Classic Review: Hamlet (1996)

Gabe GuarinJune 6, 202198/100n/a13 min
Starring
Kenneth Branagh, Julie Christie, Derek Jacobi
Writer
Kenneth Branagh
Director
Kenneth Branagh
Rating
PG (Canada), PG-13 (United States)
Running Time
242 minutes
Overall Score
Rating Summary
With his take on Hamlet, Branagh created one of the great epics of the modern age, doing justice to perhaps Shakespeare's most iconic tragedy.

Hamlet, directed by Kenneth Branagh, sees Branagh also adapt the classic William Shakespeare play in its entirety. It stars Branagh, Julie Christie, Billy Crystal, Gerard Depardieu, Charlton Heston, Derek Jacobi, Jack Lemmon, Rufus Sewell, Robin Williams and Kate Winslet. For those who don’t already know the basic premise of the play, Hamlet (Branagh), Prince of Denmark, learns that his uncle, King Claudius (Jacobi), killed his father as a conspiracy to get with his mother Gertrude (Christie) and usurp his brother’s title. Hamlet is drawn mad by this news and deliberates over revenge, upending his friends and family’s lives in the process.

The big challenge with adapting Shakespeare for the big screen is how to put a distinctive spin on it. After all, Shakespeare’s name is so ubiquitous and widely interpreted by so many people on both the stage and film. So what happens when one take perhaps Shakespeare’s most famous play and adapts it completely unabridged, treating it like an epic in the vein of David Lean at his grandest, including changing the setting to the 19th century? The result is a true visual marvel. Depicting the Elsinore Castle is a daunting task; contrasting the dark, gloomy, almost noir-ish look that other iterations draped the castle in, this palace at once it feels like a place one would love to live in, but at the same time be terrified of. The sheer detail, beauty, and color makes it easy to get sucked in, but at a distance. When there’s a crowd of other people surrounding and having a ball, it feels comforting but when one is on their own within lonely, barren halls full of mirrors, it is easy to feel a sense of existential dread.

This sense of isolation can be best seen in the attire of our protagonist, who mostly wears black amidst the more colorful festivity surrounding him, signifying the dark secrets he knows between him and Claudius, that of which he’s keeping to himself. The exterior scenes taking place in the harsh winter are also put to great use. In one scene, the winter snow seems like something that would add to a winter holiday mood, but in other moments, there is a ghostly, undead atmosphere besmirching everything. The appearance of Hamlet shows viewers how Tim Harvey appropriates a certain time in the Victorian era, but in a slightly Revisionist manner. The costumes achieve something similar. Alexandra Byrne blends period-accurate trends with a modern sensibility, and her eye for intricacies and elegance makes everyone seem as proper, dignified and aloof as possible. It does definitely reflect the madness of the Danish aristocracy as they grapple for anything that makes them appear noble and worthy.

But what about the way the story is treated. As already mentioned, Hamlet is a completely unabridged adaptation of Shakespeare’s play that doesn’t omit a single detail from the page. This leads to a sprawling four hours to work with, and being an epic film in the purest sense, every story within the overarching plot is told with the utmost importance. As the director, Branagh ramps up the melodramatic bombast to eleven, complete with a classical score from Patrick Doyle. The film features plenty of quiet, somber moments meant to draw attention to the characters’ psyche, and other scenes aim to wring the biggest emotions from the most simple of settings, such as the soliloquy monologue.

An excellent use of minimalistic mise-en-scene, Branagh pans the camera out as he will become increasingly impassioned in his delivery. Other times feature long tracking-shots that almost feel handheld that convey the emotions experienced by the characters in their most uncertain states of mind. Hamlet saw not a single story beat feel half-heartedly included as they were rather crucial to the larger point and narrative. The plot point concerning Rosencrantz (Timothy Spall) and Guildenstern (Reece Dinsdale) is the best example of this; they are crucial in moving the plot forward and the movie recognizes that. As mentioned earlier, the colors do a lot to add to the tone, from the stark, cold whites, blacks and golds of the multi-mirrored hallway that the ‘To Be or Not to Be’ monologue takes place in, to the faded, darkened periwinkle blue skies of winter often illuminated by golden lights, to the reds and whites that illustrate the throne room, there is a distinctive sense of command on the film’s aesthetic that jumps out and makes this movie unique among Shakespeare adaptations.

But what is a good Shakespeare adaptation without actors who can carry his dialogue with conviction, pathos and gravitas. Branagh goes for broke in the title role, showing Hamlet’s seeming bi-polar nature with a level of extremity that on paper is really hard to sell. His delivery of  “To Be or Not to Be” was cleverly lensed through several mirrors to amplify his identity crisis. However, the scene where he talks to his father’s ghost is also a marvelous scene for many reasons, not the least of which how Branagh conveys manic intensity to express how Hamlet is overwhelmed by the revelation that his uncle killed his father, as he tries to process the emotional trauma that this new information brings to him. He is also convincing at showing his sheer grief at Ophelia’s funeral, and the anguish he takes out on Laertes.

Kate Winslet does a good job portraying the mental unraveling of Ophelia. She is particularly good at using physicality in her performance to portray Ophelia’s descent into madness. The scenes she shares with Branagh’s Hamlet have a tinge of uneasiness, but it feels appropriate as we just know they will be pulled apart. Christie is splendid in the more limited part of Gertrude, while Jacobi makes for a pompous, calculating villain who is by no means Hamlet’s equal, let alone that of the brother he murdered, but likes to pretend he is. If there is a sticking point with Hamlet, it’d be some of the cast feel like stunt casting, such as Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, Jack Lemmon and Gerard Depardieu, who feel out of place and overly broad in the setting this movie establishes. On the other hand, you do get a delightfully grandiose monologue from Charlton Heston as the Player King who is well-suited for the pomp and circumstance.

Oh and Hamlet looks gorgeous. Alex Thomson practically paints the movie with his stately cinematography, and his use of angles tell all kinds of stories just by themselves. He doesn’t resort to any easy tricks but rather serves the story and chooses shots based on the tone of the scene. Patrick Doyle gives a properly royal, classical score that paints the picture of a somewhat somber festival, and the editing by Neil Farrell keeps the movie consistently well-paced with enough variety even at four hours.

With his take on Hamlet, Branagh created one of the great epics – and British films – of the modern age, warranting the obvious comparisons to David Lean at his grandest, and doing justice to perhaps Shakespeare’s most iconic tragedy.

still courtesy of Columbia Pictures


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