wife, is touching as a woman who will put up with almost anything, but not, finally, with everything. – Roger Ebert
Starring Johnny Depp, Samantha Morton, John Malkovich, Paul Ritter, Stanley Townsend.
Note: Intended for adults.