The Lion in Winter 4K 1968 Ultra HD 2160p

1183. During the Christmas festivities, the aging King Henry II of England is to name an heir.

The event is attended by the king's wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, who spent ten years in prison for her part in a plot against the monarch, the king's mistress, the vain princess Alais, her brother, King Philip II Augustus of France, and Henry II's three sons, Richard the Lionheart, Geoffrey and John. All members of the family hate each other. They have only one thing in common - an exorbitant thirst for power and willingness to commit any treachery for its sake.

User Review

On Christmas Day 1183, King Henry II (Peter O'Toole) summons his family to Chinon Castle for Christmas. There will be his wife, Queen Elinor of Aquitaine (Katharine Hepburn), released from imprisonment; their children, Duke Richard the Lionheart of Aquitaine (Anthony Hopkins), Duke Geoffrey of Brittany (John Castle) and his father's favorite, youngest John (Nigel Terry); Richard's fiancée and Henry's mistress, French Princess Alice (Jane Merrow) and her brother, young King Philip of France (Timothy Dalton). And oh what begins in this snake's nest.....

I absolutely love the movie 'The Lion in Winter'. 1968, of course, and not made by Konchalovsky squalor (nothing against Glenn Close or Julia, say, Vysotskaya, but they to the royalty - like walking to Mars).

Here's to James Goldman's play, which is not spoiled by minor historical errors. The Plantagenet family - Devil's Brood, as they are periodically called by historians for their family legend - did not celebrate Christmas in Shinona in 1193; syphilis, the comparison to which comes out of Elinor's mouth, did not exist at that time, and so on. You can argue all you want about how historically justified these or those strokes in the characters of historical characters, but it does not matter - the play as a play, not a manual on the history of the Anjou dynasty, is brilliant. And knowing how it ends for each of the characters makes it even more interesting to watch. Especially the play, in my opinion, is not spoiled by any performance at all, and here and the acting ensemble - oh, look.

To Katharine Hepburn - who, in my opinion, is the best actress in the history of cinema. And here - if there was no such Elinor of Aquitaine, she should have been invented. Only Catherine could play the tragedy of loss with her eyes - and she believes it, even without knowing that she experienced this very loss shortly before filming, when Spencer Tracy died in 1967. Catherine won an Oscar - her third - for this role, and not without reason;

For Peter O'Toole - who the year before played a refined gentleman in 'How to Steal a Million', and here transformed (for the second time in his career, by the way - after 'Beckett') into a crooked-legged, simply dressed, brilliant strategist and schemer Henry II;

To Anthony Hopkins, whom even after watching the movie five times I can't imagine as Richard the Lionheart - and who still can't be disbelieved in the movie;

To Nigel Terry, the way he showed Prince John to be shallow and nasty - and knowing that in less than 15 years he would become King Arthur in Boorman's 'Excalibur';

To Timothy Dalton - and his first movie role, God give every young actor such a debut.

Info Video

Codec: HEVC / H.265 (85.0 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1

Info Audio

#English: FLAC 2.0
#German: LPCM 2.0

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