Dominic West

Helena Bonham Carter

Sarah Hadland

Lenora Crichlow

Stanley Townsend

Lucille Sharp

Isabella Brazier-Jones

William Hope

Trevor White

Greg Hicks

William Ivory

David Katznelson

John Lunn

Lachlan MacKinnon

Richard Laxton

Susannah Buxton

Ben Collins

Sophia Chowdhury

Stuart Gazzard

Julie Clark

Jenny Shircore

Carol Hemming

Andrew Wood

Susie Figgis

Alex Rouse

Noël Coward

Jessica Pope

John Stevenson

Lucy Cain

Romaine Bowman

Charis Theobald

Drama

TV Movie

Burton and Taylor

BBC America

United Kingdom

CinemaSerf

For a mere $70,000 a week (each), the now sober Richard Burton (Dominic West) is convinced by the not so sober, pill-popping, Elizabeth Taylor (Helena Bonham Carter) to reunite and star in a version of Noêl Coward's "Private Lives". He has other irons in the fire, not least an impending new wife and an opportunity of a lifetime to play "Lear" so isn't so keen but she is persuasive. After almost false-starting on night one, they duly turn up and though the critics absolutely loathe it, the fans initially throughly enjoy what they see as the real lives of these two stars being enthusiastically and acerbically presented using the stage as a conduit for their bickering. Burton is narked that it's his ex-wife fans want to see whilst she selfishly keeps on hitting the bottle. When the audiences do start to dwindle and the show is halted, the pair face the nearest thing either can imagine to a fait accompli - but do they care? It is entertaining at times with both actors looking like they are enjoying this once in a lifetime opportunity to play this torrid partnership with gusto and a tiny bit of venom. Despite their best endeavours, though, it looks like the producers were more concerned about it's rating, and the thing has a sterile tameness that lets it down a bit. They are going through the motions of a vitriolic and addictive relationship but it just doesn't land enough punches - physically or metaphorically. It's watchable, but nothing special at all.

English

Burton and Taylor: TV Trailer - BBC Four