电影改编自真实历史事件。故事发生在十六世纪，赤坂国王亨利八世（罗伯特·肖 Robert Shaw 饰）爱上了名叫安妮（瓦妮莎·雷德格瑞夫 Vanessa Redgrave 饰）的女子，赤坂他想同王后离婚，却又碍于世俗道德的制约。亨利八世找到了大法官托马斯（保罗·斯科菲尔德 Paul Scofield 饰），他要求托马斯在离婚法令上签字，企图以托马斯的德高望重来减轻自己的负罪。托马斯一生光明磊落，国王的无理要求令极富正义感的他十分困扰，因为他明白，拒绝国王的人注定不会有好下场。在内心良知的引导下，托马斯贯彻了自己的原则，他拒绝签字并辞去了官职，可即便如此，正直的他也最终未能逃脱死于非命的厄运。
回复 :本片改编自罗伯特·哈里斯的国际畅销书。1938 年的秋天，欧洲正处于战争的边缘。阿道夫·希特勒准备入侵捷克斯洛伐克，内维尔·张伯伦政府拼命寻求和平解决方案。眼见局势升温，英国公务员休·莱格特和德国外交官保罗·冯·哈特曼前往慕尼黑参加紧急会议。随着谈判开始，这两位老友发现自己落入了政治诡计布下的巨网，正面临异常的危险。在全世界的注视下，战争能否避免？如果可以，需要付出什么代价？
回复 :年老的劳（沃特尔•马修 饰）有三个女儿，可是他很少与女儿们见面，平常女儿们都只是打电话询问老父亲的情况。身为妇女杂志主编的大女儿乔姬娅（黛安•基顿 饰）每天的工作都非常繁忙，身居要职的她每天都在努力工作；二女儿艾薇（梅格•瑞恩 饰）美丽动人，但也同样与父亲缺少沟通；至于三女儿则是个演员，虽然不是大红大紫，但她仍享受自己的工作。父亲从来都很少照顾女儿们，也很少关心她们的生活，无形中也成为了女儿与父亲之间的隔阂。父亲有自己孤独的晚年生活，女儿们也有各自要忙碌的工作与生活。可是当有一天，三姐妹接到老父亲病倒的消息，都纷纷赶到了父亲的身边……
回复 :The subject of Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub’s Der Tod des Empedokles (The Death of Empedocles, 1987) is the Greek pre-Socratic philosopher Empedocles (c. 490 BC – 430 BC), who lived in the Greek colony of Agrigentum in Sicily. His theories are mentioned in several of Plato’s dialogues. He maintained that all matter is made up of four irreducible elements: water, earth, air and fire. A mystic and a poet, he is considered to be the founder of classical rhetoric. He is also thought to be the last Greek philosopher to write in verse; two fragments of his works survive: Katharmoi (Purifications) and Peri Phuseôs (On Nature). An advocate of democracy, he came into conflict with his fellow citizens of Agrigentum and, as result, was banished with his young disciple, Pausanius. When he was asked to return, he preferred to commit suicide by throwing himself into the active volcano at Mount Aetna.The German writer Friedrich Hölderlin wrote two versions of Der Tod des Empedokles in 1798 and 1800, and a final third version in 1820, all three ultimately unfinished. They were conceived as five-act tragedies and all three differ in plot. According to Michael Hamburger, Hölderlin’s English-language translator,the main reason why Hölderlin finished no version of the play must be that he remained too closely identified with Empedocles, at the very period in his life when his own view of the poet as philosopher, prophet and priest – and as tragic hero – was subject to perpetual crisis and re-examination.Huillet-Straub’s The Death of Empedocles is based on Hölderlin’s first version (the longest of the three), whereas Black Sin is based on the third version.
