Play (2000)

Director:

Anthony Minghella

Writer:

Samuel Beckett (play)

Release Date:

14 July 2001 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama | Short | Fantasy

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Based On Play

Cast

Alan Rickman	...	Man
Kristin Scott Thomas	...	First Woman
Juliet Stevenson	...	Second Woman

Runtime:

USA:16 min

Country:

Ireland

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Blue Angels Films

Movie Connections:

Version of Spil (1974) (TV)

Compellingly focused Beckett on Film.

This adaptation is one of the most impressive of the often variable series of Beckett on Film productions. Anthony Minghella - I must admit I have not seen his well known films - is spot-on with an interesting interpretation; replacing the quick-fire spotlighting of a dark stage with subtly worked angles, and largely close ups of the three main actors.

Juliet Stevenson, Kristin Scott Thomas and Alan Rickman are magnificent; what a task it must have been to have learned all those rapid-fire lines. The camera itself is a player, with its buzzing, denoting fore-grounding and focus on characters. A brilliant editing job is achieved; the play's cyclic repetition is negotiating excellently. This is a very inscrutable text at first viewing, but considering the same material is repeated, many of the verbal tricks become clearer. A convoluted narrative, made up of three different perspectives; always, the language is masterful in its precision.

A fine adaptation; perfectly captures the material of a sometimes-overlooked play: one of Beckett's shorter and less lauded works, but one every bit as deadening and obliquely shattering in its impact as the others.

Rating:- **** 1/2/*****