King Lear (1971)
"Korol Lir" (original title)

King Lear, old and tired, divides his kingdom among his daughters, giving great importance to their protestations of love for him. When Cordelia, youngest and most honest, refuses to idly ... See full summary »

Directors:

Grigori Kozintsev, Iosif Shapiro

Writers:

Grigori Kozintsev, Boris Pasternak (Russian translation, 1949),

Stars:

Jüri Järvet, Elza Radzina, Galina Volchek

1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Jüri Järvet	...	King Lear (as Yuri Yarvet)
Elza Radzina	...	Goneril (as E. Radzina)
Galina Volchek	...	Regan (as G. Volchek)
Valentina Shendrikova	...	Cordelia (as V. Shendrikova)
Oleg Dal	...	Fool (as O. Dal)
Karlis Sebris	...	Gloster (as K. Sebris)
Leonhard Merzin	...	Edgar (as L. Merzin)
Regimantas Adomaitis	...	Edmund (as R. Adomaytis)
Vladimir Yemelyanov	...	Kent (as V. Yemelyanov)
Aleksandr Vokach	...	Cornwall (as A. Vokach)
Donatas Banionis	...	Albany (as D. Banionis)
Aleksey Petrenko	...	Oswald (as A. Petrenko)
Juozas Budraitis	...	King of France (as I. Budraytis)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Roman Gromadsky	...	(as R. Gromadsky)
Nikolai Kuzmin	...	(as N. Kuzmin)

Storyline

King Lear, old and tired, divides his kingdom among his daughters, giving great importance to their protestations of love for him. When Cordelia, youngest and most honest, refuses to idly flatter the old man in return for favor, he banishes her and turns for support to his remaining daughters. But Goneril and Regan have no love for him and instead plot to take all his power from him. In a parallel, Lear's loyal courtier Gloucester favors his illegitimate son Edmund after being told lies about his faithful son Edgar. Madness and tragedy befall both ill-starred fathers.

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Plot Keywords:

tragedy | foreign language adaptation | shakespeare's king lear | based on play | character name in title

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Release Date:

6 August 1975 (USA)

Also Known As:

King Lear

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lenfilm Studio

Technical Specs

Runtime:

139 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Version of Great Performances: King Lear (1974)

User Reviews

One of the best Shakespeare's filmings

This is one of rare Shakespeare's filmings, where "filming" doesn't sound as a common noun. Of course Kozintsev is one of the greatest Russian director's, but Jarvet is just genious in his phylosophical interpretation.