On Sunday night I watched The Lion in Winter, the 1968 Best Picture nominee about courtly intrigue in 12th century England. While viewing, I found the affair to be a bit staid, though not without its pleasures, chiefly of performance and the endless string of clever barbs. But the final scene, in which the scheming Henry II (Peter O'Toole) and his estranged wife Duchess Eleanor (Katherine Hepburn) part after a Christmas full of plot and counter-plot, so brilliantly encapsulates the preceding two hours that the film as a whole leaped considerably in my estimation.
"I hope we never die!" says Henry with a smile as Eleanor's barge starts its journey back to her prison.
"So do I!" she replies, laughing.
"Do you think there's any chance of it?" Henry asks, and their laughter echoes through the ages...securing their immortality.
"I hope we never die!" says Henry with a smile as Eleanor's barge starts its journey back to her prison.
"So do I!" she replies, laughing.
"Do you think there's any chance of it?" Henry asks, and their laughter echoes through the ages...securing their immortality.
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