La mort d'un roi

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay **You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

As a kid,I used to love learning all about the Tudors and Stewarts,especially about monarchs such as Henry the Eighth (sorry,I'm terrible at my Roman numerals),Edward the First (the youngest ever monarch) and Charles the first who was beheaded.So when I saw a film trailer promoting a new film about Charles and his conflict with Oliver Cromwell,who became head of the Roundheads,Charles's greatest adversaries,I felt inclined to go and see it as soon as possible.

The results were admirable,though not great.It boasts a fine central cast,in the shape of Tim Roth as Cromwell,Dougray Scott as his aide Thomas Fairfax,James Bolam as roguish parliamentary speaker Holles and Rupert Everitt as the ill-fated king himself.They all play their parts with dash and spirit,which can only be a good thing.And there's some fine photography and lavish costume design to add to the recommendations.

On the down side however,Mike Barker's direction becomes a little meandering and laboured and there are some fairly huge historical inaccuracies in the telling of the tale.

Still,everyone involved looks like they're enjoying starring in it,as indeed any 'actor' probably would,as this sort of period piece is how many such exhibitionists learn the art of fine drama.Just get yourself in the right mood,mosey on out,and I'm sure you might enjoy watching them perform it just as much.Or almost.***

To Kill a King is directed by Mike Barker and written by Jenny Mayhew. It stars Tim Roth, Dougray Scott, Olivia Williams, James Bolam and Rupert Everett. Music is by Richard G Mitchell and cinematography by Eigil Bryld.

It's the end of the English Civil War and with King Charles 1st (Everett) held prisoner by the Parliamentarians, Sir Thomas Fairfax (Scott) and Oliver Cromwell (Roth), friends and colleagues, fall out over the best plan of action for the New England.

A severely troubled production and budgetary constraints left To Kill a King with a mountain to climb just to get acknowledged as a historical epic of worth. Add in the dubious take on this part of English history that so irked the historians, and you would be forgiven for thinking that the film is something of a stinker. Not so actually. For although it's clearly far from flawless, it's a literary piece of work that chooses character dynamics over blood and thunder. Suffice to say that those searching for a battle strewn epic should look elsewhere, but if you have a bent for observations on key personalities involved in war politics during times of upheaval in a period setting? Then this delivers the goods. Well performed by the principal players as well. 7/10

It's amazing that, three decades after Antonia Fraser's great biography of Cromwell ("Cromwell: Our Chief of Men", 1973; out in a new edition, 2002), the old clichés and inaccuracies about him - ultimately derived from the post-Restoration character assassination satirized in "1066 and All That" - are still being as enthusiastically retailed as they are in this film.

That the dominant image of Cromwell is going to be of Ollie the psychopath is telegraphed in advance by the casting of Tim Roth to play him. Why people think this man can act has always been a mystery to me, but ever since "Reservoir Dogs" he has become so identified with the image of a psychopath that his mere presence is a sign that irrational violence is coming up soon. Right at the beginning of the film we are smacked over the head with this characterization when, before we have heard Cromwell speak a word, we see him barely being restrained from murdering a defenceless man. Later he organizes the torture and then murder of a prisoner, randomly shoots a street vendor in the leg, and ordains a painful execution for a would-be assassin in a fit of uncontrolled rage.

On the other hand, he loves his old mate Fairfax, spends hours writing up a proper constitutional settlement to give ordinary people the right to a fair trial, and shows an almost Woody-Allenesque unconfidence in his abilities as a military commander (comically, since even his enemies conceded his military genius). All these positive character traits are presumably thrown into the mix in order to give the semblance of roundedness, depth, or complexity to the characterization. The trouble is that the combination makes this Cromwell not complex, but simply incoherent. One cannot suspend disbelief in him. That's why, in this case, to say "it's a movie, not history" is not an answer to the criticism. It's precisely because it doesn't make sense as history that it doesn't work as a movie either.

The film is also notable for perpetuating the great Royalist lie that Charles I's death warrant was signed by the regicides before the verdict had been announced - indeed, before the trial had even begun. The document was certainly drawn up in advance (the defendant's guilt being as much a matter of public record as Goering's at Nuremberg), but there is no evidence that it was *signed* beforehand; on such a serious matter it's extremely unlikely the regicides would have opened themselves to the accusation of not observing the proper legal process (see the excellent page about the death warrant that I give the address for in the message boards). From the point of view of film-making, though, the most striking thing is how it totally squandered the dramatic opportunity of the trial itself - which took three days, incidentally, not, as it's presented here, three minutes, with people shouting "guilty" before any evidence has even been presented. As an opportunity to probe Charles's psychology, as he was presented with evidence of the damage his actions had caused, it was completely wasted.

Rupert Everett plays Charles brilliantly, and in the context of a better film it's a performance that would surely have drawn more of the plaudits that it deserves. His mixture of regal dignity, seductiveness, arrogance, and overweening self-belief make a compelling portrait (being true to life, these contradictions, unlike those assigned to Cromwell, actually make a coherent whole). Throughout all his conversations with his captors, his fundamental inability to accord their grievances the slightest legitimacy clearly illustrates how frustrating and ultimately fruitless the attempt to negotiate with him must have been, and why the conflict could only end with his death. Dougray Scott also brings gravitas and pathos to his role of Fairfax, and he sustains the tension of his conflicting loyalties well - even if that tension is historically bogus. As actors, he and Everett deserve to have been in a better film.

While Americans work the comparatively narrow seam of their history so intensively, it's a great shame that the Brits don't make more of some of the incomparably dramatic moments in their own. An even greater shame that, when they occasionally get the chance, it's fluffed with a script of such silliness and banality as this.

I was quite excited to see this being a fan of historical films and particularly interested in the Tudor and Stuart periods. The front of the video is presented in exactly the same style as Elizabeth which I thoroughly enjoyed. Elizabeth is relatively well researched and despite some poetic license depicts the early reign well. So this coupled with the acting prowess of Rupert Everett and Tim Roth all boded well. But what a pile of poopie. Over simplified, dreadfully inaccurate, - the list goes on = one of the most interesting periods of English History turned in to a bad Soap Opera. A significant part of the story is Fairfaxes refusal to sign Charles's death warrant. Well ladies and gentlemen in fact he was one of the first to sign. Suffice it to say the lines at the end "And England never again became a republic" (lol) sums up this little piece of filmery.

What seemed to be billed and potentially a good film was for me not only disappointing but inaccurate both in it's historical content but in the tone it set. In general terms it was an enjoyable romp and it portrayed Fairfax reasonably well but Cromwell was sidelined to almost be the butler of Fairfax until he stood aside and Cromwell somehow stood in for him which is completely untrue. A lot of the important events were telescoped into amazingly small time frames almost to get them out of the way to give us an unshaven Fairfax looking gloomy. The Puritans were also treated as ignorant fanatics, particularly Ireton which made me think back to the BBC children's serials of yesteryear where Cavalier = Good, long hair, flashy uniform and Puritan = Bad, poor complexion, bad haircut and BLACK clothes which again a real parody of the actual events. I suppose if you know nothing about the English Civil War and the Commonwealth and Protectorate and like your history served up as soap opera then ok otherwise avoid.