King Lear (1971)

Director:

Peter Brook

Writers:

Peter Brook (writer)
William Shakespeare (play)

Release Date:

4 February 1971 (Denmark)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

The Shakespeare tragedy that gave us the expression "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have...

Plot Keywords:

Madness | Old Man | Kingdom | Royalty | Death By Hanging

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Cyril Cusack	...	Albany
Susan Engel	...	Regan
Tom Fleming	...	Kent
Anne-Lise Gabold	...	Cordelia
Ian Hogg	...	Edmund
Søren Elung Jensen	...	Duke of Burgundy
Robert Langdon Lloyd	...	Edgar (as Robert Lloyd)
Jack MacGowran	...	Fool
Patrick Magee	...	Cornwall
Paul Scofield	...	King Lear
Barry Stanton	...	Oswald
Alan Webb	...	Gloucester
Irene Worth	...	Goneril

Runtime:

137 min

Country:

UK | Denmark

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Nordjylland, Jylland, Denmark

Company:

Athéna Films

Trivia:

The song sung by the fool at the end of Act III, Scene 2 is not present in Shakespeare's script. This song can be found sung by the fool in "Twelfth Night" in the closing scene of Shakespeare's script for the play.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Unearthly (#4.20)" (1991)

Who Gives Anything to Poor Brook?

Easily one of my favorite movies of all time, Peter Brook's King Lear demands that you think, and will disturb you because you are alive and will one day (statistically speaking) be an old, foolish, feeble, mistake-laden human. Comment to the angles and lighting and all the things that seem to consistently disturb viewers: place yourself in the mind of a slowly ebbing ego, driven to rage over confusion and denied shame--an old man of four score and not a day more, in love with his youngest daughter, living his final days having denied and banished her... of course you are never going to see someone clearly, steadily, squarely, or in the same screen area. This masterfully bleak representation of one of Shakespeare's more difficult plays is unjustly in moratorium. I have shown it to many of my classes and will continue until the tape is worn with holes. Brook's treatment of Edgar is so haunting, so perfect, if you leave this feeling empty and lost, bravo! He who scoffs at their first viewing of this film is simply not watching the film, but is watching their expectations dashed on the wall.