- Actors: Paul Scofield, Irene Worth, Cyril Cusack, Susan Engel, Tom Fleming
- Directors: Peter Brook
- Writers: Peter Brook, William Shakespeare
- Producers: Michael Birkett, Mogens Skot-Hansen
- Language English
- Classification: PG
- Studio: Cinema Club
- VHS Release Date: 1 Oct 1999
- Run Time: 137 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00004CJCT
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 6,524 in Video (See Top 100 in Video)
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Product Description
VHS Film
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
83 of 83 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
At first, I was disppointed. The abdication scene seems lacklustre - Lear seems hardly bothered when Cordelia refuses the love test. He doesn't rage, and doesn't appear to be in pain. It is only as time goes on that you realise he has wielded absolute power for so long that he doesn't need to rage - he commands and it is done. His rage and madness come when he no longer has any power. The film is set in some bleak, northern tundra which is highly appropriate and evocative - it seems to be a permanent twilight. The best aspect of the film is the microscopic attention to the text - unlike many Shakespeare adaptations, there are no incomprehensible passages. Every word strikes home, especially in the second half when Paul Scofield's performance gives Lear tremendous humanity and dignity. His meeting on the beach with Gloucester is worth watching again and again. The fool is the highlight of the first half - again, every word is delivered with precision, like when he says "Does though know why a snail has a shell? Why, to put his head in, not to give it away to his daughters and leave his horns without a case." The fool looks away as if he has said nothing of consequence and Lear stares at him with an expression caught between laughter and cursing. No Shakespeare adaptation is definitive - if the text is important to you, rather than clever re-interpretation and production, then you'll be rewarded by this film. But check out the Olivier and Richard Eyre (Ian Holm as Lear) versions as well.
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
Peter Brooke's King Lear, though totally engaging in its own right, is made sublime by Paul Schofield's performance. A stark siberian desert is the backdrop to Shakespeare's epic tale of jealousy, murder and self discovery. This film renders Olivier's version diminuitive and limp in comparison-it is one of the best shakespeare film versions around.
32 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
Peter Brook, one of the greatest theatrical directors of all time, directs King Lear, arguably the greatest play of all time, by surely the greatest playwright of all time. But those credentials alone are not always enough to guarantee that a film made with them in combination will succeed. In this case, however, the results are brilliant. Spare, harsh, quivering with life, this film is Beckettian in its imagery, and innovative in its photography, unified in its tone, and demonically vital in its acting. I venture to say that the other reviewer who thought that the camera moved about too quickly is probably jostled by bumpy train rides. This film is true to the essence of Lear as I perceive it. See for yourself, and go see some theater sometime soon, as well.
Another note, I've been searching for a copy of this film in America for eight years. Thanks Amazon UK!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Shakespeare, with a touch of Tarantino? Students only?
Not had time to watch the DVD all the way through yet (wait, read on!) but the segments I have watched are superb! Read more
Published 3 months ago by Yetifeet77
Another old Yank screws up!
I have Brook's presentation of "King Lear" on VHS, but when I saw it was available on DVD, I ordered it immediately. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Jerome M. Hand
Savaged
With names like Paul Scofield and Peter Brook, how could it go so wrong?! The frigid, bleak, savage setting (Danish winter) promised much, but the savaging of the text... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Sognatrice
KING LEAR Meets THE SEVENTH SEAL.
The great Ingmar Bergman never got around to directing KING LEAR, but if he had the results might have looked something like this. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Chip Kaufmann
Truly Haunting
I must admit that although I have read King Lear many times I have never seen a performance of the play or a film version before. Read more
Published on 2 Mar 2010 by M. Dowden
Expect the unexpected.
This is Lear in a completely different light from any other version, I think that much can be guaranteed. Read more
Published on 22 April 2008 by Burlesque
A record of a seminal production
Peter Brook used characteristic boldness in transferring his controversial, yet acclaimed stage production to the screen. Read more
Published on 5 Jan 2008 by Old Wealden
A Brechtian production
I've seen many productions of King Lear and hated them all. Except this one. It has been said that Lear is so full of poetic imagery that to stage it is to reduce it. Read more
Published on 9 Oct 2001
A film with scarcely no action
I didn't quite like this video for two main reasons.
First, as I think, Shakespeares play is not acted but merely spoken. There is scarcely no action in this film. Read more
Published on 21 April 2001 by Simon Lampart
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