Was the Duke of Cornwall showing off his wife as a way of innocent entertainment, but accidentally led Uther to try and take his wife? Or was it a way to provoke Uther into breaking the truce that Cornwall had no intention of keeping? Plus it is obvious that Cornwall's family, including Morgana and Mordred, cause the major conflicts of the story, so one may wonder if he himself got into it.
Did Uryens decide on his own not to strike down Arthur with Excalibur when given the chance, or did Excalibur's magic influence him somehow? He says that Arthur's courage made him believe in Arthur as Uther's son and thus the rightful king, but the sword's magic still could have played its part. Before he makes his choice clear, was he just shaking with emotion, or was the sword making him do that? (In reality, the actor was shaking from the cold water.) The later adaptation Merlin (1998) riffed on/homaged this scene and explicitly had Excalibur's magic influencing the rival lord (this time, Gawain's father Lot) to submit. note Lot stops mid-swing, the soundtrack focuses on Excalibur's otherworldly ringing while he looks awed and humbled, and he quietly asks Arthur to forgive him as he can "feel it", then loudly proclaims that Arthur is king "by blood and by right".
Was Lancelot really the greatest Knight of the Round Table as Arthur claims he is, or a Designated Hero with good publicity? Standing up for Guinevere was as much about saving his own hide as it was saving hers (even before They Did It). Hell, when you think about it he doesn't actually do anything heroic — he seems to be respected for his temperament and chivalry — at least until the very end of the film when he arrives — unrecognizable as a fat ugly bearded old man rather than the dashingly handsome athletic knight he was in his youth — and helps Arthur and his knights defeat the forces of Mordred.
Related to the above, was Perceval the actual truest hero of the movie and greatest Knight of the Round Table all along? Despite not having Lancelot's renown, good looks and martial prowess, by contrast to Lancelot Perceval was not off hiding in the woods, but rather Jumped at the Call to champion for Guinevere when nobody else would, even without having proper armor and being a squire against a fearsome opponent like Gawain. He goes on to be the sole surviving Grail knight who spends many years searching for it, remains loyal to the ailing Arthur at his worst, through thick and thin, and manages to resist Morgana's temptations unlike many of his brothers and survive her attempt to execute him. He is the one who succeeds in finding and proving worthy of the Holy Grail, and restores Arthur and the land with him, saving the day... a land ruined thanks to the selfish, disloyal actions of Lancelot in the first place, who refused to help him when Perceval asked him to, leaving his former squire for dead and preaching about how the land descending into chaos was Arthur's fault instead of his own. In the end Perceval rides alongside Arthur from the start instead of showing up for the battle at the last minute, tries to fight Mordred directly to defend his king and has to be stopped by him, is the Sole Survivor of the Round Table, and the one through whom the legend of Camelot will be told to the future generations to come, and still Arthur claims Lancelot was the greatest knight.
Were Guinevere and Lancelot really in love with each other, or were they both Loving a Shadow? The film hints that the affair is driven by Guinevere's wish for a husband who can love her first while Arthur's first duty will always be to the realm and she seeks to feel something she knows she can never have with the king.
Aluminum Christmas Trees: Find it unusual that Morgana sleeps in the same room as her mother, despite being four or five years old? Up until the 1800s, it was quite usual in Europe for entire families to sleep in the same bedroom, if a house even had divided rooms at all.
Awesome Music: Let's see: one third of the background music consists of various excerpts from Richard Wagner's operas, another third consists of O Fortuna, and the last third is composed by Trevor Jones (who you might remember as the guy who composed the score of The Dark Crystal and The Last of the Mohicans).
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The viewer might be mildly confused by a random scene in Camelot where several naked children are dancing in a circle. This element, like many other things in the film, is a remnant from John Boorman's failed attempt to adapt The Lord of the Rings, where the children would have been part of the hobbits' hallucinations after eating some bad mushrooms.
Complete Monster: Mordred is the cursed child born by Morgana's enchanted seduction of her half-brother King Arthur Pendragon. Delighted in his unholy being blighting Camelot, Mordred grows to lure knights seeking the Holy Grail to save the land to his mother to be corrupted. Mordred has any who resist hanged slowly to die as they are feasted on by crows. Obsessed with becoming King, Mordred wipes out the domains of any knights who refuse to join him, and when Morgana loses her magic, angrily strangles her to death before battling Arthur, seeking to kill him and rule Camelot supreme.
Cry for the Devil: Morgana's final scene with Merlin can invoke some pathos, as her expression is reminiscent of a confused child as he shows her the depths to which magic can be used while tricking her into undoing her sorcery. She's got a sympathetic past and Merlin's cold show of power reminding her what he did to her parents as he tricks her into losing her powers can certainly lend some sympathy to the villain. This is followed up by her being murdered by her own son.
Morgana has the right to hate Uther and Merlin and her Freudian Excuse does explain why she's out to destroy Camelot. Helen Mirren's performance is also a highlight of the film and many audience members see her as a completely justified character. While she is a Tragic Villain, she does take things quite far with her own rape of the innocent Arthur and later enjoying the widespread suffering of Camelot's peasants who had absolutely nothing to do with her pain.
Mordred himself can be painted as a troubled young man with conflicted feelings towards his father going by comments about the character on the internet. This is despite him being a wrathful child who expresses nothing but contempt for his dad and whose motivation is only ever indicated to be a lust for power.
Evil Is Cool: Morgana's schemes for Camelot amount to nothing less than its total destruction but she's got a sad past, fun series of schemes and is played greatly by Helen Mirren, often cited as a highlight of the film even as she's driving the conflict, she is a fascinating, complex antagonist.
Faux Symbolism: The movie is chock-full of symbols referring to Celtic paganism and Christian mysticism.
And sex. Don't forget about sex. The film is loaded with sexual imagery and metaphors.
Fridge Logic: Naked with armor right up against her bare skin when she's next to a huge roaring fire, and Igraine doesn't feel a damn thing?
The final duel between Arthur and Mordred plays out exactly the opposite of the way it is described in Le Morted Arthur, with Mordred striking first and Arthur pulling himself down his son's spear to land the fatal blow.
In Le Morted Arthur, just before the battle of Camlann Arthur dreams of the Wheel of Fortune bringing men and empires from glory to ruin. That is exactly what the lyrics of O Fortuna, which plays several times in the movie and most importantly while the king and his knights are riding to the final battle, are about.
Jerkass Woobie: Morgana could be seen as this, and a little bit of Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds as well. She does some truly horrible and despicable things throughout the film in her quest to get revenge on Merlin, but then again Merlin's machinations destroyed her life — her father was murdered, her mother basically raped by a war lord with delusions of grandeur, and God knows what happened to her and her mother after said war lord, Uther, who seemed intent on taking over their lands, died not long after and her half brother taken from them.
Uther and Merlin both get one early on when Uther rapes Igrayne with Merlin's help. While Merlin decides this proves Uther isn't the king he'd envisioned for Camelot, Uther's only genuine care is for his son born from the union and even dies selfishly plunging Excalibur into rock to deny the nation its king.
Morgana herself is rightfully pissed with Merlin and his realm, her own vengeful scheming leads to her crossing the line when she pulls her own Bed Trick to seduce the innocent King Arthur, birthing the unholy, inbred Mordred and blighting the lands.
Mordred himself introduces himself as pure evil when he shows he's been hanging Arthur's quest knights seeking the Grail to die being pecked apart by crows and just keeps getting worse, with none of the redeeming qualities of his mother or grandfather.
Lots of it, but who can forget a half dead Lancelot beating Gawain (played by big rugged manly Liam Neeson in his film debut) in one of the most poorly choreographed fights of all time? Or Lancelot looking like a bloated Gandalf at the end? Or Lancelot's nightmare where he's naked and fighting his living suit of armor — and the armor seemingly tries to castrate him?
Some of the stunningly bad dubbing can get like this, especially the young Mordred.
Mordred's Armor looked even more narmish with the chestplate having nipples and a belly button. Probably inspired by classical Greco-Roman muscle armor and statues... exactly like Batman Forever and Batman & Robin's infamous Bat-nipples.
The Knights of the Round are quite devoted to their 24-Hour Armor and a fine banquet in which Arthur and his men wear their combat gear, while the women are in fine dresses, looks quite silly.
Romantic Plot Tumor: Some see the Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot triangle as this. Reportedly, there were more scenes (one of which made it into the trailer) but they weren't used.
Katrine Boorman is John Boorman's daughter. He directed the scene where she's naked and being raped. Boorman claimed in his audio commentary that he and Katrine were both cool with it because they both knew it wasn't real — but that doesn't stop people from asking him what it felt like to direct his daughter in a rape scene.
Most of the imagery and themes surrounding Igraine are pretty creepy, and moreso knowing that — witness the rhythmic, sexual thumping of tables with daggers during the dance scene, and the following scene of grunting knights slamming a battering ram against the doors of the castle, her dancing alone being said to turn Uther on so much he has to have her. Yes, folks, Boorman turned his daughter into basically the Dark Ages version of an exotic dancer, on film.
Strangled by the Red String: The Guinevere/Lancelot half of the Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot triangle (see Romantic Plot Tumor) could be seen as this, not so much for in-universe length of time (they actually knew each other for years before giving in to their lust, or at least presumably a couple of years pass between their first meeting to them finally consummating), but due to lack of screen time devoted to developing the attraction.
Special Effect Failure: Lancelot's lance doesn't exactly cleave in half where Arthur strikes it with Excalibur.
