King Lear (1999)

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:

Brian Blessed, Tony Rotherham

Writer:

William Shakespeare (play)

Stars:

Brian Blessed, Hildegard Neil, Jason Riddington

Cast

Credited cast:
Brian Blessed	...	King Lear
Hildegard Neil	...	The Fool
Jason Riddington	...	Edmund
Phillipa Peak	...	Cordelia
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Peter Balderstone	...	Cornwall's Captain
Mark Burgess	...	Edgar
John Corvin	...	Gentleman
Paul Curran	...	King of France
Mark Denny	...	Duke of Cornwall
David Dexter	...	2nd Messenger
Billy Hanna	...	1st Knight
Mark Hayden	...	Oswald
Claire Laurie	...	Regan
Caroline Lennon	...	Goneril
Graham McTavish	...	Duke of Albany

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 | shakespeare's king lear | based on play | character name in title | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Goofs

When Edgar/Poor Tom leads his father Gloucester to the Cliffs of Dover, where Gloucester intends to kill himself, Edgar deceives him and only tells him that they have arrived so that when Gloucester jumps, he may not die. In this version, Gloucester is really led to the cliff. However, when he seems to jump, both he and his son - all of a sudden - are at the bottom of the cliff by the seaside.

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Connections

Version of William Shakespare - Kral Lear (1982)

User Reviews

Cheap but competent

There are many adaptations of King Lear for the silver screen or the TV screen. So a question one has to ask is: what makes this version so special? The answer is: nothing at all.

Even in the first scene, it is made clear that this was a very low-budget production. The entire look-and-feel of the film is cheap. The costumes look like they were rented from the local fun shop, the sets are slightly better than high school quality and the exteriors are too clearly computer-drawn. Luckily, the acting is not of that quality. I especially liked Neil (the Fool), Robertson (Kent) and Riddington (Edmund). For me, these three made the film work, despite its shortcomings in terms of setting and props.

King Lear is an incredibly powerful story. No wonder it has been adapted for mass-viewing numerous times. This version does not depend on expensive costumes and amazing special effects. Instead, the actors made sure there is enough to look at for three hours, which is the right amount of time for any of Shakespeare's plays.

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Also Known As:

Крал Лир

Company Credits

Production Co:

A-Z Russian Services, Cromwell Productions Ltd., Lamancha Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

190 min