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Special Features
- "Peter Sellars on King Lear," an onscreen introduction
- The Talent Behind King Lear, a Facets Cine-Notes booklet
Editorial Reviews
Hailed as one of the best adaptations of this Shakespearean tragedy, Grigori Kozintsev’s KING LEAR is a striking epic interpretation based on a translation by novelist Boris Pasternak and driven by a stirring score by composer Dmitri Shostakovich. Kozintsev transposed the setting to a sparse landscape of moors and marshes, which provides an eerie backdrop to the bare castles and roaming bands of ragged, destitute wanderers. Thin, frail Yuri Yarvet’s unique interpretation of the title role, in which he focuses on the king’s suffering and pain, was internationally acclaimed. Kozintsev, a peer of Eisenstein’s who worked well into the 1960s, was a master of cinematic technique who finally achieved recognition at the end of his career for his stunning interpretations of Shakespeare. According to film historian Richard Dyer: "Paradoxically, the two most powerful films of Shakespeare plays [Hamlet and King Lear] were made not in Great Britain but in the Soviet Union." (Boston Globe)
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Pay no attention to the previous comments. This is not a "second tier" film which "could be good." It is one of the best, if not *the* best filmed versions of Shakespeare. Not sure why the product description emphasizes Yuri Yarvet's being "thin" and "frail." Most commentators note the great energy of his performance, which makes his fall into madness all the more poignant. Also notable is the Shostakovich score, which together with the muddy, rustic backdrops heightens the sense of tragedy approaching. Think of this as great Russian filmmaking, combined with a great Shakespearean play, to the benefit of both.
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
By Galina
Format:DVD
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.
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.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This version of LEAR is rightly regarded as seminal in the history of films made of Shakespeare's plays. The sparse, bare sets, the spiritual torment of the characters as Kozintsev explores Lear's fall from power endorses the NEW YORKER's declaration that the film would "stand as one of the unshakeable edifices of Shakespearean imagination."
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best adaptations!!
For the Russian speaking Sheakspeare fan this is a must see and must own film. Yarvet dubbed by Gerdt is the best King Lear ever played on screen.
Published 10 months ago by DaSkifyMy@aol.com, Michael Ryskin, M.D.
5.0 out of 5 stars
This one and Peter Brook are by far,the best adaptations on the big...
Finally Giorgy Kosintzev got to decipher, express and make us capture the essential core of this play with ferocius intensity and stark realism the last boundaries of the human... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Hiram Gomez Pardo
4.0 out of 5 stars
Bare Bones
Any afficionado of King Lear will appreciate the nuances developed in any performance of the play. While this version is the bare bones of the play's plot, with much left out,... Read more
Published on April 3, 2011 by Pat C.
5.0 out of 5 stars
I stand in awe
For years I owned an unrestored, grainy , distorted videotape of this film, which I bought from Facets Multimedia in Chicago. Read more
Published on January 10, 2009 by Ted Byrd
5.0 out of 5 stars
More Soviet than I you die
King Lear is a tragedy that had to appeal to Soviet film-makers. It is dense and extreme. A whole world is destroyed in a couple of years because of an unwise decision of the king... Read more
Published on August 28, 2008 by Jacques COULARDEAU
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent adaptation
Kosintzev's King Lear is as good as Kosintzev's Hamlet. The problem is Shakespeare's King Lear is NOT as good as Shakespeare's Hamlet. It's a weak play. Read more
Published on September 10, 2007 by MMM
3.0 out of 5 stars
Yes, finally on DVD but what a transfer ...!
Priceless masterpiece but unwatchable on my 16:9 TV because it was encoded in 4:3 aspect ratio. Of course I could zoom the picture to fill the screen but lost the subtitles (I... Read more
Published on March 2, 2007 by Giuseppe Tulli
1.0 out of 5 stars
It's the Russian Film
T'would be nice it were the Peter Brook film, which I remember liking quite a bit (cinematography by Sven Nyquist if I recall correctly). Read more
Published on January 8, 2007 by Glenn M. Baldwin
5.0 out of 5 stars
Is it Peter Brook's King Lear?
We are still waiting for an answer to the previous reviewer's question, which DVD are you offering, Brook's King Lear or Kozintsev's Hamlet or are they both Kozintsev's?
Published on January 5, 2007 by Gonzalo Paredes
