Live stream preview

Watch this video and more on BFI Player Classics

Watch this video and more on BFI Player Classics

Start your free trial Learn more

Already subscribed? Sign in

The Lion in Winter

Period & History • Drama, History, PG

Christmas 1183. An elderly King Henry the Second (Peter O'Toole) is torn over naming his successor. He wants the young Prince John (Nigel Terry), one of his three sons, to take over, however, his wife Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (Katherine Hepburn) wants another of his sons, Prince Richard the Lionheart (Anthony Hopkins), to take the throne. Perilous plotting provides ever-rising tension in this expertly crafted historical drama.

Tags
Family, Christmas, Monarchy
Cast
Peter O'Toole King Henry II
Katharine Hepburn Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine
Timothy Dalton King Philip II of France
Anthony Hopkins Prince Richard
Crew
Anthony Harvey director

Up Next in Period & History

  • Elenya
    1:18:08
    Elenya

    Elenya

    In Wales during World War Two, a German airman crash-lands in a wood and is found by 12-year-old Elenya. She decides to keep him a secret and does so for as long as she can until finally the village learns the truth, with tragic consequences.

  • The Song of the Shirt
    2:09:09
    The Song of the Shirt

    The Song of the Shirt

    The plight of women in the 1840s London rag trade is explored and deconstructed. Informed by experimental film practice and evoking a serialised Victorian novel, this unusual film investigates the effects of protectionist ‘philanthropy' in the sweatshop-style London clothes trade using contempor...

  • Gothic
    1:27:15
    Gothic

    Gothic

    Lord Byron (Gabriel Byrne) promises his guests a night of horror only a mad poet can deliver and after partaking in hallucinogens, the guests tell ghost stories while exploring the dark corridors of his home - and of their minds. If any director is suited to retelling the wild night that conjured...

×