King Lear (1971 USSR film)

King Lear
King Lear
	Film poster
Directed by	Grigori Kozintsev
Written by	Grigori Kozintsev; William Shakespeare (play); Boris Pasternak (Russian translation, 1919)
Starring	Jüri Järvet; Oleg Dahl; Elza Radziņa; Galina Volchek
Cinematography	Jonas Gricius
Edited by	Ye. Makhankova
Music by	Dmitri Shostakovich
Production; company	Lenfilm
Release date	8 February 1971 (Soviet Union)
Running time	130 minutes
Country	Soviet Union
Language	Russian

King Lear (Russian: Король Лир, romanized: Korol Lir) is a 1971 Soviet drama film directed by Grigori Kozintsev, based on William Shakespeare's play King Lear. The film uses Boris Pasternak's translation of the play, the Fool's songs being translated by Samuil Marshak. This is Grigori Kozintsev's last film.

Production[]

Grigori Kozintsev considered many actors for the role of Lear. The casting director first suggested Jüri Järvet for a small part of a tramp, but Kozintsev offered him the title role. He later explained: "The internal world of this actor seemed attractive to me. This is an actor of deep thought. He is able to play the role of philosophical depth. Järvet is equally strong in humour, in that particular sort of humour that sometimes touches upon grotesque".^[1] Järvet was only 50 years old by the time of filming.

The daughters were played by the outstanding Latvian actress Elza Radziņa as Goneril (she had previously played Gertrude in Kozintsev's Hamlet), one of the co-founders of the Sovremennik Theatre Galina Volchek as Regan (whose casting was first met with some skepticism but turned out to be a success^[2]), and relatively unknown Valentina Shendrikova from Mayakovsky Theatre as Cordelia. Oleg Dahl, one of the stars of the Sovremennik Theatre, was chosen to play the Fool after a short conversation with the director without tryouts, his performance received wide critical acclaim. The director also invited a number of experienced theatre actors from Latvia and Lithuania: Donatas Banionis played Albany, appears as Gloucester, Leonhard Merzin as Edgar, and Regimantas Adomaitis as Edmund. Oswald was played by then unknown Aleksei Petrenko.

The film was shot mainly in Narva and Ivangorod. An extensive set with many houses and streets was built inside the Ivangorod Fortress that was under reconstruction at the time of footage. The set design was commissioned to Evgeny Eney and Vsevolod Ulitko, while the costumes were created by the chief designer of the Bolshoi Theatre Simon Virsaladze. Dmitri Shostakovich composed the score.

Cast[]

Jüri Järvet as King Lear (voiced by Zinovy Gerdt)
Elza Radziņa as Goneril (voiced by Nina Nikitina)
Galina Volchek as Regan
as Cordelia
Oleg Dahl as Fool
as Gloucester (voiced by Grigori Gay)
Leonhard Merzin as Edgar (voiced by Emmanuil Vitorgan)
Regimantas Adomaitis as Edmund
Vladimir Yemelyanov as Kent
as Cornwall
Donatas Banionis as Albany (voiced by Aleksandr Demyanenko)
Aleksei Petrenko as Oswald
Juozas Budraitis as King of France

Accolades[]

Tehran International Film Festival (1972): Grand Prix (Grigori Kozintsev) and Best Actor Award (Jüri Järvet)
Chicago International Film Festival (1972): Silver Hugo for Best Director (Grigori Kozintsev)
Milan International Film Festival (1973): Golden Medal (Grigori Kozintsev)