Average Rating: 4.7/10
Reviews Counted: 118
Fresh: 36 | Rotten: 82
Despite Johnny Depp's zealous performance, muddled direction and murky cinematography hinder The Libertine.
Average Rating: 4.6/10
Critic Reviews: 31
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 23
Despite Johnny Depp's zealous performance, muddled direction and murky cinematography hinder The Libertine.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 69,210
A man who lives for pleasure finds his hedonism betrays him in time in this film adaptation of the play by Stephen Jeffreys. The second Earl of Rochester, John Wilmot (Johnny Depp), was a notorious figure in 17th century Europe; well-respected as a poet and author, Wilmot also earned no small degree of gossip for his freewheeling sex life and appetite for decadence. Wilmot was close friends with Charles II (John Malkovich), the powerful and Machiavellian ruler of England, and enjoyed a
Mar 10, 2006 Wide
Jul 4, 2006
$4.8M
Weinstein Company
All Critics (123) | Top Critics (31) | Fresh (38) | Rotten (84) | DVD (18)
What emerges from the bilious murk of first-time director Laurence Dunmore's film is a sad picture of an intelligent and talented writer who opted for self-indulgence and gratuitous insult over anything more meaningful.
The point seems to be that too much of a good thing leads to a vast sense of nothingness and bleak cinematography. Alas, it also results in transforming a film about a sensualist into a remarkably sexless enterprise.
A bawdy Restoration romp that doesn't. Romp.
Depp's depraved character does have twisted poignancy.
A movie that serves up what its debauched subject would never have countenanced -- sanitized smut with a moral attached.
Dunmore slogs through the story with an overripe sense of gravity that, when mixed with the film's carefully botched look, makes for one murky moviegoing experience.
Slightly pretentious, but original enough to be a bit interesting, and buoyed by strong performances from Depp and Morton, The Libertine is a decent telling of a historical footnote, most interesting because of its strong feminist message.
Completely unshocking
Based on Stephen Jeffreys' play, about 17th century iconoclastic poet the 2nd Earl of Rochester (Johnny Depp), "The Libertine" fails to pay off on its promises of taboo sex.
A difficult film to watch, but one that speaks to our own invidious world.
[Director] Dunmore creates a memorably grimy London, but the moral grime covering the film proves less memorable.
The performances are impeccable, but what might have been a handsome period drama, is compromised by a drawn out screenplay and over-stylised grainy production ... this dark tale of excess is pure theatre.
The story itself isn't as compelling as Depp's performance.
Mesmo em filmes irregulares como este, Johnny Depp é sempre capaz de despertar o interesse do espectador.
Historical accuracy is a liability instead of an asset in this painfully exact recreation of 1670s London . . .
This ugly creation uses graphic sex, bad hygiene, mud, diseased features and Depp wetting his pants (we get to see the puddle) to illustrate the perils of hedonism.
...the subject matter and marginal execution make it a hard sell to all but the most ardent fans of Depp, who treats The Libertine as a personal acting workshop.
I waited a year for this movie from Netflix, what a dissapointment. The worst Johnny Depp movie I have ever seen, Filty from start to finish. Not worth the wait or the effort. 1/2 star
February 1, 2012Super Reviewer
A squallid period piece mired in the mud of historical accuracy and a meandering direction. Wasting a very good performance from J Depp, Samantha Morton and John Malkovich, the film treds unevenly over the cobblestones of its debauchery - too graphic - yet not shocking, as the "love" scenes often become too long, too
June 6, 2010
Super Reviewer
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