King Lear [Korol Lir] ** (1970, Jüri Järvet, Elza Radzina, Galina Volchek) – Classic Movie Review 10,162

Director Grigoriy Kozintsev’s 1970 Russian film King Lear [Korol Lir] stars Jüri Järvet as a modest, one-note (bad-tempered) Lear leading a number of unstriking performances in this disappointment from the director of the great Russian Hamlet (1964).

It has only a fraction of the visual imagination and excitement of its predecessor, and puts a political interpretation on the story at the expense of a personal tragedy. It is starkly shot in black and white by Jonas Gricius. Dmitri Shostakovich’s score is the main asset.

The text is adapted by Kozintsev from Boris Pasternak’s 1949 translation of the William Shakespeare tragedy.

Peter Brook was filming his British-Danish King Lear (1970) at the same time, and the two directors corresponded throughout shooting.

Also in the cast are Elza Radzina as Goneril, Galina Volchek as Regan, Valentina Shendrikova as Cordelia, Karlis Sebris as Gloucester, and Oleg Dal as Fool.

King Lear is directed by Grigoriy Kozintsev, runs 139 minutes, is made by Lenfilm Studio and Simfonicheskij Orkestr Leningradskoj Gosudarstvennoj Filarmonij, is released by Goskino USSR (1970) (Soviet Union) and Contemporary Films (1972) (UK), is written by Grigoriy Kozintsev, based on the play by William Shakespeare, is shot in black and white by Jonas Gricius [Jonas Gritsius], is pro duced by Mikhail Shostak and Nikolai Yeliseyev, is scored by Dmitri Shostakovich, and is designed by Yevgeni Yenej.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,162

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