Edward II (1991)

Actors: Derek Jarman (writer), Tilda Swinton (actress), Annie Lennox (actress), Sandy Powell (costume designer), Sandy Powell (actress), Derek Jarman (director), Dudley Sutton (actor), Allan Corduner (actor), Andrew Tiernan (actor), Simon Fisher-Turner (composer), John Lynch (actor), Roger Hammond (actor), Rachel James (miscellaneous crew), Christopher Adamson (actor), Sarah Radclyffe (producer),

Plot: In this Derek Jarman version of Christopher Marlowe's Elisabethan drama, in modern costumes and settings, Plantagenet king Edward II hands the power-craving nobility the perfect excuse by taking as lover besides his diplomatic wife, the French princess Isabel, not an acceptable lady at court but the ambitious Piers Gaveston, who uses his favor in bed even to wield political influence - the stage is set for a palace revolt which sends the gay pair from the throne to a terminal torture dungeon.

Keywords: 14th-century, 1590s, adultery, anachronism, anal-rape, anvil, bandage, banishment, based-on-play, bashing-head-into-wall
Genres: Drama, History,
Taglines: A classic tale of sex, revenge, and love.

Quotes:

[first lines]::Edward II: My father is deceased. Come Gaveston, and share the kingdom with thy dearest friend.

Edward II: I here create thee Lord High Chamberlain, Chief Secretary to the State and me, Earl of Cornwall, King and Lord of Man.::Piers Gaveston: My Lord, these titles far exceed my worth.::Edward II: Thy worth sweet friend is far above my gifts. And therefore to equal it, receive my heart.

Mortimer: Madam, how fares your grace?::Isabella: Ah, Mortimer, now breaks the king's hate forth, and he confesseth that he loves me not.::Mortimer: Cry quittance, madam, then, and love not him.

Bishop: Why should you love him whom the world hates so?::Edward II: Because he loves me more than all the world.

Mortimer: Monster of men. Look for no other fortune, wretch, than death.::Piers Gaveston: I thank you all my lords. Here I perceive that heading is one, and hanging is the other, and death is all. [Gaveston is killed]::Mortimer: Come, let thy shadow parley with King Edward

Prince Edward: Why should you love him whom the world hates so?

Mortimer: This tattered ensign of my ancestors, which swept the desert shore of that dead sea whereof we got the name of Mortimer, I will advance and ring aloud the knell of Gaveston

Mortimer: Base Fortune, now I see that in thy wheel there is a point to which when men aspire; they tumble headlong down. That point I touch'd, and seeing there was no place to mount up higher why should I grieve at my declining fall?

Piers Gaveston: Farewell, base stooping to the lordly peers: my knee shall bow to none but to the king. As for the multitude, that are but sparks raked up in embers of their poverty... fuck 'em.

Becket (1964)

Actors: Niall MacGinnis (actor), Peter Jeffrey (actor), Wilfrid Lawson (actor), Tutte Lemkow (actor), Gino Cervi (actor), Geoffrey Bayldon (actor), Richard Burton (actor), Guy Deghy (actor), Richard Burton (actor), Felix Aylmer (actor), John Gielgud (actor), John Gielgud (actor), Gino Cervi (actor), Percy Herbert (actor), John Moulder-Brown (actor),

Plot: As the story opens, King Henry II, who ruled England from 1154 to 1189 has entered Canterbury Cathedral to do penance at the tomb of his former friend, Thomas Becket. Bare to the waist, the king kneels to receive a flogging from Saxon monks. He begins to reminisce, recalling at first the carefree, promiscuous adventures with Becket, then his favorite drinking and wenching companion. A violently emotional drama that probes the changing relationship between two young men - between two close friends bound together by similar pride of flesh and spirit who become deadly enemies as they pursue their separate destinies . . . that of king . . . and saint.

Keywords: 1160s, 1170s, 12th-century, adultery, archbishop, assassination, based-on-play, bathing, beach, betrayal
Genres: Biography, Drama, History,
Taglines: An age of rampant lusts, abandon, runaway passions. An age brought bristling to life by two of the most exciting stars of our time! A taste for wine and women made them friends. A sudden clash made them man and martyr...which led to murder! The screen explodes with rage and passion and greatness!

Quotes:

Thomas a Becket: God rest his soul.::King Henry II: He will, He will. He'll be much more use to God than he ever was to me.

Thomas a Becket: Honor is a private matter within; it's an idea, and every man has his own version of it.::King Henry II: How gracefully you tell your king to mind his own business.

Empress Matilda: Oh, if I were a man!::King Henry II: Thank God, madam, He gave you breasts! An asset from which I derived not the slightest benefit.

King Henry II: Am I the strongest or am I not?::Thomas a Becket: You are today, but one must never drive one's enemy to despair; it makes him strong. Gentleness is better politics, it saps virility. A good occupational force must never crush. It must corrupt.

King Henry II: Don't be nervous, Bishop. I'm not asking for absolution. I've something far worse than a sin on my conscience: a mistake.

King Henry II: Let us drink, gentlemen. Let us drink, till we roll under the table in vomit and oblivion.

King Henry II: Have you any idea how much trouble I took to make you noble?::Thomas a Becket: I think so; I recall, you pointed a finger and said, "Thomas Becket, you are noble." The Queen and your mother became very agitated.

Thomas a Becket: England is a ship. The king is captain of the ship.::King Henry II: That's neat. I like that.

King Henry II: Your body, madam, was a desert that duty forced me to wander in alone. But you have never been a wife to me!

King Henry II: He's read books, you know, it's amazing. He's drunk and wenched his way through London but he's thinking all the time.

Procès de Jeanne d'Arc (1962)

Actors: Donald O'Brien (actor), Robert Bresson (director), Robert Bresson (writer), Germaine Artus (editor), Françoise Collin (miscellaneous crew), Michael Williams (actor), Gérard Zingg (actor), Lucilla Mussini (costume designer), Florence Delay (actress), Agnès Delahaie (producer), Francis Seyrig (composer), Jean Gillibert (actor), Pierre Champion (writer), André Maurice (actor), Harry Sommers (actor),

Plot: A reconstruction of the trial of Joan of Arc (based entirely on the transcripts of the real-life trial), concerning Joan's imprisonment, interrogation and final execution at the hands of the English, filmed in a spare, low-key fashion.

Keywords: 15th-century, based-on-true-story, burned-at-the-stake, catholicism, character-name-in-title, christianity, church, crucifix, female-protagonist, french-court
Genres: Drama, War,