Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
The story of John Wilmot, a.k.a. the Earl of Rochester, a 17th century poet who famously drank and debauched his way to an early grave, only to earn posthumous critical acclaim for his life's work.
The Libertine is a visually audacious period piece distinguished primarily by Johnny Depp's committed, physically deteriorating performance as the Earl of Rochester and John Malkovich's regal Charles II. The cinematography by Alexander Melman is deliberately murky and candlelit, creating an immersive, unglamorous 17th-century atmosphere that stands apart from typical costume dramas. The plot, however, is fairly episodic and meandering — a rake's-progress narrative that doesn't build to much dramatically. The ending, while thematically consistent with Rochester's dissolution, feels more resigned than resonant. Novelty is moderate: the grimy anti-romanticism of the approach is distinctive but not wholly unprecedented in revisionist period films.