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King Lear

Directed by Peter Brook

King Lear

Directed by Grigori Kozintsev
Screening on Film
  • King Lear

    Directed by Peter Brook.
    With Cyril Cusack, Susan Engel, Tom Fleming.
    UK/Denmark, 1971, 35mm, color, 137 min.
    Print source: HFA

Based on Peter Brook's famous stage production of the tragedy, this film is considered one of the best cinematic renditions of any Shakespeare play. The interior sequences exemplify the great director's sense of dramatic space while the exterior scenes (shot in freezing Jutland) enhance the dramatic conflict through the authentic atmosphere. Numerous masters of the British stage perform their parts with unusual emotional power and expressive means suitable for the camera.

  • King Lear (Korol Lir)

    Directed by Grigori Kozintsev.
    With Jüri Järvet, Elza Radzina, Valentina Shendrikova.
    USSR, 1969, 35mm, black & white, 139 min.
    Russian with English subtitles.
    Print source: HFA

Grigori Kozintsev, who earlier adapted William Shakespeare's Hamlet, constructs a stark, expressionistic version of the Bard's great family tragedy, King Lear. Jüri Järvet gives one of the more energetic performances in the title role, as the aging monarch who betrays his most loyal daughter, Cordelia (Shendrikova). The film was based on Dr. Zhivago author Boris Pasternak's Russian translation of Shakespeare's play, and features a score by Shostakovich.

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