Restoration (1995)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Michael Hoffman

Writers (WGA):

Rose Tremain (novel)
Rupert Walters (screenplay)

Release Date:

2 February 1996 (Canada)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

In a world of seduction and power, temptation has its price.

Plot:

An aspiring young physician, Robert Merivel found himself in the service of King Charles II and saves the life of someone close to the King...

Plot Keywords:

King | King Charles II | Mistress | Sham Marriage | Medical Student

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Robert Downey Jr.	...	Robert Merivel
Sam Neill	...	King Charles II
David Thewlis	...	John Pearce
Polly Walker	...	Celia Clemence
Meg Ryan	...	Katharine
Ian McKellen	...	Will Gates
Hugh Grant	...	Elias Finn
Ian McDiarmid	...	Ambrose
Mary MacLeod	...	Midwife
Mark Letheren	...	Daniel
Sandy McDade	...	Hannah
Rosalind Bennett	...	Eleanor
Willie Ross	...	Man with Visible Heart
David Gant	...	Chiffinch
Benjamin Whitrow	...	Merivel's Father

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality.

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English | Latin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:M18 (re-rating) | Iceland:L | Netherlands:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | France:U | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:R(A) | Spain:7 | USA:R | Canada:A

Filming Locations:

Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Avenue Pictures Productions

Trivia:

Composer James Newton Howard's main theme is based on "Sarabande" by Georg Friedrich Händel (ca. 1705).

Goofs:

Anachronisms: At a very early point in the film, the King says something along the lines of "....and these are your playmates." In the background is a horde of 17th-century ladies boating on the Achille Duchenne water parterre at Blenheim Palace. The palace was not built until the late 18th century, and the parterre was not designed until 1925.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Opening Title Card: In 1660 Charles II was restored to the English Throne ending 11 years of Oliver Cromwell's bleak Puritan rule. Thus began the age of Restoration. It was an era of scientific discovery, artistic exploration and luxurious sensuality.
Opening Title Card: It was also a time of natural disasters and archaic medical practices. Science was pitted against superstition. This is the story of one man's journey through the light and dark of those times.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Game K N B: (2007-03-03)" (2007)

An Intelligent, Literary Film

A beautiful & thoughtful movie about chance and caprice in human lives,and about how love and folly shape us. A unity of word, appearance, and action distill the reign of Charles II into the soul of a doctor who lives through a "new age" of human flowering. A movie aspiring to and attaining the qualities of a literary novel, powerfully combining the naturalistic and the symbolic, and equal to best adaptations of Jane Austen. Restoration will be certain disappointment for movie-goers who expect explosions instead of drama and grunts.