A likable character fails at every important thing. Then he dies.We start with a deceptive, dramatic monologue. The lead actor had not yet developed full-blown affectation, so his delivery is still interesting and engaging. And we have to root for his character because he's anti-establishment with an incisive line against hypocrisy.The love interest is great, with lovely performances by all the actresses, but especially in the stage-larnin' scene - I think you can see Depp lose his composure for a second when confronted with Morton's brilliance. The politics is done OK, although the set piece at the end is too stagey.I was confused by the story telling in the middle - took me a while to figure out he had syphilis - I'd assumed his disfigurement was down to being burned in the theatre fire. The death scene was good.The odd thing is that the beginning and end monologues are the reverse of what I felt: Do you like me? No, not really - I preferred you before you failed.It looked good to me, no complaints about lighting. And another IDMber is right - needed more Purcell and Handel on the soundtrack, less piano.Finally, no idea why this is rated 18.

This movie was the worst movie I have ever seen in my life time.Johnny Depp's performance was great. However the movie itself was down right awful.It was demented and degrading to gays and women. Toward the end of this piece of crap movie,he looked like a decaying corpse. I did not know that rotten flesh bad language and a lot of sex made a good movie.I thought that good acting and a good plot made a good movie.Not a man with a horrible affliction and bad acting. That is my mom's take on this ghastly movie, mine is I found it be appalling and an abomination! I did not know that obsession with man's genitals and orgies! Made a movie good! Depp's performance was one of his best ever, it is to bad. He wasted on such a disgusting , perverted piece of tripe! This movie is like the plague, it lingers and makes you suffer as you watch it! I think the worst part was his body deteriorate and wither in decay! We give this movie an F, not suitable for everyone due the pervese and disturbing content. How it made it to theaters we have no idea!

The Libertine is now on my list of...oh... best three movies ever.Johnny Depp shows his best acting here in his least known movie.If you think you can love a slovenly, lazy, drunken, and disgusting character watch this movie.The acting, the direction, and the setting along with the touches of humor and tragedy will draw you in to this film as if you are here.I refuse to give a spoiler for this movie. I'll just say I truly loved it and recommend it highly unless you are very, very, very sensitive to nudity. And actually, I'd recommend it even if you are disgusted by nudity.The portrayal of London in that time is so accurate it's frightening. Check your English history and you'll see how true this is.But, mostly see it for Johnny Depp's best acting ever.

I bought this film on DVD yesterday, and my expectations were very high. One of the reason was because of the great cast. Johnny Depp, John Malkovich, Samantha Morton, Rosamound Pike, Tom Hollander among others. I had never heard of the film's director, Laurence Dunmore. So it was nice with a debut-film.The film's opening prologue was amazing. It gives us an idea what kind of person The Earl of Rochester (Johnny Depp) is. We are introduced to a muddy, grainy and raw London. We are also introduced to other characters: King Charles II (John Malkovich), George (Tom Hollander), Mrs Rochester (Rosamound Pike), Elizabeth Barry (Samantha Morton).All of the characters are well developed and good. The actors gives us very good and credible performances. In particular Johnny Depp. That guy is great. One of the greatest actors of his generation. Like other actors of course, he has been involved with movies that aren't so good. But he never fails to deliver a good performance though. In this movie he gives an Oscar-worthy performance. His character is so despicable and non-likable, that you just hate him from the very beginning. But later in the film, he kind of changes, and you actually gets an chance to sympathize with him. Depp gives us a wide river of emotions. Anger, loss, love, arrogance, sadness. A performance of a lifetime. He's just phenomenal.Dunmore's direction is good. He knows what he wants with this story, and how the environments are gonna look like. The screenplay is very well-written. There's a lot of humor in the film. In some parts to say the least. The dialog is very witty, cynical, and just completely wonderful. There's a lot of bad language like "fuck", "cunt", "prick" etc.I give this movie 8 out of 10. A strong 8 of 10