Charles II: The Power and the Passion (2004)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Audio Audio Commentary-Filmmakers ( Episodes 1 And 4 ) Featurette-The Boy Who Would Be King Featurette-Making Of Gallery-Photo Montage
Rating
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	234:42 (Case: 322)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (29:06) Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Joe Wright
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Rufus Sewell Charlie Creed-Miles Martin Freeman Rupert Graves Shirley Henderson Helen McCrory Ian McDiarmid Diana Rigg
Case	Amaray-Transparent-S/C-Dual
RPI	$49.95	Music	Rob Lane

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Charles II - The Power and the Passion is a truly magnificent production in itself, and this 2 disc DVD set only adds extra depth and interest. It is, fairly obviously, the story of Charles II, King of England from 1660 to 1685 and while this subject might turn many people off, if you are thinking to yourself 'here we go, another boring costume drama', think again. This story has everything; murder, intrigue, romance, violence, sex (even a dash of necrophilia for those so inclined), friendship, war, backstabbing, political manoeuvring and lashings of history and pretty dresses for the costume drama crowd.

    Charles II was the king to whom the term 'The Restoration' refers, as he was the king restored to the throne after the death of Oliver Cromwell. The programme begins with Charles I's execution as a flashback dream sequence. The actual story starts in earnest in the last few months of Charles II's exile and follows through his restoration and on until the end of his reign. In between, there are numerous conspiracies, mistresses, political triumphs and failures and the continuous problems of dealing with his very difficult family. The main conflicts involved are Catholic Vs Protestant and King Vs Parliament and both of these are key to the storyline.

    I will give you an overview of the main characters involved, whilst trying to avoid giving away too much of the plot (although obviously if you are a history buff you know the plot already). The main characters are:

• Charles II, King of England & Scotland (Rufus Sewell). Charles would seem to have been very enigmatic, on the one hand charming, caring, loving, a forgiving friend, greatly loved by the people, brave and a great fighter for religious tolerance in a time when no one was tolerant of anyone. On the other hand he was immoral, debauched, lazy, ruthless (with supporters and enemies alike), bad at choosing friends and weak when it came to women. He was obviously very traumatised by the death of his father.
• George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham (Rupert Graves, Jolyon Forsyte from The Forsyte Saga). George was Charles' oldest but not necessarily his best friend. Charles constantly forgave George for his treachery and scheming. Charles & George were exiled together in Antwerp at the beginning of the story and he was one of the major political figures of the time, sometimes for Charles and sometimes against him. George's cousin, Barbara was one of the King's mistresses (see below) but also had an ongoing sexual relationship with George.
• Sir Edward Hyde (Ian McDiarmid). Hyde was Charles' most important minister and adviser during the early years of his reign and had been a mentor to him for many years, including his time in exile. Hyde was always loyal to Charles, but this was not necessarily reciprocated. Hyde was also the father-in-law of Charles' younger brother James (see below).
• Barbara Villiers, Lady Castlemaine (Helen McCrory). Barbara was the most important of Charles mistresses as not only did she give him numerous illegitimate children but she was also a large influence on him, and was intimately involved in a number of conspiracies both for and against him. Her reputation for debauchery and immorality seems to have been unmatched in her day.
• Catherine of Braganza (Shirley Henderson). She was Charles' queen, a Portuguese princess who was very young and could not speak English when sent to England to marry him. Charles and his court initially treated her with derision and contempt but over time he became very fond of her and would not divorce her despite her inability to provide him with an heir. His affection for her did not stop him having many mistresses.
• Lord Shaftesbury (Martin Freeman, Tim from The Office) was one of the most important parliamentary politicians of the time. He was at times one of Charles' inner circle of ministers and at others his implacable enemy (and sometimes both).
• James, Duke of York (Charlie Creed-Miles) was the king's younger brother and his heir. He was later to become James II on his brother's death. James was brave and followed his beliefs, however, he did not have a politically savvy bone in his body and was a constant issue for his brother and became a bigger issue once he became king himself.
• James, Duke of Monmouth (Christian Coulson) was Charles' oldest son and as with all his children, was illegitimate. He was easily led and fairly stupid being constantly manipulated throughout his life by people who felt they could get him the crown and then control him. He was also a constant problem which Charles tried to deal with in various ways.
• Queen Henrietta Maria (Diana Rigg) was Charles' mother and a rabid Catholic to the point of not being willing to visit her dying son, Henry because he had converted to Protestantism like Charles. She was a vindictive and tough woman who prevailed upon Charles to undertake many actions which he would not have done otherwise, such as rounding up everyone involved in his father's execution and having them killed.

    The cast members mentioned above and most of the other players here give excellent performances but a special mention definitely needs to go to the man himself, Rufus Sewell, for his brilliant portrayal of a very difficult character to master. His performance here is very layered - we can see both sides of his nature both loving and forgiving but also ruthless and self-serving. Diana Rigg is also extremely impressive in a fine ensemble of actors, portraying a character with very few redeeming features.

    The show here is presented in four one hour episodes, three on the first DVD and the last on the second DVD along with some high quality extras. It was made for the BBC last year, and has just been screened on the ABC here locally. The television version seems to have been cut significantly as it runs for only about 210 minutes whereas the DVD runs for 234:42. Additionally, the version being shown on TV is rated M whereas the DVD is rated MA. The rating is deserved because there are a number of gory sequences and some quite explicit sex scenes. One particular gory scene encouraged me to write 'This is very nasty' in my review notes.

    There are some very stylish sequences in this production incorporating stunning visuals and excellent direction. These include the opening scene of Charles I's execution, the tour of London during the plague, the entry of Catherine of Braganza and Charles II's final address to parliament. These are very powerful and linger in the mind long after watching this presentation.

    The music by Rob Lane is absolutely wonderful and very fitting to the presentation. As soon as the music plays over the menu you know you are in for a musical treat. The use of the music throughout this production is excellent.

    The production was mostly filmed in a castle in Prague, with the interiors built specially within the castle walls and the surrounds of the castle filling in for the streets on London. Due to the relatively low budget of this production, there are no large battle scenes, but you do not miss them due to the fireworks in the script.

    Overall, this is a wonderful production that I would recommend to anyone, not just history or costume drama buffs.

Video

    The video quality is excellent, with richness and depth of colour throughout.

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was very clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise. Shadow detail was quite good. There was some light grain in some scenes but it was never distracting. This was especially true during the documentary The Boy Who Would Be King.

    The colour was very good throughout with all colours being well saturated and free from colour bleeding. A notably restrained colour palette was used for the early scenes in exile, but once the restoration occurs the colour palette opens out.

    No artefacts of any kind were noticeable.

    The main title included subtitles in English. I sampled some of the English subtitles and found them to be easy to read and  very close to the spoken word.

    This first disc is an RSDL dual-layered disc and the layer change quite well placed at 29:06 in the second episode. The second disc seems to have the extras on one layer and episode 4 on the other.
    

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is quite good.

    This DVD contains one audio option, an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack encoded at a less than full 192 Kb/s bitrate.    

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand except where Catherine of Braganza was deliberately speaking in a half crazed mixture of Portuguese and English.

    There were no problems with audio sync.    

    The score of this film by Rob Lane was absolutely excellent and came across well despite the encoding.

    The surround speakers were not used all that often but as I was using Dolby ProLogic II they were used for some effects. In one particular scene in a small cabin where it was obviously raining outside, the surrounds carried rain sounds.

    The subwoofer was rarely used.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The menus were presented in 1.78:1 16x9 enhanced, and included Rob Lane's wonderful score..

The Boy Who Would Be King (57:07)

    This is an excellent and very complementary documentary which focuses on his life before the restoration, a time which is really not covered by the main feature. It contains details of his early life, his bravery during the civil war, his early bedroom conquests and his escape from England after his father's execution. This part is very interesting as he was a fugitive for 6 weeks hiding out in various houses and in the countryside. Descendents of people who helped him are interviewed including a very welcome Michael Palin of Monty Python. The program also includes interviews with a number of eminent historians. The picture quality here is not as good as the main feature with a bit more grain and some black artefacts, however, this does not really affect the enjoyment of the program.

Making of Charles II (28:08)

    A very good making of documentary with three main sections; The Characters, The Story & The Production. The characters section includes interviews with most of the main cast discussing their characters' motivations and how they prepared for their roles. The story includes an interview with the writer.

Photo Montage (1:28)

    A short collection of behind the scenes photos accompanied by the score.

Commentary on Episodes 1 & 4 with Kate Harwood (Producer), Joe Wright (Director) & Adrian Hodges (Writer)

    This is an entertaining and informative commentary which covers missed historical details and why they had to leave them out, scenes which are historically correct and others which they felt they needed to make up, information about the production in Prague and some discussion of the core themes of power and religious intolerance. This is all done with a good sense of humour with the writer regularly making fun of the director, even accusing him of cross-dressing. One anecdote involving cats and the burning of effigies is interesting if a bit gruesome. Well worth a listen.

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

• Not being renamed 'The Last King'

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

• 46 minutes of the main feature (US version is 188 minutes) including most of the nudity and violence.
• The Boy Who Would Be King documentary
• Photo Montage

   Based upon the above, the Region 4 would have to be considered the better version especially when PAL/NTSC differences are taken into account.

    The video quality is excellent.

    The audio quality is quite good.

    The disc has over 3 hours of extras, all of top quality.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall