Shakespeare "King Lear"- Kozintsev (1971), Act 4, scene 6

an extract from the celebrated film version of King Lear by Russian director Grigori Kozintsev. English subtitles. Jüri Järvet ... King Lear Karl Sebris ... Gloucester Aleksei Petrenko ... Oswald Valentina Shendrikova ... Cordelia Director: Grigori Kozintsev (1905-1973, this was his last film) and Iosif Shapiro (co-director) adaptation by Kozintsev, and Boris Pasternak translated the Shakespeare text into Russian Original Music by Dmitri Shostakovich Cinematography by Jonas Gritsius--his beautiful camerawork comes thru even in this very average transfer, but the compression here at YouTube ruins much of it....you need to see this on a DVD, in the very least!! Laurence Olivier's version of this scene here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJuMcJlf7tM by Doug Cummings: Kozintsev and cinematographer Jonas Gritsius' imagery is the main star of the film, the constantly moving camera, deep compositions, and windswept landscapes providing an acutely vivid milieu accentuated by Yenej's sets and location work (towering castles, shadowy chambers, crowded villages, and hay-strewn barns). Kozintsev favors reverse tracking shots preceding characters as they stride through the chaotic settings of warring factions and politically-charged interior spaces, and the film's sense of place offers more than eye candy. As Kozintsev told Ronald Hayman in the Summer 1973 issue of the Transatlantic Review: "When Lear goes mad at the beginning of the storm scene, this is the beginning of an absolutely new relationship with nature. I try to illustrate with this landscape a country which is not bare, not cruel. I try to show Lear himself as a part of nature, in a field of flowers. His hair spreads like moss, the grey hair of nature. Once man is seen as a part of nature, the movement towards regeneration can begin. Cordelia too has her own landscape--sea and a very wide landscape--with waves and seagulls. All the important characters have their own atmosphere and there are relationships not just on the level of character but between different aspects of nature." Another standout feature of the film is the stark and melancholy score by Shostakovich. "I've been working with Shostakovich all my life," Kozintsev remarked, "and I think his understanding of the whole tragic and grotesque imagery in Shakespeare is perfect. And in King Lear I didn't use just dignifying fanfares and drum-rolls. There is also the voice of suffering. I love the pipe music he composed for the Fool. I think this is a real voice of Shakespeare and I'm very grateful to Shostakovich. When I hear Shostakovich's music I think I've heard Shakespeare's verse." Король Лир Korol Lir Григорий Михайлович Козинцев