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In need of Rochester's writing skill,
King Charles II (Malkovich) summons the Earl (Depp) back to London,
retracting his earlier banishment. As in life, Rochester is shown
carrying on with his friends, the Merry Gang, including George Etherege
(Hollander) and Charles
Sackville (Vegas). On his way back to the court, Rochester
comes across a thief, Alcock (Coyle), and hires him as his gentleman on
the spot. For one of his first social engagements in London, he takes
in a play featuring Elizabeth Barry (Morton), who is booed off the
stage and fired by the company. Rochester is taken with Barry and bets
Etherege that he can make her a renowned actress in a year's time. As
when Rochester met Barry in reality, he immediately begins to tutor her
and they fall in love.
Meanwhile, Charles asks Rochester to
write a great work about him, to bolster his legacy as king. Barry
delivers a brilliant performance at her next play and Etherege pays off
his debt to Rochester. The king pays Barry to spy on Rochester to keep
track of his progress. Billy Downs (Friend) joins the Merry Gang, and
becomes a close friend of Rochester's. Charles, in need of money from
France, asks Rochester to write an extravagant play in honor of the
French Ambassador's visit, hoping it will impress the Ambassador to
lend his support. Instead, Rochester writes Sodom,
which involves nude actors, phallic imagery, the distribution of ornate
dildos, and a scathing criticism of the King, played by Rochester
himself. Outraged, Charles interrupts the play and Rochester flees.
Rochester continues to slide into debauchery, creating a skirmish
outside a house of prostitution that leads to Downs' death.
For six months Rochester escapes the
scrutiny of the King while suffering the effects of syphilis. Hiding in
the English countryside under the pseudonym of Doctor Bendo with the
help of Alcock and Jane, his concubine
and confidant. Rochester conceals his facial gummata beneath a mask and
peddles medical services. Eventually he is found, but instead of any
capital punishment, the King decides a worse fate would be to ignore
him, in his words, “condemning you to be you for the rest of
your days”. He returns to his wife (Pike) and his home, where
his mother convinces him to renounce his atheism and accept
Christianity.
In the meantime, Charles' unpopular
support of Roman Catholicism in
England has led to his political beating in Parliament. He
is unable to conceive any heirs with his wife, and so it is feared that
his Catholic brother, James,
Duke of York, will become king. Parliament introduced the
Exclusion Bill to deny James the throne which seemed sure to pass by 15
votes. Rochester makes a dramatic entrance into Parliament, wearing a
silver nosepiece and heavy pancake makeup to conceal the ravages of
syphilis and hobbling on two canes, and eloquently denounces the Bill.
As Rochester walks off, the subsequent vote kills the bill by over 40
votes. He goes to see Barry who reveals they had a daughter together,
yet she rejects him. He returns to his home to his deathbed. Recalling
fond memories, he dies with his wife, mother, and Alcock by his side.
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