The interiors, designed by Tim Harvey, work a little better. But the spacious, orderly palace isn't used either atmospherically or ironically, and it's awfully pretty for the story that unfolds. (But in an equally short blip, Judi Dench's screaming grief as Hecuba is the most powerful moment in the film.)Įlsinore Castle is played by Blenheim Palace, the ancestral estate of the dukes of Marlborough (and Winston Churchill's childhood home), and we're treated to several stately-home-tour views of the magnificent, snow-covered grounds. John Mills and John Gielgud make such tiny appearances as Old Norway and Priam (characters usually never seen) that they hardly register. Jack Lemmon is completely out of his depth, even in such a small role as the guard Marcellus. On the other hand, though the audience laughs in happy expectation as soon as he appears, Robin Williams doesn't seem to know what to do with the role of the court fop Osric. (I didn't know what to make of Brian Blessed's Ghost, who is saddled with blue contact lenses to make him look unearthly and then, inexplicably, has the same weird eyes in flashbacks in which we see him alive.) Gerard Depardieu is a slouching, nasty, vaguely threatening Reynaldo, the courtier Polonius sends to spy on his son. (The Second Gravedigger is Simon Russell Beale, a major English stage actor who has too little to do in this tiny part but does it well.) Charlton Heston takes to the role of the Player King with un-self-conscious dignity and rolls the phrases out of his mouth as if he'd been born speaking verse. Billy Crystal is surprisingly effective as the First Gravedigger, a man who, for all his raw jokes, knows enough not to get in the way of the powerful when they're going mad. Richard Briers makes Polonius a tough, seasoned political infighter (though this makes his rambling, fatuous speeches seem out of character), and Kate Winslet goes mad quite prettily as Ophelia.īranagh's celebrated, gimmicky casting of Big Stars in small roles yields mixed results. Nicholas Farrell's Horatio is as simply loving and nobly selfless as a dog. Julie Christie is a beautiful, sensual, shallow Queen Gertrude, whose character darkens as she realizes the corruption to which she's turned a willfully blind eye. The rest of the cast is generally strong without being particularly exciting. In particular, Claudius, the murderer of Hamlet's father and usurper of his throne, is revealed as almost as great a role as the Prince himself, and as the calculating killer who now wants only to enjoy his new life in peace, Derek Jacobi gives the movie's most interesting performance.
Hamlet kenneth branagh full movie education plus#
Working from the uncut script, Branagh brings out the almost novelistic complexity of the play it's worth every one of the 238 minutes plus intermission just to experience the sprawling power of Shakespeare's dramaturgy.
Of course, it's a book with a great text. Branagh is smart and extremely hard-working, but he's not an imaginative actor or director, and he's produced the film equivalent of a lushly illustrated coffee-table book.
Kenneth Branagh's four-hour film version of "Hamlet" is intelligent, well intentioned and honorable - and there's not a single thrilling moment in it. 'Hamlet': Kenneth Branagh's Inaction Flick By Lloyd Rose
: 'Hamlet': Kenneth Branagh's Inaction Flick
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