Director: Richard Laxton
Starring: Dominic West, Helena Bonham-Carter
Running Time: 82 minutes
Certificate: 15
To do justice to the tumultuous relationship between Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in 82 minutes is impossible. Fortunately the makers of BURTON AND TAYLOR know this and have chosen to focus this drama on the pairs re-teaming, following two divorces, for ‘Private Lives’ a stage-show produced in 1983. Whilst this works in compacting the pairs relationship for TV purposes it will leave the uneducated a little lost for periods.
Starring Dominic West and Helena Bonham-Carter as the titular pair the strengths of the drama are almost entirely down to them. West is imperious as arguably the greatest actor of all time, placed alongside a fantastically emotional Bonham-Carter and the pair sparkle on-screen together. Sadly when the pair are apart the drama struggles to hit home and results in a meandering feel, the feeling of waiting for the pair to be reunited. The supporting cast are largely anonymous which given the quality of West is understandable – Burton himself would have found it difficult to live with him on this form.
William Ivory does a decent job on the script with smatterings of humour keeping the serious parts rolling on, but even at 82 minutes the piece feels a little long. Ivory seems in a quandry as to how far he wants to go into the past of the pair, with a few flashbacks showing glimpses of a happier time, and he struggles to get a real point across because of these. The drama would have been more intense had he given the audience a mere dribble of looks into Burton and Taylor’s history.
BURTON AND TAYLOR is an enjoyable look at some extraordinary characters but nothing else; what raises this higher is the utterly absorbing and mesmerising performance of Dominic West. West succeeds in proving he is the greatest actor since the man he portrays and anybody who can’t enjoy that doesn’t know how lucky they are.
BURTON AND TAYLOR is released on DVD August 26th
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