Product Details

• Actors: Robert Downey Jr., Sam Neill, David Thewlis, Polly Walker (II), Meg Ryan
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Miramax
• DVD Release Date: August 3, 1999
• Run Time: 117 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305428379
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #69,478 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Restoration" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A fantastic premise is utterly blown in this film by director Michael Hoffman and screenwriter Rupert Walters (the two collaborated previously on the winning Some Girls). Robert Downey Jr. plays Robert Merivel, King Charles II's (Sam Neill) spirited young physician in 17th-century England. The king offers to set Merivel up for life in exchange for one small favor: marry the royal mistress (Polly Walker) to provide his highness some cover for his philandering. But Merivel blows it by falling in love with the woman, and he is cast out of his pampered paradise to reinvent himself as a serious man helping victims of the plague beyond the palace's walls. It's a superb notion, and the film looks just terrific, particularly Charles's court, where scientific and artistic innovation flourishes. But somehow the story completely falls apart once Merivel goes on his quest for salvation. The scenes aren't there, the characters are underdeveloped, the drama is clunky. The whole enterprise feels as if an editor tried to salvage a major failure and barely came up with something coherent. --Tom Keogh

Product Description

Meg Ryan (KATE AND LEOPOLD) and Robert Downey Jr. (WONDER BOYS) head a superb cast of stars in this stylish and provocative story of love, power, and seduction! Robert Merivel (Downey) is a young man who seems to have everything ... until a passionate affair leads to scandal, suddenly leaving him heartbroken and penniless. But it's only after losing it all that Merivel discovers who he really is and -- with the love of a beautiful woman (Ryan) -- becomes the man he never dreamed he could be! Also featuring Sam Neill (JURASSIC PARK) and Hugh Grant (NOTTING HILL), this critically acclaimed and entertaining motion picutre won two 1995 Academy Awards(R) for Best Achievement in Art Direction and Costume Design.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The rise, fall & restoration of the physician Robert Merivel, April 21, 2004

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Restoration (DVD)

"Restoration" won a pair of Oscars for Eugenio Zanetti's Art Direction-Set Deocration and James Acheson's Costume Design, and there is a sense in which the spectacular sets threaten to overwhelm the story, which is based on the novel by Rose Tremain. This is a gorgeous film where the camera often takes time to focus on every detail as we are introduced to one spectacular set after another that presents the lavish court of King Charles II, who returned to the English throne following the restoration of the Stuart monarch. As far as period costume dramas go this 1994 film is virtually in a class by itself, and how it was made for only $18 million is beyond belief.

The reason that many viewers may not cotton to this film is that it is one in which we are repeatedly misled as to what the film is above. Even with the hint of the film's title, which is at face value the term used to describe the reign of Charles II, "Restoration" makes more sense retrospectively. However, I liked the idea that my idea of what the film was about kept evolving. After all the times I have sat through predictable films and been ahead of the characters and the plot, I can certainly enjoy trying to keep up with a story for once and being surprised by the twists and turns in the narrative.

The story is about Robert Merivel (Robert Downey Jr.), a young physician of great promise who is summoned to court to attend to a patient at the command of the King (Sam Neill). Merivel succeeds, albeit more through luck than skill, and is appointed to a position in court. Seduced by life in the palace Merivel accepts the position, which means turning his back on his studies and his best friend John Pearce (David Thewlis), a Quaker. However, the King finds another use for Merivel and marries him to his most spirited mistress, Lady Cedlia (Polly Walker). After the lavish wedding Merivel gets a knighthood and a huge country estate, but the one thing that is denied him is sex with his "wife." Having been ordered not to fall in love with Celia, we believe we know what this film is going to be about. However, in that regard we are both right and wrong.

Despite the glamour of Merivel's rise in the first part of this film, it is his fall that produces the true drama. It is a long fall, hard fall, set against the backdrop of two cataclysmic events in the London of that time: the Black Plague and the Great Fire. It is not that Merivel finds himself during these trying times, but rather than he remembers himself. Downey's performance covers a lot of ground. When he is the fool he embraces the role wholeheartedly, but at the end when he has restored to him the most precious thing that he has lost the look on his face is a moment of transcendent joy. Of course, it is impossible to watch this film today and not wish the actor had taken its moral to heart.

I have enjoyed watching this film several times and one of these days I am going to have to read Tremain's novel. I suspect that the screenplay by Rupert Walters is being extremely faithful, but I would also think that Tremain has all sorts of marvelous period details that I would enjoy. Another thing that impresses me about Michael Hoffman's film is that it has Ian McKellen and Meg Ryan in what are essentially small, but pivotal, roles. "Restoration" is a film where you just go along for the ride, enjoy the pretty pictures, and be surprised at the end to discover how far you have come from where you started.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A parallel to the life of Robert Downey, Jr., May 9, 2002

By 

k2 "k2" (Cleveland, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Restoration (DVD)

Here is one of my favorite films and one of the best period pieces of recent years. Occuring during the English Restoration period, it is also the story of a soul's restoration to recognize one's talents and one's destiny. Based on the novel by Rose Tremain, it cuts across the events of the era using the life of the character Robert Merivel, played by Robert Downey, Jr. The beauty of the costumes and art direction was accomplished within a miniscule budget (the total film budget was less than $20 million) but resulted in winning the Oscar for both categories. As always, Mr. Downey Jr. proves that he is one of the top actors in America today. It is a pity that his personal life has been so tragic and yet, here within this film, he portrays an individual bent on self-destruction rather than recognizing and exercising his talents. You want to shout, "Robert, do you watch any of your films?" It is funny, touching and inspiring. Sadly, not a box office smash, but it was a difficult movie to promote. Also, pay attention to the film score, a great combination of classical music of the period and an excellent score by James Newton Howard. And, to Mr. Downey Jr., who I hope can get his personal troubles behind him so that he can enjoy his talents, there is a line for him that is quite appropriate: "Lord, send a light to show Robert the way."

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly good considering the cast., April 18, 2005

By 

J. L Roth "alpha3760" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Restoration (DVD)

I had little hope upon seeing the cast of characters that this movie would prove little more than a sorrowful period piece. I was wrong. This film was excellent. Robert Downey Jr. as the central character was a bit over the top campy at times, but it worked for this piece. He plays a self indulgent physician whose introduction to the viewer comes as he whines about having to treat sick people and has sold his instruments into pawn and is begging his father for the money to get them back. Downey does a fine job as the over indulgent young man who is made a fool by the King and must learn the lessons that his friend, a simple Quaker physician (played surprisingly well by David Thewlis, who himself is normally the nail in the coffin for any movie hoping to be remotely good)and a mad woman (Meg Ryan). It is the performances of the actors and the over all beauty of the film that makes it stand out as exceptional. Sam Neil was delightfully wicked as King Charles II, Meg Ryan was hauntingly memorable as the mad woman whose tragic life is healed by Downey's physician and who teaches him about love, and though it pains one to say it, by David Thewlis whose portrayal of Dr. John Pierce not only makes Downey's transformation into a compassionate human being believable but also is surprisingly good in and of itself. The man who usually looks like he went to the Nathan Lane school of acting, steals much of this movie with a quiet dignity.