Product Details

• Actors: Yuri Yarvet, Elsa Radzin, Galina Volchek, Oleg Dal, Valentin Shendrikova
• Directors: Grigori Kozintsev
• Format: Black & White, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: Russian (Unknown)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Facets
• DVD Release Date: January 30, 2007
• Run Time: 139 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000K2Q7H8
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #153,983 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Grigori Kozintsev's King Lear" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

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

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yes, it's the Russian version! Finally on DVD!, February 9, 2007

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Criterion Collector (CT USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Grigori Kozintsev's King Lear (DVD)

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:

5.0 out of 5 stars Little Known Masterpiece, April 27, 2007

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Galina (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grigori Kozintsev's King Lear (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.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars KING LEAR - review, May 12, 2007

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A. J. Papprill "Kiwi Reviewer" (Manukau, New Zealand) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Grigori Kozintsev's King Lear (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."