King Lear (1987 film)

Infobox Film
name = King Lear


image_size =
caption = French theatrical poster for King Lear
director = Jean-Luc Godard
producer = Yoram Globus
Menahem Golan
Jean-Luc Godard
Tom Luddy
writer = William Shakespeare (play)
narrator =
starring = Peter Sellars
Burgess Meredith
Molly Ringwald
Woody Allen
music =
cinematography = Sophie Maintigneux
editing = Jean-Luc Godard
distributor = Cannon Films
released = 15 September, 1987
runtime = 90 minutes
country = USA
language = French
English
Russian
Japanese
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0093349

"King Lear" is a 1987 filmic adaptation of the Shakespeare play of the same title, directed by Jean-Luc Godard. The script is primarily by Peter Sellars and Tom Luddy. The film's plot, centred around a late descendant of Shakespeare attempting to restore his plays in a world rebuilding itself after the Chernobyl catastrophe obliterates most of human civilisation, is centred around a resort in Nyon, Vaud, Switzerland.

Cast

* Peter Sellars as William Shakespeare Jr. the Fifth, a descendant of the renowned bard charged with restoring his ancestor's work.
* Burgess Meredith as Don Learo, a prominent gangster visiting the Swiss resort patronised by Shakespeare Jr. the Fifth with his daughter.
* Molly Ringwald as Cordelia, the daughter of gangster Don Learo, with whom she converses in lines from Shakespeare.
* Jean-Luc Godard as Professor Pluggy, an eccentric professor obsessed with Xeroxing his own hand.
* Freddy Buache as Professor Quentin
* Leos Carax as Edgar
* Julie Delpy as Virginia

The film also features uncredited cameos by Woody Allen as a film editor named Mr. Alien, Kate and Norman Mailer as themselves, Michèle Pétin and Suzanne Lanza.

Reception

The film has an approval rating of 50% on the ratings aggregator RottenTomatoes.com [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1039810-king_lear/ King Lear] at RottenTomatoes.com] . All three of the reviews features by the site are negative or mixed, bordering on negative.

The New York Times review by Vincent Canby compares it unfavourably to the rest of Godard's oeuvre as "tired, familiar and out of date", remarking that the few lines of Shakespeare delivered in the play overpower his dialogue, making it "seem much punier than need be". Nonetheless, Canby praises the acting as "remarkably good under terrible circumstances"] by Vincent Canby, published in the New York Times 22-01-88, retrieved 13-08-08.] .

Desson Howe of the Washington Post similarly criticises Godard for inappropriately imposing his unique style on Shakespeare's work - "Where the playwright values clarity and poetry, Godard seems to go for obfuscation and banality. Shakespeare aims for universality, while Godard seeks to devalue everything." - whilst reserving praise for the editing and cinematography [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/kinglearnrhowe_a0b16a.htm "King Lear"] review by Desson Howe, published in the Washington Post 17-06-88, retrieved 13-08-08] .

Also commenting in the Washington Post, Hal Hinson classifies the film as a "labored, not terribly funny practical joke", "infuriating, baffling, challenging and fascinating" in which Godard "trashes his own talent" [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/kinglearnrhinson_a0c8e1.htm "King Lear"] review by Hal Hinson, published in the Washington Post 18-06-88, retrieved 13-08-08] .

Kevin Thomas of the "Los Angeles Times", however, called it, "a work of certified genius".

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0093349|title=King Lear