He loves Alais for many reasons but they are very...earthy.
She's young, beautiful NOW, could bear him sons, she's a nice pawn.
Yet there is always that connection between the King and Queen.
Then there was Rosamund (sp?) must research her.
Was the movie utterly faithful to the play?
I suppose also one would need to be well versed on that time in history to really separate dramatic fiction from historical "fact."
The trouble is that the recorded history of that era is so slim, we don't have a lot to go on in terms of these people's true feelings and motivations.
We know for a fact that Henry had a long-term affair with Rosamond de Clifford, for example, but we don't know for certain whether he also had an affair with Alais or, as was widely rumored, that she bore him a child. And if he did carry on with Alais, there's no telling whether it was because he fell in love with her, or because she was a cute blonde piece, or whether he simply did it to spite Eleanor and Richard.
As for whether he still loved Eleanor... who knows? Historically I tend to think he did, if only because he kept her alive, albeit in prison, all those years instead of either executing her outright or simply letting her die of neglect. In the play/movie, I think his frustration and spite had more or less completely eclipsed his love for Eleanor, and the only joy he found was in baiting her. Both historically and in the movie, I think Henry realized that Eleanor was more than a match for him in terms of wits, power, and the ability to win people to her side - so I think controlling her and outfoxing her gave him a lot of pleasure.
"Why is it that every time I need to get somewhere I get waylaid by jackassery?"
Thank you for that answer. A lot to think about. It's a trite saying, but the most amazing thing about some history is that it actually happened. No, perhaps not as told, but still remarkable.
shareI think when Henry does that wonderful long speech in the tapestry scene: "My life when it is over will read better than it lived" he is speaking the absolute truth as he sees it, (at least till he gets into the I have no sons tirade) and when he says "He married, for love, a woman out of legend" he truly means it.
It is not our abilities that show who we truly are...it is our choices
In the play, absolutely. He may love Alais, he may have loved Rosamund, but Eleanor is his only equal, and he has shared and continues to share with her memories, feelings and understandings that neither of them can share with anyone else.
In real life, who knows? 12th century chroniclers weren't interested in the individual personalities and feelings of royal personages, only what they did. If Henry and Eleanor had stayed on the throne side by side they would have been written down in the chronicles as a devoted couple, a pattern to all married folk, regardless of what they privately felt or didn't feel for each other.