“The Libertine” proves to be an addictive indie flick full of lies, deception and the lesson that despite what one may go through in the fast fall from grace, those who truly love you will never leave your side.

“The Libertine” was first released in 2004 on November 23, and was directed by Laurence Dunmore. Despite it starring A-list celebrity, Johnny Depp, it’s amazing how few people know of its existence. The movie cost $20 million to make and only made about $11 million in the box office.

It’s about a man named John Wilmot, the second Earl of Rochester. From the beginning of the movie he cautions the viewers not to like him. He alerts them that he is a man who suffers from a lot of addictions. He over indulges in all things vulgar and high-risk.

He started out as a precocious teenager who pushed the King’s buttons so much, it ended in his banishment. That banishment was supposed to be in effect for a full year, King Charles II retracts it after just three months. He is brought back to London where he attends a play with his group of friends.

It’s at that play where Wilmot meets and falls in love with a new actress, named Elizabeth Barry. Wilmot approaches her backstage after securing her re-employment with the playhouse after she was just fired, and offers to coach her in her craft. He admits to not knowing anything about acting, but he understands much in the ways of suffering. She accepts his offer, reluctantly.

It’s never really made clear where that suffering stems from, it’s just understood that he’s always been running from something and he continues to run until the very end of the movie. His poor decision making catches up to him at some point, and Wilmot contracts syphilis from his poor behavior.

Just before he succumbs to his illness, he learns he fathered a daughter with Elizabeth Barry. Barry tells him she never wanted to marry him, admitting that there was a time when she loved him, but he was too unreliable to foster anything real with him. She never saw a future with him. Crushed, and disappointed he returns home, where he learns that even after everything he’s put her through, his wife has always and still does love him.

Though he warns the viewers of his raucous behavior at the beginning of the movie, one finds themselves sympathizing with him anyway. Underneath all of the horrible things he’s done, there was something even more wrong, with him, and at the end the audience is left feeling something, be it anger, sadness, violation. There’s always something to take from it.

The film is literally about watching this man fall from grace and unravel. Yes, he does horrible things, yes he cheats on his wife and yes he was going to wind up sick in the end, but there’s still something so unfortunate about his fate. It’s hard to resist sympathizing with someone when they’re portrayed almost as a victim. Wilmot starts out with so much to his name. Power and, although his public might disagree; dignity.

The acting was phenomenal, though its plot was so simple and centered around one man’s demons, it may have been the acting that made it so much more resonating at the end. Johnny Depp doesn’t really do movies like this anymore, and it’s an absolute tragedy that he doesn’t. He’s an amazing actor, and this movie clinches it. It’s impossible to really pinpoint how and where this movie’s charm comes from, but its presence here is undeniable.