Line #2 TearJerker/TheLionInWinter


1	* Alais breaks down and cries in her rival Eleanor's arms and calls her 'Maman', reminding us that Eleanor is also the only mother Alais can remember, as her biological mother [[DeathByChildbirth died birthing her]].
2	* Henry's disowning of his sons is not only disturbing and hard to watch by itself, it also shows Henry [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall very conscious of how he will go down in history]]--and even now, he's self-aware enough to admit [[PyrrhicVictory his victories are embittered by his family's flaws]]:
3	-->Henry II: My life, when it is written, [[WartsAndAll will read better than it lived]]. Henry Fitz-Empress, first Plantagenet, [[YoungConqueror a king at twenty-one]], the ablest soldier of an able time. [[TheGoodKing He led men well, he cared for justice when he could and ruled, for thirty years, a state as great as Charlemagne's]]. He married out of love, a woman out of legend. Not in [[{{UsefulNotes/Cleopatra}} Alexandria]], or [[UsefulNotes/RomanEmpire Rome]], or [[Myth/KingArthur Camelot]] [[TheHighQueen has there been such a queen]]. She bore him many children. But no sons. King Henry had no sons. He had three whiskered things but he disowned them. ''[to his sons]'' You're not mine! We're not connected! I deny you! None of you will get my kingdom! I leave you nothing and I wish you plague! May all your children breach and die!
4	** Before that, the look on Henry's face when he sees that even his beloved John is plotting against him.
5	* Richard's breakdown in Phillip's chamber (the movie version) when he learns that Phillip never loved him. His [[WellDoneSonGuy speech]] to Henry is also heartbreaking: Henry tries to say that he was [[MommasBoy always Eleanor's]], but Richard tearfully shoots this down.
6	--> '''Richard''': You never called me! You never said my ''name''! I'd have walked, I'd have crawled, ''I'd have done anything!''
7	** Similarly, a small moment with, of all people, Geoffrey: he goes to Eleanor and asks her, calmly and precisely, [[TheUnfavorite why she and Henry have never loved him.]] It really lays out that, for as cold and calculating as Geoffrey is, [[FreudianExcuse he's not fully to blame for what he's become.]]
8	--> '''Geoffrey''': It's puzzling. I remember my third birthday. Not just pictures of the garden or the gifts, but who did what to whom, and how it felt. My memory stretches that far back, but never once can I remember anything from you or Father warmer than indifference. [[ArmorPiercingQuestion Why is that?]]
9	* Eleanor finally breaking down in Henry's arms as he tries to comfort her, probably their most peaceful interaction in the whole movie.
10	-->'''Eleanor:''' ''[sobbing]'' I want to die.\
11	'''Henry:''' I'll hold you.
12	* Perhaps saddest of all, there are moments where it's clear that the royal family does still harbor love for each other, but they're all too prideful and hurt to really admit it, and spend nearly the entirety of the plot trying to harm and usurp each other.
13	* When Richard pulls a knife on John, Eleanor snaps and gives a genuinely moving PatrickStewartSpeech, stating in a moment of clarity that they themselves are the cause of war and rot besetting the land and lamenting that they could have such possibilities if they could find it in themselves to just ''love'' each other instead of breeding endless war and hatred. And then, seconds later, she realizes that her sons have given her a weapon against Henry and she throws aside all her clarity and sorrow to seize hatred again with both hands.

Context TearJerker / TheLionInWinter