Taglines: In a world of seduction and power, temptation has its price.
Restoration movie storyline. An aspiring young physician, Robert Merivel found himself in the service of King Charles II and saves the life of a spaniel dear to the King. Merivel joins the King’s court and lives the high life provided to someone of his position. Merivel is ordered to marry one of the King’s mistresses in order to divert the suspicions of another one of his mistresses. He is given one order by the king and that is not to fall in love.
The situation worsens when Merivel finds himself in love with his new wife. Eventually, the King finds out and relieves Merivel of his position and wealth. His fall from grace leaves Merivel where he first started. And through his travels and reunions with an old friend, he rediscovers his love for true medicine and what it really means to be a physician.
Restoration is a 1995 American historical drama film directed by Michael Hoffman. It stars Robert Downey, Jr. as a 17th-century medical student exploited by the king. The film, which is based on the novel of the same title by Rose Tremain, was filmed in Wales and won two Academy Awards.
About the Story
A young doctor, Robert Merivel (Robert Downey, Jr.), enters the service of King Charles II of England (Sam Neill) after having saved the King’s favorite spaniel. Merivel finds himself enjoying a life of debauched pleasure and popularity at court, until the King informs him that he has arranged for Merivel to wed Celia (Polly Walker), the King’s favorite mistress.
The purpose of the arranged marriage is to fool another of the King’s mistresses. Merivel is given an estate named Bidnold in Suffolk, and Celia is installed in a house in Kew where the king can visit her secretly. Merivel lives a life of debauchery there, but also finds pleasure in restoring the house to its former beauty with the support of Will Gates (Ian McKellen), the man who runs the estate.
However, things become complicated when Merivel breaks the King’s cardinal rule by falling in love with Celia. Elias Finn (Hugh Grant), a painter commissioned by the King to paint a portrait of Celia, tricks Merivel into revealing his romantic feelings for Celia, who does not return Merivel’s affections. After finding out about Merivel’s romantic feelings toward Celia, the King banishes him from court back to his life as a physician.
Merivel rejoins his old friend, John Pearce (David Thewlis), who has opened a Quaker sanitarium. There, Merivel meets Katherine (Meg Ryan), a troubled young woman whose husband walked out on her after their daughter drowned in the river. Merivel and Katherine become lovers. Pearce falls fatally ill with consumption, and while Merivel is tending to his dying friend, they discover that Katherine is pregnant with Merivel’s child. After the death of Pearce, Merivel and Katherine leave.
The pair returns to London just as the Great Plague has hit. Katherine gives birth to a daughter, Margaret, via Caesarean section, but dies in the process as there is no way to ward off infection once the body has been cut open. In her dying moments, Merivel promises Katherine that he will care for Margaret, and that he loves Katherine.
As the plague continues to kill the people of London, Merivel feels compelled to do what he can as a physician. He leaves Margaret with a midwife who promises to care of her in his absence, and goes out into the city, separating the sick from the well, who have all been quarantined together, and does what he can to ease the suffering of the dying.
When someone asks for Merivel’s name, he says he is John Pearce, as a tribute to his friend. Under this misnomer and in disguise, Merivel is once again summoned to the palace. The King fears that Celia has contracted the plague. Merivel soon assures him that she does not have the plague, but rather has a treatable fever and is with child. With this, Merivel realizes the life he has now is more rewarding and fulfilling than the life and loves at the court he left behind.
Restoration (1995)
Directed by: Michael Hoffman
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Sam Neill, Meg Ryan, David Thewlis, Polly Walker, Ian McKellen, Hugh Grant, Sandy McDade, Rosalind Bennett, Benjamin Whitrow
Screenplay by: Rupert Walters
Production Design by: Eugenio Zanetti
Cinematography by: Oliver Stapleton
Film Editing by: Garth Craven
Costume Design by: James Acheson
Set Decoration by: Mark Jury, Eugenio Zanetti
Art Direction by: Alan Cassie, Jonathan Lee, Lucy Richardson
Music by: James Newton Howard
MPAA Rating: R for sexuality,
Distributed by: Miramax Films
Release Date: December 29, 1995
Hits: 175
