KING LEAR
US, 1987, 90 minutes. Colour.
Peter Selleas, Woody Allen, Freddy Buache, Leos Carax, Julie Delpy, Jean- Luc Godard, Kate Mailer, Norman Mailer, Burgess Meredith, Molly Ringwald.
Directed by Jean- Luc Godard.
King Lear is a cinema experiment, the type of film that Jean- Luc Godard was making in the 1980s. Godard lost interest in commercial cinema after making his experimental dramas in the 1960s.
The film is about King Lear the play and performance rather than a performance of the play. There is a note that it was made in the aftermath of Chernobyl, the nuclear risk, the fact that art would continue despite the changes in technology.
Various people assemble at a resort and discuss the aspects of the play, reciting many of the lines of the play. They include Norman Mailer as a writer with his daughter Kate Mailer as herself, discussing a writing project. Jean- Luc Godard and Freddy Buache appear as professors. Director Leos Carax is Edgar, Julie Delpy is Virginia. The focus is also on Burgess Meredith as a Mafia chief, impersonating King Lear and reciting many lines – but in the guise of a Mafia don. Molly Ringwald is a very American Cordelia, given many of the lines of the play as well.
The character throughout the film is William Shaksper Junior the Fifth, played by musical director Peter Sellars when very young. He wanders throughout the film, listening to the characters, writing things down, taking a variety of notes.
The collected film is then sent to the United States, for Mr Alien to edit. Mr Alien is played by Woody Allen.
The film is probably unwatchable by most audiences – it is a film for film buffs and those who want to study cinema and techniques. It is, of course, of interest for the range of people in the cast.
There are captions throughout the film, as regards the play, virtue and power, even captions for the end. As with many Jean- Luc Godard films, there are no credits.
Whether any but film buffs and students will have the patience to sit through the film as well as try to decipher what it is actually saying, what insight it offers into Shakespeare, what insight it offers into human nature and how it illustrates the nature of film and cinema, is a difficult question to answer. Nevertheless, the film has been around for many years and is replayed on television.
