Excalibur (film)
| Excalibur | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | John Boorman |
| Written by | John Boorman, Rospo Pallenberg |
| Produced by | John Boorman |
| Starring | Nigel Terry, Nicol Williamson, Helen Mirren, Gabriel Byrne |
| Distributed by | Warner Brothers |
Release dates | April 10, 1981 (USA) |
Running time | 140 mins. |
| Language | English |
Excalibur is a 1981 film which retells the legend of King Arthur. It grossed USD$34,967,437 and was the 18th most successful film of that year.
Cast and crew
Excalibur was directed by John Boorman and stars Nigel Terry (King Arthur), Helen Mirren (Arthur's half-sister Morgana), Nicol Williamson (Merlin), Nicholas Clay (Lancelot) and Cherie Lunghi (Guenevere). The film features some noted actors in early screen roles. Liam Neeson plays Gawain, Patrick Stewart plays King Leondegrance, and Gabriel Byrne plays Uther Pendragon. Several members of the Boorman family also appeared in the picture. Igrayne (Arthur's mother), the Lady of the Lake, Mordred as a boy, and the infant Arthur were all played by Boorman's children. Because of the number of Boormans involved with the film, it is sometimes called "The Boorman Family Project."
Irish locations in Wicklow, Tipperary, and County Kerry. The armour was designed by Bob Ringwood. The screenplay is by Rospo Pallenberg with John Boorman. The soundtrack is by Trevor Jones, with sound bites and samples drawn from Orff's Carmina Burana and Wagnerian motifs, of fate (Ring) and fatal attraction (Tristan und Isolde). A portion of the Siegfried Funeral March from Götterdämmerung was used as the main theme music of the film over the opening and closing credits.
Plot
It was a dark age and the land was without a king. Two great knights, Uther Pendragon and the Duke of Cornwall, fight for dominance. Uther is aided by the shadowy enchanter Merlin, who gives him Excalibur, the "sword of power", which he takes from a hand rising from a lake. Merlin arranges a truce between the two rivals, where Cornwall yields to Uther, who is proclaimed king.
During a feast at Cornwall's castle (depicted as looking like Tintagel) Uther develops a mad lust for Igrayne, Cornwall's wife. This leads to the truce being broken, and fighting starts anew.
Uther begs Merlin for one night with Igrayne, and Merlin agrees - after Uther swears that the "issue of his lust" would be his. That night, Cornwall is tricked into attacking Uther's camp, where he is killed. Uther, having taken Cornwall's appearance by Merlin's magic, beds Igraine. However, her daughter Morgana sees through the deception.
After Cornwall's death, Uther takes his wife and his castle for his own. Nine moons later, their son is born. However, Merlin takes him away. Regretting his oath, Uther pursues him into a forest, but is ambushed by knights who mistrust him and want his sword. He is mortally wounded, but before he dies he thrusts Excalibur into a rock. The other knights then try to pull it out, but none of them can. "He who draws the sword from the stone, he shall be king" Merlin explains.
Some years later, Sir Ector and his sons Kay and Arthur go to a tournament in that forest, where the winner gets a shot at pulling Excalibur out of the rock. After Kay's sword is stolen, Arthur goes looking for another one, and pulls Excalibur out of the rock with ease. Ector reveals that he adopted him at Merlin's bidding. Merlin then appears and tells Arthur of his true parentage, and that he is King.
Arthur is acclaimed by the common folk as their King; however, the nobles Lot and Uryens reject him, while King Leondegrance supports him. After spending the night alone with Merlin in the forest, where he learns of the mystic "dragon" and that he "is the land", Arthur goes into battle for the first time. He comes to the aid of Leondegrance, whose castle is under siege by the two lords. He wins the respect and fealty of all of them. In this way, he meets Guenevere, Leondegrance's daughter, with whom he falls in love.
Some years later, Arthur meets and fights a duel with Lancelot, "the best knight in Christendom", who is looking for a king worthy of his service. Arthur cannot defeat him. In his anger and pride, he calls upon Excalibur's power, and Lancelot is knocked senseless by his blow, but the sword breaks in two. Despairing, Arthur throws the pieces into a nearby body of water. However, the Lady of the Lake appears and gives him back Excalibur, magically repaired. When Lancelot wakes up, he swears loyalty to Arthur.
Some time later, Arthur finally unifies the land under his rule. He institutes the fellowship of the Round Table, marries Guenevere, and builds Camelot, his castle. During his wedding, his half-sister Morgana, now a sorceress, comes to Camelot. Recognizing a kindred spirit as well his desire for her, Merlin trains her further in the magic arts.
During these years of peace and prosperity, Lancelot finds a wild, innocent youth named Perceval, and takes him to Camelot to be trained as a squire. Morgana cajoles Merlin to reveal his magical secrets to her, planning revenge on him for his deeds with Uther. Lancelot and the queen gradually develop a love for each other.
Morgana manipulates Sir Gawain to accuse the two of adultery, which they are innocent of, save in their hearts, as Lancelot puts it. Arthur decrees a trial by combat to prove Guenevere's innocence, with Lancelot championing her against Gawain. The night before the duel, Lancelot gravely wounds himself, torn between his passion and his loyalty to his king. The next day, he is late, and Arthur calls for another champion to fight in his place. Nobody comes forward except Perceval, and he is knighted by Arthur. Just as he and Gawain are about to joust, Lancelot arrives. He defeats Gawain despite his deep wound, and Guenevere is declared innocent. However, all these events only serve to make their feelings for each other stronger.
Finally, the two make love in a forest. In his anguish, Arthur resolves to kill them. Merlin bids him farewell. He takes Morgana to his sanctuary, a crystal cave below Camelot, ostensibly to teach her his deepest magical secret, the 'Charm of Making'. Once there, he attacks her with sorcery, knowing her plans and ambitions all along. In the forest, Arthur comes across the sleeping lovers, but spares them and drives Excalibur into the ground between their bodies. This causes a small earthquake within the crystal cave. As if struck by Excalibur himself, Merlin is weakened, and Morgana tricks him into revealing the charm. She uses the charm to entomb him in crystal.
Guenevere and Lancelot wake up to discover Excalibur driven between them. Mad with guilt, Lancelot runs off into the forest, while Guenevere eventually joins a convent. Later, Morgana takes on her appearance and seduces a heartbroken Arthur, and then leaves Camelot, pregnant with his child.
Nine months later, their son Mordred is born. Arthur, already weakened by the preceding events, is struck by lightning. The land falters as the king does; it undergoes famine and suffering. A broken Arthur sends his knights on a quest for the Grail, which will make him and the land whole again.
Years pass. Many knights die on the quest; others Morgana bewitches, to serve her and her son.
One day, Perceval meets the young Mordred, who takes him to his mother, ostensibly to give him the Grail. On the way, he sees several of Arthur's knights, dead and hanging on a tree, their corpses being devoured by birds. Morgana tries to dissuade him from his quest and enchant him with a potion, but Perceval resists. He is hung from the tree. Whilst on the tree, he has a vision of entering a bright, mysterious castle, where the Grail is floating in the air, filled with blood. Inside, a voice asks him for "the secret of the Grail". Terrified, he runs away - and his rope snaps, and he escapes, just as the quest has escaped him.
More years pass. The now adult Mordred comes to the weakened King and demands the throne. Arthur refuses, but offers him his love. Mordred rejects him, and promises to take the throne by force.
Wandering about, Perceval finds Uryens beset by Mordred and his men, who wound him and leave him for dead. Before he dies, Uryens urges him not to give up the quest. Later, he comes upon Lancelot, now a wild man railing against Arthur and his knights, among a procession of peasants. They attack him and he falls into a river.
Nearly drowning, he has another vision of the castle. This time, he does not run away. Perceval is able to answer the question, and the secret of the Grail is that the king is one with the land (see below). This Arthur first learned from Merlin, but had forgotten. It is revealed that the King is "served" from the Grail as he "is the land", and in some mystic way, the voice and the figure to whom it belongs is Arthur himself. The quest is achieved; Perceval wins the Grail.
Perceval returns (or is transported) to Camelot. Arthur drinks from the cup and is revitalized. He and his remaining knights ride to war against Mordred and Morgana. As they ride, the long-barren land bursts into life; it is reborn with its King.
Arthur goes to Guinevere's convent, where they are reconciled. Guinevere then gives Arthur Excalibur, which she has kept safe all these years. Reunited with his sword of power, Arthur and his army ride towards the battlefield and the day of reckoning. They find out that almost all of the nobles of the land have rallied to Mordred and Morgana.
The evening before the day of destiny, Arthur thinks of Merlin and wishes that he could help him for one more time. Merlin, still physically encased in Morgana's crystal prison, appears to Arthur, and tells him that thanks to him, he is back in the land of dreams, where he (Arthur) is now. He then appears to Morgana in her dreams and tricks her into uttering the Charm of Making. This creates a thick fog and also turns Morgana (who has been using magic to preserve her youth and beauty) into an old hag. Appalled, Mordred kills her.
The day of destiny comes. Arthur uses the fog to hide his much smaller army and to spread confusion among Mordred's forces. Battle is joined. By the end of the day, everyone is killed, except for Arthur, Perceval and Mordred. Lancelot, who returns to fight for Arthur, reconciles with him just before he dies. The fog lifts, and Arthur meets Mordred in combat. Mordred skewers Arthur with his spear, mortally wounding him, but Arthur stabs Mordred in the throat.
As Arthur lies dying, he asks Perceval to throw Excalibur in a pool of calm water. He initially relents, since it is too important to be lost, but Arthur tells him that someday, another King will come, and Excalibur will rise again. As Perceval finally throws the sword, the hand clad in samite catches it and takes it under. When Perceval returns, Arthur is gone. Gazing from a distance, he sees Arthur lying in a boat attended by ladies clad in white, which soon goes out of sight.
Adaptation
The film is primarily an adaptation of Malory's Morte d'Arthur (1485). In order to recast the Arthurian legends as a myth of the cycle of birth, life and decay, the text was stripped of decorative or insignificant details, as well as of Malory's Christian piety. The resulting film is reminiscent of mythographic works such as Sir James Frazer's The Golden Bough and Jessie Weston's From Ritual to Romance; Arthur is presented as the "Wounded King" whose realm becomes a wasteland to be reborn thanks to the Grail, and may be compared to the Fisher (or Sinner) King, whose land also became a wasteland, and was also healed by Perceval. Notably, the Grail is not the Christian "Holy Grail"; rather, it may be inspired by magic cauldrons in Celtic pagan myths. "The film has to do with mythical truth, not historical truth," Boorman remarked to a journalist during filming. (See [1] and [2])
In keeping with this approach, the film is intentionally ahistorical (see [3]). For example, the opening titles state the setting to be the Dark Ages, even though the knights wear full plate armor, which was invented much later. Knights, knighthood and the code of chivalry also did not exist during the period. Furthermore, Britain is never mentioned by name, only as "the land".
In addition to Malory, the writers incorporated elements from other Arthurian stories, sometimes altering them. For example, the sword between the sleeping lovers' bodies comes from the tales of Tristan and Iseult; the knight who returns Excalibur to the water is changed from Bedivere to Perceval; and Morgause and Morgan Le Fay are merged. The sword Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone are presented as the same thing; in the legends they are separate.
Some new elements were added, such as Uther wielding Excalibur before Arthur, Merlin's 'Charm of Making' (written in Old Irish), and the concept of the world as "the dragon".
Quotations
- Merlin states the film's central theme, reflecting an ancient Celtic belief about kingship:
- You will be the land,
- And the land will be you.
- If you fail, the land will perish;
- As you thrive, the land will blossom.
- Later he states the allegory of the Dragon:
- Merlin: The dragon! A beast of such power that if you were to see it whole and all complete in a single glance, it would burn you to cinders.
- Arthur: Where is it?
- Merlin: It is everywhere; it is everything. Its scales glisten in the bark of trees, its roar is heard in the wind, and its forked tongue strikes like — like —
- (Lightning strikes)
- Merlin: Whoa, like lightning! Yes, that's it.
- Later, he touches on the conflict between Christianity and paganism:
- The One God comes to drive out the many gods. The spirits of wood and stream grow silent. But that's the way of things. It's time for men and their ways.
- Pallenberg and Boorman's screenplay touches on the heroic themes with directness. As Arthur declares:
- Any man who would be a knight and follow a King, follow me!
Reputation
Excalibur received extremely divergent responses from audiences. When it was originally released, many reviewers praised its 'magical realist' tone, which combines sorcery and mysticism with gritty and violent realism. However, others lambasted it, seeing only exaggerated acting, shoddy sound mixing, garish colours and clumsy dialogue. Today, many of those who love the film respect it as an unusually serious, poetic and faithful adaptation of the myth. But others enjoy the heroics as a camp classic, revelling in its absurdity.
Nicol Williamson's Merlin is a case in point. His portrayal of Merlin as an eccentric man with a strange way of enunciating particularly struck some as cheesy, while others loved it, seeing it as a deviation from the standard stereotypical image of the wizard as a wise, venerable old man (as portrayed in books and films by the characters Gandalf and Obi-Wan Kenobi).
Excalibur's unsentimental depiction of a 'fantasy' setting was an influence on many subsequent films and television series, most recently Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. Indeed, Excalibur grew from Boorman's attempt to film Tolkien's novel; in the mid-1970s, Boorman and Pallenberg had collaborated with film rights holder and producer Saul Zaentz on a treatment of the Tolkien epic, but the project proved too expensive to finance at that time. (See [4])
Excalibur also pioneered the use of O Fortuna from Carmina Burana in media before this had become a cliché. Subsequently, O Fortuna was used in such diverse films as The Doors, Glory, The Hunt for Red October and Natural Born Killers, as well as in television commercials, such as those for Capital One credit cards.
Interestingly, some parts of the storyline of the made-for-television film Merlin (1998), starring Sam Neill as the eponymous wizard, seem to have been directly influenced by Excalibur. Both films feature Merlin as one who wishes to bring peace to the land; he gives Excalibur to Uther in the hope that he will bring peace with his rule. Also, in both films Arthur takes a gamble by challenging his rival lord to strike him down with Excalibur, but his enemy relents — implicitly in Excalibur, where Uryens refuses to surrender to Arthur, a mere squire, so Arthur makes Uryens knight him on the spot with his own sword - and Uryens does so, impressed by his courage; and explicitly in Merlin, where Arthur tells Lot to kill him with Excalibur if he thinks he is the true king - but Lot relents, influenced by the magic of the sword.
Trivia
- At least two actors from the film, Nicholas Clay (Lancelot) and Robert Addie (adult Mordred) have subsequently died prematurely.
- The film studio paid Clay (Lancelot) an extra USD$10,000 to allow them to make a surgical incision in his side in order to insert the sword for the scene where he fights himself.
- Boorman apparently had no qualms about filming his own 22-year old daughter (Katrine, who played Igrayne) nude and in a sex (technically rape) scene.
- In some of Arthur's dialogue, Boorman apparently inserts nods to The Lord of the Rings, which he originally wanted to film:
- "Merlin, your wisdom has forged this ring (see image above). Hereafter, so that we remember our bonds, we shall always come together in a circle to hear and tell of deeds good and brave. I will build a Round Table where this fellowship shall meet."
See also
- Excalibur, King Arthur's sword, the central symbol of kingship for Malory and the film.
External links
- Excalibur at IMDb
- Darren Withers, "The Quest for the Hollywood Grail" analyzes Boorman's Excalibur
- Michael Everson's analysis of Merlin's "Charm of Making"
- Excalibur - 1981: film's Fan-page, Excalibur photo gallery, Mordred's gallery, video clips and sounds;
- Boorman and Pallenberg's plans for an adaptation of The Lord of the Rings from the theonering.com message board.
- Discussion on Excalibur's mythology
- Harlan, Kennedy. "John Boorman in Interview." Originally published in American Film magazine, March 1981.