Shakespeare's bleakest tragedy: when a king demands love as payment, madness is the only change he gets.
King Lear is a proud man who solicits praise from his three daughters in return for inheritance of the kingdom. Daughters Goneril and Regan profess their affection vehemently. Cordelia, who does not respect the process her father has chosen, does not humor him. Lear's perceived rejection from Cordelia leads to her banishment, thus splitting the kingdom between the other two. This hasty decision becomes his fatal error.
Acting
Scofield's Lear: volcanic pride calcifying into broken animal.
Direction
Brook strips Bard to bone—minimalist, cruel, unforgettable.
Cinematography
Bleached Danish landscapes as moral wasteland.
Director
Peter Brook
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