FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1997. All Rights Reserved.
Branagh's Hamlet a fine reflection
Sometimes brilliant staging is time well spentHamlet
Directed by Kenneth Branagh
Starring Kenneth Branagh, Richard Briars,
Julie Christie, Kate Winslet and Derek Jacobi
Now playing at the GlobeKenneth Branagh's Hamlet is a superb film adaptation. Clocking in at a hiccup under four hours (plus intermission), the film is the first to present Shakespeare's text uncut. So, however many productions you've seen, you'll find something new here. There are a few dull spots, but they're interesting clues to Will's characterization and rhythm.
Branagh's staging is often brilliant. His central setting is a large ballroom, surrounded by full-length window doors, some of them with one-way glass. Here Hamlet delivers his, "To be or not to be" soliloquy and his crucial meeting with Ophelia is spied upon by Claudius and Polonius.
Hamlet's jousting with Claudius works from a distance to a nose-to-nose confrontation, then withdraws until the final duel.
A stellar cast broadens the film's box office appeal. Most are effective: Julie Christie's beautiful Gertrude, Kate Winslet's winsome then earthy Ophelia, Billy Crystal's cerebral gravedigger, Robin Williams' poncy Osric. Richard Briers, a British sitcom star, provides the best Polonius I've seen, younger than most but as dangerously foolish and crooked. Even the stalwart John Gielgud does a die-on as Priam, in a redundant visualization of the Player King's recitation.
Only three castings don't work: Jack Lemmon is too soft in voice and presence to be a persuasive Marcellus; Charlton Heston is too heavy and unmodulated for the Player King; and as Reynaldo, Gerard Depardieu imports irrelevant Frenchness. All three smack of the star-turn more than acting.
Two performances tower. Derek Jacobi's Claudius is a marvelous representation of venality and dignity in one individual. There are moments when he grabs our sympathy. This villain is a human being.
Branagh plays Hamlet as an athletic intellect. Like the art that mirrors nature, he reflects everyone he meets, finding the vocabulary to reflect them to themselves. When he leaps and runs his body shows the energy that his mind expresses at all times. He embodies our time the way all great Hamlets have reflected theirs. He also manages to make the most famous phrases in Western culture seem freshly minted.
Director Branagh gives Fortinbras more power than he usually has. The invader is cut into the action frequently, to set up his final triumph. Rufus Sewell is a steely Fortinbras, too cold-blooded to be a hero. The character's power is partially based in the actor's performance but mainly in how Branagh edits him in.
The last image stresses the fall of the Hamlet dynasty. In this revenge play, Hamlet pursues the central revenge, Laertes his own, but the overriding revenger is that of the looming outsider, Fortinbras. This is a solid, sensitive reading of the play and its peerless importance in our culture.
There's one flaw in the Branagh film. Several speeches are drowned out by the music. When this happens just before the intermission, it's probably Branagh's intention to dwarf his hero against the cold, implacable world. But elsewhere the problem may be in the prints, where the music track is out of balance with the dialogue.
We're doubly blessed in having this production play at the same time as Theatre Junction's excellent Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. They should be seen together. Oddly, Tom Stoppard's play is so powerful that one now watches Hamlet with its comic spinoff in mind. Shakespeare's R and G scenes assume more weight from Stoppard's intervention.
Seeing the film at the Globe is a special delight. The staff member's hilarious introductory impersonations are worth the price of admission by themselves. But do stay for the flick.
Back To Main Contents
Back To This Issue Table of Contents