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Tristan & Isolde (film)
Encyclopedia
Tristan & Isolde is a 2006 romantic drama
film based on the medieval romantic
legend
of Tristan and Isolde. It was produced by Ridley Scott
(who had been working on an adaptation since the mid-seventies) and Tony Scott
, directed by Kevin Reynolds and stars James Franco
and Sophia Myles
, with an original music score composed by Anne Dudley
. This was Franchise Pictures
' last film before bankruptcy.
and Ireland
, in the Dark Ages
, after the fall of the Roman Empire
in the 5th century. Lord Marke
of Cornwall
(Rufus Sewell
) plans to unify the peoples of Britain - Celts, Angles
, Saxons
and Jutes
- under himself as high king
to resist Irish
domination. Most lords agree to this, as Marke is highly regarded and respected as a fair and courageous leader. The Irish king Donnchadh (David O'Hara
) discovers this and sends troops to attack a Jutish castle where a treaty between the British tribes is being discussed. The raid claims the lives of the castle's lord and his wife, and Marke saves their son Tristan
at the cost of losing a hand. Feeling compassion for the young boy whose father loyally supported him, Marke welcomes Tristan into his home and regards him as a son. Tristan grows to be a fierce, courageous warrior (James Franco
) whose loyalty to Marke is not that of a knight to his lord, but rather a son to his father.
Tristan and other Cornish warriors launch an attack on an Irish slave caravan: in the battle, he finds himself fighting Morholt, Donnchadh's champion and leader of his army, to whom Princess Isolde (Sophia Myles
) has been promised in marriage. Though he kills Morholt and Donnchadh's forces are overrun, Tristan is severely wounded in the fight and believed dead, though he is in fact only suffering the effects of Morholt's poisoned sword.
Tristan's body is put out to sea on a funeral boat
which eventually washes up along the shores of Ireland. He is discovered by Isolde and her maid Bragnae, who administer an antidote that revives him and then secretly nurse him back to health. Tristan and Isolde fall in love; however, Isolde does not disclose her real name. After some time Tristan is forced to flee to Cornwall. He returns home to a hero's welcome, where a confused but overjoyed Marke welcomes him back with open arms.
Plotting to defeat Britain, Donnchadh proposes a peace treaty, promising his daughter Isolde in marriage to the winner of a tournament. Tristan participates on behalf of King Marke, unaware that the "prize" Isolde is the woman he fell in love with in Ireland. He wins the tournament, only to discover the truth about Isolde and to see her betrothed to Marke.
Although Marke is kind to Isolde, and she grows fond of him, her heart belongs to Tristan. Tristan, in turn, is torn between his love for Isolde and his loyalty to Marke, a man whom he has loved as a father and who saved his life as a child. The couple eventually renew their love and begin an affair behind Marke's back, although they often consider ending it for the sake of their duty to Marke. This affair is discovered by Lord Wictred (Mark Strong
), a longstanding dissenter to Marke's leadership. He conspires with Donnchadh to use their love to overthrow Marke, with Wictred getting Marke's throne in exchange.
In Tristan's final attempt to end the relationship, he and Isolde are caught in an awkward situation by all of the British kings. Seeing this as weakness on Marke's part, the kings decide to part ways with Marke; the alliances are ruined and his wife and son-figure have betrayed him. Marke is at first hurt and furious over their betrayal, but relents after hearing Isolde explain her history with Tristan and offers them the chance to run away together. But Tristan (who tells Isolde that if they elope, they will be remembered for all time as those "whose love brought down a kingdom") chooses instead to stay in England and fight for his king. At the same time, Marke's nephew and Tristan's old friend Melot (Henry Cavill
), angry and resentful of his uncle's long favouring of Tristan and tricked by Wictred's seeming support of him, shows Wictred an old passage into the Roman foundations of Marke's castle that Tristan and Isolde used to carry out their affair. Wictred then fatally stabs Melot and sneaks his army into the castle. Marke and his forces swiftly become pinned down by Donnchadh's army outside the castle and Wictred's men within.
Tristan sneaks back into the castle via the secret tunnel. On the way, he finds the dying Melot: the old friends forgive one another before he dies. Tristan emerges from the tunnel and attacks Wictred's men, allowing Marke's soldiers to secure the castle, but he is mortally wounded in combat by Wictred, though he kills Wictred shortly afterwards. Now outnumbered, Tristan, Marke and the soldiers loyal to him emerge from the castle and present Wictred's severed head to Donnchadh. Marke urges the British kings standing with the Irish to aid them in making Britain a single, free nation: inspired by his words, the British kings and their men attack Donnchadh and his army. As a fierce battle between the British and Irish erupts, Marke carries a dying Tristan to the river, where they are met by Isolde. Marke leaves to lead the British to victory, while Tristan eventually dies in Isolde's arms after uttering his last words of "You were right. I don't know if life is greater than death. But love was more than either." Isolde sees to his burial beneath the ashes of the Roman villa where they had met to be with each other, and plants two willow
s by the grave, which grow intertwined; she then disappears from history and is never seen again. Marke, it is said, defeated the Irish, united Britain, then ruled in peace until the end of his days.
, with a consensus that it was "competent but somewhat static", failing to "achieve the sweeping romanticism that it aims for." 38 of the 119 reviews were favourable. At Metacritic
, the film scored a 49 out of 100 based on 33 reviews, with "mixed or average reviews".
called "The Good-Morrow". John Donne lived in the 16th and 17th century, not in the "Dark Ages" of the time claimed in the movie. The "Dark Ages" is a loose and often controversial term referring to the 5th to 9th century.
The premise of the film based, presumably in the 5th-6th century, on an Irish enslavement of "the tribes of Britain" is not viable. Irish tribes such as the Deisi of Leinster did invade parts of western Britain but were never capable of dominating the whole island.
The map at the start of the second scene is wildly inaccurate, showing Juteland to the north of Rheged
. Longbows were not in use until later in the medieval period.
Dunluce Castle is on the Northern shore of Ireland not as shown.
Circular stone keeps did not make an appearance until late Norman times along with draw-bridges and even later rounded archivolt doorways.
The Irish invade using Scandinavian longships. There is little evidence of clinker boat construction before the arrival of Viking raiders 300 years later.
There is little evidence for the use of stirrups in western Europe until the 8th century at the earliest. (However, many films with historic settings have to use them, anachronistically, for safety and insurance purposes.)
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
film based on the medieval romantic
Romance (genre)
As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a knight errant portrayed as...
legend
Legend
A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude...
of Tristan and Isolde. It was produced by Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott
Sir Ridley Scott is an English film director and producer. His most famous films include The Duellists , Alien , Blade Runner , Legend , Thelma & Louise , G. I...
(who had been working on an adaptation since the mid-seventies) and Tony Scott
Tony Scott
Anthony D. L. "Tony" Scott is an English film director. His films include Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop II, The Last Boy Scout, True Romance, Crimson Tide, Enemy of the State, Spy Game, Man on Fire, Déjà Vu, The Taking of Pelham 123, and Unstoppable...
, directed by Kevin Reynolds and stars James Franco
James Franco
James Edward Franco is an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author, painter, performance artist and instructor at New York University. He left college in order to pursue acting and started off his career by making guest appearances on television series in the 1990s...
and Sophia Myles
Sophia Myles
-Early life:Myles was born in London. She is the daughter of Jane, who works in educational publishing, and Peter Myles, a retired Anglican vicar in Isleworth, west London. Her maternal grandmother was Russian, and she refers to herself as "half-Welsh, half-Russian". She grew up in Notting Hill,...
, with an original music score composed by Anne Dudley
Anne Dudley
Anne Dudley is an English composer and pop musician, and was the first BBC Concert Orchestra's Composer in Association in 2001. She has worked in both the classical and pop genres. She is perhaps best known, however, as one of the core members of the synthpop band Art of Noise and also as a film...
. This was Franchise Pictures
Franchise Pictures
Franchise Pictures LLC was an independent motion picture production and distribution company founded by Elie Samaha and Andrew Stevens. They were known for their production in the action film genre...
' last film before bankruptcy.
Plot
The film is set in Great BritainGreat Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, in the Dark Ages
Dark Ages
The "Dark Ages" is a historical periodization emphasizing the cultural and economic deterioration that supposedly occurred in Europe following the decline of the Roman Empire. The label employs traditional light-versus-darkness imagery to contrast the "darkness" of the period with earlier and later...
, after the fall of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
in the 5th century. Lord Marke
Mark of Cornwall
Mark of Cornwall was a king of Kernow in the early 6th century. He is most famous for his appearance in Arthurian legend as the uncle of Tristan and husband of Iseult, who engage in a secret affair.-The legend:Mark sent Tristan as his proxy to fetch his young bride, the Princess Iseult, from...
of Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
(Rufus Sewell
Rufus Sewell
Rufus Frederik Sewell is an English actor. In film, he has appeared in The Woodlanders, Dangerous Beauty, Dark City, A Knight's Tale, The Illusionist, Tristan and Isolde, and Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence. On television, he starred in the 2010 mini-series The Pillars of the Earth...
) plans to unify the peoples of Britain - Celts, Angles
Angles
The Angles is a modern English term for a Germanic people who took their name from the ancestral cultural region of Angeln, a district located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany...
, Saxons
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
and Jutes
Jutes
The Jutes, Iuti, or Iutæ were a Germanic people who, according to Bede, were one of the three most powerful Germanic peoples of their time, the other two being the Saxons and the Angles...
- under himself as high king
High king
A high king is a king who holds a position of seniority over a group of other kings, without the title of Emperor; compare King of Kings.Rulers who have been termed "high king" include:...
to resist Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
domination. Most lords agree to this, as Marke is highly regarded and respected as a fair and courageous leader. The Irish king Donnchadh (David O'Hara
David O'Hara
David O'Hara is a Scottish actor.-Life and career:O'Hara was born in Glasgow, Scotland, the son of Martha and Patrick O'Hara, a construction worker....
) discovers this and sends troops to attack a Jutish castle where a treaty between the British tribes is being discussed. The raid claims the lives of the castle's lord and his wife, and Marke saves their son Tristan
Tristan
Tristan is one of the main characters of the Tristan and Iseult story, a Cornish hero and one of the Knights of the Round Table featuring in the Matter of Britain...
at the cost of losing a hand. Feeling compassion for the young boy whose father loyally supported him, Marke welcomes Tristan into his home and regards him as a son. Tristan grows to be a fierce, courageous warrior (James Franco
James Franco
James Edward Franco is an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author, painter, performance artist and instructor at New York University. He left college in order to pursue acting and started off his career by making guest appearances on television series in the 1990s...
) whose loyalty to Marke is not that of a knight to his lord, but rather a son to his father.
Tristan and other Cornish warriors launch an attack on an Irish slave caravan: in the battle, he finds himself fighting Morholt, Donnchadh's champion and leader of his army, to whom Princess Isolde (Sophia Myles
Sophia Myles
-Early life:Myles was born in London. She is the daughter of Jane, who works in educational publishing, and Peter Myles, a retired Anglican vicar in Isleworth, west London. Her maternal grandmother was Russian, and she refers to herself as "half-Welsh, half-Russian". She grew up in Notting Hill,...
) has been promised in marriage. Though he kills Morholt and Donnchadh's forces are overrun, Tristan is severely wounded in the fight and believed dead, though he is in fact only suffering the effects of Morholt's poisoned sword.
Tristan's body is put out to sea on a funeral boat
Ship burial
A ship burial or boat grave is a burial in which a ship or boat is used either as a container for the dead and the grave goods, or as a part of the grave goods itself. If the ship is very small, it is called a boat grave...
which eventually washes up along the shores of Ireland. He is discovered by Isolde and her maid Bragnae, who administer an antidote that revives him and then secretly nurse him back to health. Tristan and Isolde fall in love; however, Isolde does not disclose her real name. After some time Tristan is forced to flee to Cornwall. He returns home to a hero's welcome, where a confused but overjoyed Marke welcomes him back with open arms.
Plotting to defeat Britain, Donnchadh proposes a peace treaty, promising his daughter Isolde in marriage to the winner of a tournament. Tristan participates on behalf of King Marke, unaware that the "prize" Isolde is the woman he fell in love with in Ireland. He wins the tournament, only to discover the truth about Isolde and to see her betrothed to Marke.
Although Marke is kind to Isolde, and she grows fond of him, her heart belongs to Tristan. Tristan, in turn, is torn between his love for Isolde and his loyalty to Marke, a man whom he has loved as a father and who saved his life as a child. The couple eventually renew their love and begin an affair behind Marke's back, although they often consider ending it for the sake of their duty to Marke. This affair is discovered by Lord Wictred (Mark Strong
Mark Strong
Mark Strong is an English actor, with a body of work in both films and television. He has performed in films as varied as Body of Lies, Syriana, The Young Victoria, Sherlock Holmes, RocknRolla, Stardust, and Kick-Ass...
), a longstanding dissenter to Marke's leadership. He conspires with Donnchadh to use their love to overthrow Marke, with Wictred getting Marke's throne in exchange.
In Tristan's final attempt to end the relationship, he and Isolde are caught in an awkward situation by all of the British kings. Seeing this as weakness on Marke's part, the kings decide to part ways with Marke; the alliances are ruined and his wife and son-figure have betrayed him. Marke is at first hurt and furious over their betrayal, but relents after hearing Isolde explain her history with Tristan and offers them the chance to run away together. But Tristan (who tells Isolde that if they elope, they will be remembered for all time as those "whose love brought down a kingdom") chooses instead to stay in England and fight for his king. At the same time, Marke's nephew and Tristan's old friend Melot (Henry Cavill
Henry Cavill
Henry William Dalgliesh Cavill is a British actor. He has appeared in the films The Count of Monte Cristo and Stardust, and played the role of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, on the Showtime series The Tudors, from 2007 until 2010...
), angry and resentful of his uncle's long favouring of Tristan and tricked by Wictred's seeming support of him, shows Wictred an old passage into the Roman foundations of Marke's castle that Tristan and Isolde used to carry out their affair. Wictred then fatally stabs Melot and sneaks his army into the castle. Marke and his forces swiftly become pinned down by Donnchadh's army outside the castle and Wictred's men within.
Tristan sneaks back into the castle via the secret tunnel. On the way, he finds the dying Melot: the old friends forgive one another before he dies. Tristan emerges from the tunnel and attacks Wictred's men, allowing Marke's soldiers to secure the castle, but he is mortally wounded in combat by Wictred, though he kills Wictred shortly afterwards. Now outnumbered, Tristan, Marke and the soldiers loyal to him emerge from the castle and present Wictred's severed head to Donnchadh. Marke urges the British kings standing with the Irish to aid them in making Britain a single, free nation: inspired by his words, the British kings and their men attack Donnchadh and his army. As a fierce battle between the British and Irish erupts, Marke carries a dying Tristan to the river, where they are met by Isolde. Marke leaves to lead the British to victory, while Tristan eventually dies in Isolde's arms after uttering his last words of "You were right. I don't know if life is greater than death. But love was more than either." Isolde sees to his burial beneath the ashes of the Roman villa where they had met to be with each other, and plants two willow
Willow
Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...
s by the grave, which grow intertwined; she then disappears from history and is never seen again. Marke, it is said, defeated the Irish, united Britain, then ruled in peace until the end of his days.
Cast
- James FrancoJames FrancoJames Edward Franco is an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author, painter, performance artist and instructor at New York University. He left college in order to pursue acting and started off his career by making guest appearances on television series in the 1990s...
as TristanTristanTristan is one of the main characters of the Tristan and Iseult story, a Cornish hero and one of the Knights of the Round Table featuring in the Matter of Britain... - Thomas SangsterThomas SangsterThomas Brodie Sangster is an English film and television actor, best known for his roles in Love Actually, Nanny McPhee, The Last Legion, and voice of Ferb Fletcher in Phineas and Ferb.-Personal life:...
as Young TristanTristanTristan is one of the main characters of the Tristan and Iseult story, a Cornish hero and one of the Knights of the Round Table featuring in the Matter of Britain... - Sophia MylesSophia Myles-Early life:Myles was born in London. She is the daughter of Jane, who works in educational publishing, and Peter Myles, a retired Anglican vicar in Isleworth, west London. Her maternal grandmother was Russian, and she refers to herself as "half-Welsh, half-Russian". She grew up in Notting Hill,...
as Isolde - Rufus SewellRufus SewellRufus Frederik Sewell is an English actor. In film, he has appeared in The Woodlanders, Dangerous Beauty, Dark City, A Knight's Tale, The Illusionist, Tristan and Isolde, and Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence. On television, he starred in the 2010 mini-series The Pillars of the Earth...
as Lord Marke of CornwallCornwallCornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of... - Mark StrongMark StrongMark Strong is an English actor, with a body of work in both films and television. He has performed in films as varied as Body of Lies, Syriana, The Young Victoria, Sherlock Holmes, RocknRolla, Stardust, and Kick-Ass...
as Lord Wictred - Henry CavillHenry CavillHenry William Dalgliesh Cavill is a British actor. He has appeared in the films The Count of Monte Cristo and Stardust, and played the role of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, on the Showtime series The Tudors, from 2007 until 2010...
as Melot - David O'HaraDavid O'HaraDavid O'Hara is a Scottish actor.-Life and career:O'Hara was born in Glasgow, Scotland, the son of Martha and Patrick O'Hara, a construction worker....
as King Donnchadh - Bronagh GallagherBronagh Gallagher- External links :*...
as Bragnae
Reception
Upon release, the film generally received poor reviews. It received a 32% rating at the review aggregator website Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, with a consensus that it was "competent but somewhat static", failing to "achieve the sweeping romanticism that it aims for." 38 of the 119 reviews were favourable. At Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, the film scored a 49 out of 100 based on 33 reviews, with "mixed or average reviews".
Historical accuracy
The scene in which Isolde reads the love poem to herself and to Tristan is a poem written by John DonneJohn Donne
John Donne 31 March 1631), English poet, satirist, lawyer, and priest, is now considered the preeminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are notable for their strong and sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs,...
called "The Good-Morrow". John Donne lived in the 16th and 17th century, not in the "Dark Ages" of the time claimed in the movie. The "Dark Ages" is a loose and often controversial term referring to the 5th to 9th century.
The premise of the film based, presumably in the 5th-6th century, on an Irish enslavement of "the tribes of Britain" is not viable. Irish tribes such as the Deisi of Leinster did invade parts of western Britain but were never capable of dominating the whole island.
The map at the start of the second scene is wildly inaccurate, showing Juteland to the north of Rheged
Rheged
Rheged is described in poetic sources as one of the kingdoms of the Hen Ogledd , the Brythonic-speaking region of what is now northern England and southern Scotland, during the Early Middle Ages...
. Longbows were not in use until later in the medieval period.
Dunluce Castle is on the Northern shore of Ireland not as shown.
Circular stone keeps did not make an appearance until late Norman times along with draw-bridges and even later rounded archivolt doorways.
The Irish invade using Scandinavian longships. There is little evidence of clinker boat construction before the arrival of Viking raiders 300 years later.
There is little evidence for the use of stirrups in western Europe until the 8th century at the earliest. (However, many films with historic settings have to use them, anachronistically, for safety and insurance purposes.)
Box office
The film opened at number eight for the weekend of January 13, 2006. It grossed $7.85 million in its opening weekend. As of March 30, 2006, the film grossed a total of $14.73 million at the domestic box office.http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=tristanandisolde.htmSee also
- List of historical drama films
- Tristan and IseultTristan and IseultThe legend of Tristan and Iseult is an influential romance and tragedy, retold in numerous sources with as many variations. The tragic story is of the adulterous love between the Cornish knight Tristan and the Irish princess Iseult...
- Late AntiquityLate AntiquityLate Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown proposed...
- List of films based on Arthurian legend
- Celtic mythology in popular cultureCeltic mythology in popular cultureCeltic mythology in popular culture is a common feature in books, movies, television shows, and games. Celtic mythology elements appear many times in these popular culture outlets.- Bloody Bones :*Bloody Bones is the Mattel toy Monster in My Pocket #68....