Korol Lir (1970)
(King Lear)
Country: USSR
Technical: bw/scope 140m
Director: Grigori Kozintsev, Iosif Shapiro
Cast: Jüri Järvet, Regimantas Adomaitis, Oleg Dal, Valentina Shendrikova
Synopsis:
Seeking a life of retirement in his declining years, Lear divides his lands between his three daughters, or rather two daughters when one of them is not up to the glib and oily art of asking nicely. Having thus introduced division in his kingdom, he watches as it descends into chaos, and loses his reason. Meanwhile the household of one of his loyal courtiers suffers a similar fate.
Review:
Surely Shakespeare's most terrifying and moving tragedy, perhaps because it is so believable, and so there is something appropriate about a Soviet version, which needless to say keeps fully subtextual any suggestion that Lear is like Lenin's Party, riven by factions and leading to famine and terror... Kozintsev's film is wild and elemental, deploying its locations and Shostakovich's music with ferocity to underscore the themes of rash action, poverty and legitimacy.
(King Lear)
Country: USSR
Technical: bw/scope 140m
Director: Grigori Kozintsev, Iosif Shapiro
Cast: Jüri Järvet, Regimantas Adomaitis, Oleg Dal, Valentina Shendrikova
Synopsis:
Seeking a life of retirement in his declining years, Lear divides his lands between his three daughters, or rather two daughters when one of them is not up to the glib and oily art of asking nicely. Having thus introduced division in his kingdom, he watches as it descends into chaos, and loses his reason. Meanwhile the household of one of his loyal courtiers suffers a similar fate.
Review:
Surely Shakespeare's most terrifying and moving tragedy, perhaps because it is so believable, and so there is something appropriate about a Soviet version, which needless to say keeps fully subtextual any suggestion that Lear is like Lenin's Party, riven by factions and leading to famine and terror... Kozintsev's film is wild and elemental, deploying its locations and Shostakovich's music with ferocity to underscore the themes of rash action, poverty and legitimacy.
(King Lear)
Country: USSR
Technical: bw/scope 140m
Director: Grigori Kozintsev, Iosif Shapiro
Cast: Jüri Järvet, Regimantas Adomaitis, Oleg Dal, Valentina Shendrikova
Synopsis:
Seeking a life of retirement in his declining years, Lear divides his lands between his three daughters, or rather two daughters when one of them is not up to the glib and oily art of asking nicely. Having thus introduced division in his kingdom, he watches as it descends into chaos, and loses his reason. Meanwhile the household of one of his loyal courtiers suffers a similar fate.
Review:
Surely Shakespeare's most terrifying and moving tragedy, perhaps because it is so believable, and so there is something appropriate about a Soviet version, which needless to say keeps fully subtextual any suggestion that Lear is like Lenin's Party, riven by factions and leading to famine and terror... Kozintsev's film is wild and elemental, deploying its locations and Shostakovich's music with ferocity to underscore the themes of rash action, poverty and legitimacy.