Burton and Taylor: Liz & Dick Revisited

I never bothered to watch the much-mocked Lifetime movie Liz & Dick about the tempestuous romance of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. From what I read, the acting was terrible but the script was equally bad, attempting to cover too much and offering nothing of substance. Thankfully, the Brits have come to the rescue with Burton and Taylor, a well-produced BBC movie starring none other than Helena Bonham Carter and Dominic West. Perhaps the title alone should be a clue that they were taking their subject matter more seriously.

The immediately clever decision made by the screenwriter, William Ivory, was to contain the story in a very short period in Burton and Taylor's romantic saga. The movie takes place in 1983, well after the couple had been divorced for years and undertaken other (failed) marriages. In the beginning, Burton is visiting Taylor, who is celebrating her 50th birthday. She asks him to consider doing a Broadway production of Noel Coward's Private Lives, and seven months later, they begin rehearsals.

Burton was a well-regarded Shakespearean actor who didn't live up to his potential because of his battle with alcoholism. Taylor, on the other hand, was impossibly famous and flighty, battling a drug addiction that would see her checking into the Betty Ford Clinic a few months after the events of this movie. Her acting style could not be more different from Burton's - he showed up to rehearsals well-prepared, with every line memorized, while she hadn't even read the play. Theirs was a case of "opposites attract"; the film makes it clear that their relationship had become a compulsion between two people who deeply loved each other but didn't know how to be together without imploding.

Burton and Taylor are such well-known figures that any biopic feels like it can only present caricatures of these two actors. Fortunately, Helena Bonham Carter and Dominic West (who are distinctive actors in their own right) are up to the challenge, and half an hour into the movie, I had completely suspended my disbelief. West plays a world-weary Richard Burton, who is trying to move on from Taylor but finds himself continually sucked into her orbit. Carter captures the many contrasts of Elizabeth Taylor, her womanly charm and childish petulance constantly unnerving those around her and providing continual entertainment for the masses. Private Lives was the perfect play for the pair to put on: it seemed to be an insight into their own private lives and the theater was sold out every night just to watch this famous couple in action.

Burton and Taylor is an interesting study of a highly volatile relationship between two incredibly different but passionate actors. It may not present any new information, but it offers a glimpse into their world and tells a good, compact story. With peerless performances from its leads, this is the biopic that Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor deserved.