HAMLET
US, 1990, 135 minutes, Colour.
Mel Gibson, Glenn Close, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Bates, Ian Holm, Paul Scofield, John McEnery?, Nathanael Parker, Stephen Dillane.
Directed by Franco Zeffirelli.
Hamlet, as interpreted by Franco Zeffirelli, will appeal to Shakespeare students and general fans alike. Zeffirelli has effectively and neatly pruned the text to just over two hours. He has highlighted the conventions of the Elizabethan and Jacobean revenge tragedy. Audiences wary of Shakespeare's language and plot intricacies will enjoy the film as well.
As with his versions of The Taming of the Shrew (1966) and Romeo and Juliet (1968), the film looks striking: a dark castle and coastal scenery. Zeffirelli offers us a cinematic experience of Shakespeare (in contrast to the theatrical experience or a radio experience). He can offer us tableaux, close-ups, swift editing, action unique to cinema.
And Mel Gibson makes his mark as a robust Hamlet, speaking the poetry clearly, a more extraverted prince who goes into depression, sometimes feigning madness, sometimes in the grip of it. The intense confrontation with his mother (a fine and credible Glenn Close) in her bedroom is powerful drama.
Alan Bates makes Claudius a genial and bluff villain; Paul Scofield is a realistic ghost; Ian Holm is the bumbling Polonius; Helena Bonham-Carter? a charming Ophelia.
The film is rapidly paced, a vigorous reading of the play, Shakespeare for all audiences.
Kenneth Branagh's film with the full text and a star cast was released in 1997.
1.The work of Franco Zeffirelli, his cinematic interpretations of Shakespeare, the emphasis on the cinematic experience rather than theatrical or stage experience, pruning of the text?
2.The locations, Scotland and Kent, the castle and the coast, the castle and its dark interiors, the battlements? Light and shade? Day and night? Moods? The musical score?
3.The blend of tableau, pageant, close-ups, action, fast-paced editing? The opening and the spectacle, the end and the audience being left with the tragedy of Denmark?
4.Zeffirelli's effectiveness with his screenwriter of pruning the text, keeping the highlights, giving audiences the experience of Shakespeare?
5.Audience attitudes towards the play, knowledge of Shakespeare, experience of Shakespeare? Understanding of tragedy, the tragic flaw? The experience of catharsis? Views on Hamlet, his procrastination, madness and sanity?
6.The nature of tragedy, the tragic hero, royalty, the strengths of the hero, the weakness and the tragic flaw? Elizabethan and Jacobean violence, confrontations, death? (The omitting of the restoration of order in Denmark with Fortinbras?)
7.The cast, their reputations? Their Shakespearian skills? (In comparison with other versions, especially Olivier's and Branagh's?)
8.The opening, the funeral, the establishing of royalty in Denmark, Denmark itself, something rotten, Claudius's speeches, Gertrude's behaviour, Hamlet's moroseness? The marriage? The carousing - and the ghost's appearance and revealing the murder? Leading to the credibility of madness, betrayal, personal and moral collapse?
9.Mel Gibson's Hamlet: robust, at the funeral and being irked, his relationship with his mother, tenderness and love? His disdain of Claudius? Horatio, the battlements, the experience of the ghost? Watching the banquet and carousing below? The ghost, the responsibility, the decision? His relationship with Ophelia, hurting her? Feigning madness, the reality of depression? The interchanges with Polonius and mocking him? Puzzling the court? The sequence with the books? The importance of the soliloquies, their delivery, revelation of his psychology, his dilemmas? `To be or not to be?' His delaying in confronting Claudius, a hesitator, the need for proof? The arrival of the players, his delight, the plan? His acting as chorus during the performance, rowdy response, the effect? Passing Claudius at prayer but not killing him? The bedroom confrontation with his mother - desperate, emotions, any suggestions of latent incestuous feelings? Polonius and his listening in, his death? Claudius's plot, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern? Hamlet altering the letters? The voyage and return? The graveyard, the Yorick speech? His reflections on death? Melancholy? Continuing to feign the madness, Ophelia's funeral? The build-up to the challenge, the duel and its effect, his mother's death, Laertes and the truth, Claudius? The reality of his depression, hurt, genuine madness, feigning madness? Mel Gibson's acting, style and presence, delivery of the poetry?
10.Claudius and his bluff style, the opening, relationship with Hamlet, love for Gertrude, favours to Laertes? Celebrations? The play, his being caught, the dramatic self-revelation? His prayer - how genuine? Continued plotting, Laertes, the duel, the poison in the cup, seeing Gertrude drink it? His death? The contrast with his brother, the way that he was spoken about, the funeral oration, the ghost on the battlements, melancholy, revealing the truth? Putting the burden on Hamlet, the enactment in the play?
11.Gertrude, her age and experience, love for her husband, love for Claudius, the power? Her relationship with Hamlet, tender, motherly? Her age, love and passion? The suggestions of incestuous feelings? Her role in the court, the play, tenderness towards Ophelia, discussing Hamlet's condition with Claudius and Polonius? Reporting to Claudius? Polonius's death? The confrontation in the bedroom, holding a mirror up to herself? Ophelia, her death, the funeral? The duel and her reaffirmation of love for her son, her death?
12.Polonius, pompous, his speech to Laertes, looking at Hamlet and assessing him, advice to Claudius and Gertrude, planning, hiding behind the curtain, his death?
13.Ophelia, her genuine love, place in the court? Her reaction to Hamlet's behaviour and speeches? The credibility of her going into decline, her death, Gertrude's speech about her madness and death? Laertes finding her dead?
14.Laertes, at court, friendships, farewell to his father, going abroad, the return, his anger at his sister's death, grief, Claudius using his anger towards Hamlet? The fight, his confession, death?
15.Hamlet's friends, Horatio, the battlements, the soldiers, the experience of the ghost? Horatio's advice to Hamlet? The players? The finale? Hamlet's final speech - testimony to Horatio, Mel Gibson with the deathly voice, `The rest is silence'?
16.Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, their friendship, duplicity, the play, the plot against Hamlet, his changing the letters, their execution?
17.The gravedigger, his memories, a humorous meditation on death?
18.Shakespeare's poetry, imagery, rhythms? The cast and their delivery and interpretation? A presentation of society, human behaviour, corruption, tragedy? The overall experience of the audience?
