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Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries & Replies From Everyone Else 4.2.97: Top | Help
Okay, yeah it's a great film, but not a particularly good
interpretation of the play. It's visually stunning but
Branagh uses his very good eye for the visual to disguise
the fact that this version has very little political
insight or depth. It insults the viewer's intelligence
through the sex scenes between Hamlet and Ophelia; reading
the text itself, Shakespeare is never explicit on whether
or not Hamlet and Ophelia have slept together. This leads
the possibility of the audience making up their own mind
about the wealth of differing interpretations this allows,
for example about Ophelia's subsequent madness; was she
mad because she had slept with Hamlet and he had subsequently
ignored her? This could be implied by some of the lines
O speaks in her madness. Alternatively, was it simply through
grief at the loss of her father etc etc. Branagh, by explicitly
showing the couple making love, closes down the possible
interpretations of the text. A similar complaint could be made
that Branagh's version makes it too clear that Claudius and
Gertrude had been engaged in an adulterous relationship before
the death of the old king. I felt that Branagh had tried to
imply this with no real backing from the text, through his
use of flashback etc. And by the way, when you see this four
hour version you are NOT seeing the 'real' play as it was
intended. It's a cobbling together of several available versions.
Shaklespeare's company never performed the Hamlet you see Branagh
produce. But hey, he's quite a director, its a stunning film, and
since it's so long you get more for your money, so who am I to
complain?Posted by Angel on May 08, 1997 at 07:59:38
In Reply to "I agree" posted by Bill Routhier on April 17, 1997 at 17:10:16
Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries & Replies From Everyone Else 4.2.97: Top | Help