An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Restoration is a period drama adapted from a novel by Rose Tremain and is directed by Micheal Hoffman. This probably is one of the most overlooked gems in period movies. This movie is visually enchanting replete with lavish costumes and is therefore not surprising to know that this movie had won 2 Oscars – Art direction & Costume Design.Restoration focuses on the gloomy aspects of the era life poverty, illness, medicine and the way of living during those times. This is a movie where you need to listen and absorb. You would enjoy it better watching it alone or with like-minded people. The story revolves around Robert Merivel, (Robert Downey Jr) who is a doctor during the reign of King Charles II (Sam Neil). He longs for the good life at the King's court and achieves it after successfully treating & saving His Majesty's royal dog. On gaining the King's favour Merival gives in completely to the rich life and all that it brings with it. This until he make a deal with the King and is married off to His mistress on the condition that Merivel is not to fall in fall with her. However he does do the one thing that is forbidden of him and ends up losing the King's favour. We are taken on a journey to two worlds; one of luxury another modest. We see how Downey lives in both of them. He returns to work with his Quaker friend John Pearce, (David Thewlis) at a mental institution where he meets and impregnates an Irish cuckold (Meg Ryan). However, when she gives in childbirth, he takes it upon himself to help cure London of the plague. He gets caught in the Great Fire of 1666 where he is left to believe that all is lost. Fate, however, has other plans. Downey has pulled off the English accent very proficiently. He looks foppish in curls and his short trousers & pulled off the transformation in Merival's outlook with élan. It most certainly was a moving performance and strikes a chord within you. This was the time when Downey was in war with his own personal demons in substance abuse. He does not look healthy but, the role fits his worn-down appearance and brings to life Merivel. I can't imagine any other actor playing Merivel. The rest of the cast slid into their roles perfectly.

"Restoration" was a "costume" drama that received decent reviews, but abysmal box-office upon its release in 1995. Its costume and set-design were clearly Oscar-bait and it was rewarded for its efforts by winning Oscars in those categories. However, the film itself has been relatively forgotten.The plot: In 1663 England, young Dr. Robert Merivel (Robert Downey, Jr.) works alongside his colleague and friend, Dr. John Pearce (David Thewlis), in an overcrowded, underfunded, and run-down London hospital. While considered by his father, a glove-maker, and Pearce as being capable of being an outstanding physician due to a "gift" for healing, Merivel is unhappy as to his station in life. Young and more than a bit frivolous and shallow, Merivel enjoys life away from the hospital with wine and women and bemoans his medical duties taking him away from the "color" of life. Yet, a chance encounter with the restored king, Charles II (Sam Neil), leads to Merivel being swept away to that Merry Monarch's court where seemingly all of his dreams of having luxurious, decadent life free from stress and suffering come true. At the king's court, a sex-and-alcohol besotted and sumptuously dressed Merivel acts the fool for the seemingly easy-going king thinking it pleases him. And Merivel does please the king until he doesn't.Merivel becomes a pawn in one of Charles' romantic imbroglios between his many mistresses. Despite being rewarded handsomely to play ball, Merivel refuses to be a pawn and finds himself exiled from court. It's as if he was exiled from paradise. And he struggles to come to terms with its loss. Yet, with the aide and support of his friend, Pearce; the maturation that comes from becoming a father; and the discovery that he truly does have a "gift" as a physician; leads to a "restoration" of a broken boy into a truly decent man. Merivel's medical "gift" is actually his having a very practical mind that leads him to question some of the superstitious beliefs that passed for medicine in that era. His courage and skill as a physician is tested and proved by the 1665 Great Plague of London and once again captures the attention of Charles II...."Restoration" works as a film because of the terrific performance of Robert Downey, Jr. who brilliantly and believably portrays Merivel's rather stunning transformation from boy to man. At the time, Downey was beset with his own many personal demons as to substance abuse and he doesn't look healthy. However, Downey's rather worn-down appearance actually fits Merivel's dissolute character very well.He's joined by a terrific Sam Neill as Charles II. A shrewd king who has no problem using people for his own selfish ends, but also one that is not unkindly. Ian McKellan has a small role as a loyal servant. David Thewlis does an excellent job as the devout Quaker doctor, Pearce, who repeatedly tries to steer Merivel to his true calling. And, finally, Hugh Grant has a small, but memorable part as a conniving and unctuous court painter who tangles with Merivel.Unfortunately, "Restoration" has one massive miscasting: Meg Ryan as "Katherine," the abandoned Irish wife of an English soldier who becomes Merivel's lover and the mother of his child. It's not hard to understand why Ryan was cast: she was big star in 1995 and "Restoration" needed star power to help with the box-office. However, she's too lightweight of an actor to carry the part, does too many of her infamous "cutisms" that worked in her romantic-comedies but are out-of-place in a period film, and the Lucky Charms Irish accent also didn't help. The fact that "Restoration" still bombed at the box-office despite having Ryan must have made her miscasting an even crueler blow to the films' producers.Overall: "Restoration" isn't for everyone. It can come across as a fairly slow-moving and episodic costume drama. However, I like stories of rebirth and redemption and this is a very good one. Also, Downey is terrific. Not many actors could have recovered from his personal pratfalls, but Downey did because he's a truly outstanding talent and that talent shines through in this film.

You take a risk in filming any book, but here we have one of these fat simple books that flow easily and have simple substance. Its targeted at the sorts of things that appeal to romance readers: redemption, a hostile world, love, discovered honor. The book is a cartoon with faux travails from a lurid homeworld. If you were going to make a film of this without changing the book very much, and targeting the same audience as the book. You couldn't turn the story into something interesting, true or valuable. You couldn't make these characters matter. Lucky, because the director is incapable of doing so.What you could do is be lush. You'd create a home world that is lurid, with the earth sexually excited. You'd have full reds in a tumescent space (and rainy greys in contrast). You'd have novel ornamentation, excessive costumes. That's what we have here. As with other commentors, I say that the only thing interesting here are those sets. In this case, two women anchor and become part of the sets: one dark redheaded and one light. Oddly, neither are photographed as beautifully as they have been elsewhere.What's interesting is how our set designer has folded the sets. You can't have an intelligent introspected story because the book is so pedestrian . But you can have folded sets. We have a wall of receding arches that is really a tapestry through which the king enters. We have a model of London, in which the king and our hero meet. And the best of all, we have an Orrery with the king at its center. An Orrery, if you don't know it is a mechanical model of the solar system. Its a marvelous thing, and has an iconic meaning in films where it is used. I collect these images because they are so few and deep. This is the loveliest I know.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

Mainly a biography of a lustful doctor, "Robert Merivel ," (Robert Downey) who has his way in the king's palace for the first half of the film and then helps out the downtrodden in the second half, mainly "Katharine" (Meg Ryan).The GOOD - Fantastic set decoration (i.e. the lush king's palace) and costuming make this a visual treat. The language is also very tame. Ian McKellen and Hugh Grant provide interesting support.The BAD - After 50-60 minutes, this movie simply gets too boring. It desperately needed to be given some spark after an hour but it does the opposite: it drags on and on. The script certainly needed some badly-needed "restoration," shall we say? The film may look nice but it's a long two hours to sit through.....too long.