Zeit der Sinnlichkeit

A beautiful & thoughtful movie about chance and caprice in human lives,and about how love and folly shape us. A unity of word, appearance, and action distill the reign of Charles II into the soul of a doctor who lives through a "new age" of human flowering. A movie aspiring to and attaining the qualities of a literary novel, powerfully combining the naturalistic and the symbolic, and equal to best adaptations of Jane Austen. Restoration will be certain disappointment for movie-goers who expect explosions instead of drama and grunts.

the restoration of the crown, the restoration of the theatre and the restoration of a man's purpose in life. I don't think this movie was marketed well, the notes on the case make it look like a silly bedroom farce, which, indeed, it is not.

Robert Downey Jr is a revelation, as much as he was in Chaplin.

Sam Neill makes Charles such a lovable scallywag that you can't disapprove of the randy King.

I don't even mind meg Ryan.

This film is so beautiful to look at, but don't watch it with a rowdy crowd. One needs to listen and absorb.

I give copies of this movie as gifts.

Robert Downey, Jr. stars as a physician at the beck and call of the royal court in 17th Century England, and serves as our guide through an overstuffed story that includes lunatics, fires and the plague. As a narrative, it probably could have been tighter (o.k. let's face it, it could DEFINITELY have been tighter), and I think another reviewer here at IMDb said it well when he claimed that the movie is better than the sum of its parts, but I do remember liking this quite a bit. The jaw-dropping production and costume design is alone worth sitting through the movie for.

With Sam Neill as a king and Meg Ryan as one of the lunatics.

Grade: A-

"Restoration" is an overlooked jewel of a movie, a fascinating and atmospheric journey to another time and place. Robert Downey, Jr. is outstanding as a young physician who develops depth and compassion. The music, costumes and settings are full of rich detail. While Meg Ryan's character as an insane Irish girl was perhaps a bit overwrought, I found little to fault in the movie. I have seen it three times and enjoy it thoroughly each time. I'm sorry I missed it on the big screen. Interesting scenes portraying 17th century medical practice, the plague, the Great Fire of London. Not for the squeamish, but not overly violent either.

This has to have been one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen. I am not as up on history as some people, but I think the time - the costumes, the dress, the manners, (though not the language), was stunningly represented. The transition of Robert Downey's character was also wonderfully done - we watch him go from boyishness to maturity in a slow change throughout the film, it's not just randomly done because of one event, but of a series of events. The music was out of this world, and the last half of the movie very chilling, very sad, very emotional. Have a tissue box handy!!