King Lear, old and tired, divides his kingdom among his daughters, giving great importance to their protestations of love for him. When Cordelia, youngest and most honest, refuses to idly flatter the old man in return for favor, he banishes her and turns for support to his remaining daughters. But Goneril and Regan have no love for him and instead plot to take all his power from him. In a parallel, Lear's loyal courtier Gloucester favors his illegitimate son Edmund after being told lies about his faithful son Edgar. Madness and tragedy befall both ill-starred fathers.
Directed by Grigori Kozintsev
Trailer
IMDB
N/A
Letterboxd
4.0 / 5
Cast
Jüri Järvet
King Lear
Galina Volchek
Regan
Elza Radziņa
Goneril
Valentina Shendrikova
Cordelia
Oleg Dal
Fool
Donatas Banionis
Albany
Regimantas Adomaitis
Edmund
Aleksandr Vokach
Cornwall
Aleksey Petrenko
Oswald
Juozas Budraitis
King of France
Karlis Sebris
Gloster
Vladimir Yemelyanov
Kent
Crew
Grigori Kozintsev
Director
Grigori Kozintsev
Writer
Dmitri Shostakovich
Original Music Composer
Jonas Gricius
Director of Photography
Vasili Goryunov
Makeup Artist
Boris Pasternak
Theatre Play
William Shakespeare
Theatre Play
Evgeny Eney
Production Design
Arkadiy Tigay
Assistant Director
Boris Frumin
Assistant Director Trainee
Popular Reviews
4 reviews
Audrey Harrington
4.0★ · 04/07/25
Listen. I love Russian 20th century cinema, but I also fucking hate King Lear.
Listen. I love Russian 20th century cinema, but I also fucking hate King Lear.
Laurence Skinner
8.0★ · 12/08/24
Nothing comes from nothing.
BANGER!!!
acting was fine not great in this one but what it lacked in acting it made up for in cinematography and setting - love the harsh winter it suits so well in a play where even the weather is hostile
and the opening credits/scene woah
it’s an imperfect play there’s a lot of things i’d do to fix it but still a goodun
Nothing comes from nothing.
BANGER!!!
acting was fine not great in this one but what it lacked in acting it made up for in cinematography and setting - love the harsh winter it suits so well in a play where even the weather is hostile
and the opening credits/scene woah
it’s an imperfect play there’s a lot of things i’d do to fix it but still a goodun
