Korol Lir (1971)

User Rating:

8.5/10   

Directors:

Grigori Kozintsev
Iosif Shapiro (co-director)

Writers:

Grigori Kozintsev (writer)
Boris Pasternak (Russian translation, 1949)

Release Date:

6 August 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

King Lear, old and tired, divides his kingdom among his daughters, giving great importance to their protestations of love for him...

Plot Keywords:

Foreign Language Adaptation | William Shakespeare | Shakespeare's King Lear | Based On Play | Character Name In Title

Cast

Jüri Järvet	...	King Lear (as Yuri Yarvet)
Elza Radzina	...	Goneril (as E. Radzina)
Galina Volchek	...	Regan (as G. Volchek)
Valentina Shendrikova	...	Cordelia (as V. Shendrikova)
Oleg Dal	...	Fool (as O. Dal)
Karlis Sebris	...	Gloster (as K. Sebris)
Leonhard Merzin	...	Edgar (as L. Merzin)
Regimantas Adomaitis	...	Edmund (as R. Adomaytis)
Vladimir Yemelyanov	...	Kent (as V. Yemelyanov)
Aleksandr Vokach	...	Cornwall (as A. Vokach)
Donatas Banionis	...	Albany (as D. Banionis)
Aleksei Petrenko	...	Oswald (as A. Petrenko)
Juozas Budraitis	...	King of France (as I. Budraytis)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Roman Gromadsky		(as R. Gromadsky)
Nikolai Kuzmin		(as N. Kuzmin)
Ants Lauter		(as A. Lauter)
Ignat Leirer		(as I. Leyrer)
Konstantin Tyagunov		(as K. Tyagunov)

Also Known As:

Король Лир (Soviet Union: Russian title)
King Lear (USA)

Runtime:

139 min

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:S

Company:

Lenfilm Studio

Movie Connections:

Featured in A Different Loyalty (2004)

Little Known Masterpiece

This version of King Lear is an incredible achievement due to the masterful adaptation from the Shakespeare original by one of the best Russian poets, writers, and translators of the last century, Boris Pasternak; elegant and powerful images by the cinematographer Jonas Gritsius (he also worked with Grigori Kozintsev on the earlier Shakespeare's adaptation, "Hamlet", 1964), the music of Dimity Shostakovich, and the great performances from all actors.

Estonian actor Jüri Järvet is masterful as the mad king in a performance which is reminiscent of Kinski as another brilliant madman - Aguirre. They were even the same age when they played Aguirre and Lear. The whole cast is amazing: Kozintsev chose the best actors possible for his project and everyone delivers. I'd like to mention Oleg Dal as the touching Fool; Karl Sebris as the Duke of Gloucester, whose scenes with his son Edgar after having been blinded are very moving; Regimantas Adomaitis as Edmund, a treacherous son and brother but a brilliant man; and Donatas Banionis (who played the main character in Tarkovsky's Solaris) as an intelligent and noble Albany. But like I said, everyone and everything is just perfect in this little known but IMO, the Best adaptation of the beloved and one of the most wrenching tragedies in the English and in the world literature.