shakespeare .
you hardly understood it in high school .
why would you want more of it now that your english grade does n't count on it ?
if this is your attitude , then i 'll say right off the bat that kenneth branagh 's hamlet is probably not for you , and you might as well stop reading right now .
if , however , you are a lover of the bard , or at the very least are open - minded about a challenging script , read on , for there is something rotten in the state of denmark .
namely , the king has died , and his widow the queen has we d
the king 's brother , claudius , but prince hamlet suspects foul play .
his suspicions are confirmed when the ghost of his father appears and relates the story of his murder at his own brother 's hands .
hamlet , enlisting the help of his friend
horatio , conspires to capture the conscience of the new king to expose his treachery . . .
.
and the game is afoot . . . .
the first things you notice about this production are the sets and costumes .
with external scenes filmed at blemheim palace in england ( also the one of the sites for the recent the avengers ) , the grandiose quality of the setting is immediately established .
interior scenes are similarly graced with intricate and flamboyant rooms and chambers .
the hamlet castle 's grand throne room is an impressive piece of work incorporating high ceilings , mirror - panel doors , and bridges which connect opposite sides of a second - story loft .
costuming is equally grand , drawing upon both history and imagination . .
not quite the denmark of the 1600 's , the characters ' attire is something of a cross between that era and turn of the century russia , very effectively giving the film more of a timeless feel .
it is not surprising that tim harvey and alexandra byrne were nominated for best art direction and best costume design oscars , respectively .
in addition to directing , kenneth branagh also plays the title character .
as the revenge - driven royal heir , branagh provides a riveting performance of emotional highs and lows .
from the anticipation of seeing his father 's ghost , to the melancholy of finding the burial site of his childhood jester , to his eventual wrath , branagh delivers in spades .
every scene truly revolves around hamlet , as much a tribute to branagh 's acting and directing
as to shakespeare 's manuscript .
hamlet seems to be a who 's who of shakespearean - trained actors , so watching them perform the craft for which they have much love is a delight in itself .
julie christie , as hamlet 's mother gertrude , and derek jacobi
as his murderous uncle claudius both fill the classic roles superbly , as do many of the supporting players .
kate winslet as hamlet 's lover ophelia , does an outstanding job demonstrating the character 's plummet to the depths of dispair and madness .
richard briers as ophelia 's father , polonius , and michael moloney as her brother , laertes , are equally convincing .
nicholas farrell as hamlet 's trusted friend horatio , and timothy spall and reece dinsdale as the two - timing rosencrantz and guildenstern round out the excellent core cast .
hamlet also seems to be a film in which someone tried to stuff as many well known actors as possible .
in some cases , this made for interesting scenes .
billy crystal is surprisingly good as the gravedigger who unearths the skull of yorick , whom hamlet knew quite well .
crystal proves himself able to deliver the lines with both the timing of a classic actor and the verbal countenance of a comedian , and the result is a very funny scene .
however , charleton heston , whom many might think would butcher shakespeare , is the biggest surprise of all .
as the player king , the leader of a troupe of traveling actors , he is absolutely breathtaking when narrating the story of priam and hecuba .
part of his monologue is overlaid with a visual enactment of the story ( with sir john gielgud and judi dench ) , but this is most unfortunate , for it robs heston of some of the attention which he deserves at this time .
his off - camera speaking , while gripping , sort of downplays the scene to a narration done by any other well - voiced actor .
i wish branagh had chosen to allow us to envision in our own minds the scene which heston lays out , and let the venerable actor have the attention .
unfortunately , there were some casting choices which led to poor distractions .
jack lemmon , an excellent actor , just ca n't do shakespeare .
as marcellus , the guard who sees the elder hamlet 's ghost , lemmon sadly underperforms and is shown up left and right by those around him .
gerard depardieu , another talented actor , is wasted when given little more than the utterances of " yes , my lord " and " no , my lord " in the role of reynaldo .
richard attenborough has a ( literally ) walk - on role , showing up at the eleventh hour as the english ambassador .
i think he had two lines .
then there is rufus sewell as fortinbras of norway .
when i went to see dangerous beauty earlier this year , two ladies behind me kept commenting about how handsome he was .
if bulging eyes are your idea of handsome , well i guess comic actor marty feldman was some kind of sex symbol to you .
hamlet is a complicated tale of treachery and revenge in which triumph and defeat become one .
branagh attempts to help us out with some of the intricacies by visually representing some of the more elusive stretches of dialogue by presenting them as flashback - type images .
this only works about half the time , and i wonder if it would have been just as well to do without them .
you do n't have to be some kind of genius to appreciate shakespeare , but it is quite difficult to understand unless you have the time to read or hear it carefully and repeatedly .
the alternate method of comprehension is that with which most of us are familiar , the high school english course .
in it , you are hopefully fortunate enough to have an educator willing to help you with the plot points and nuances essential to understanding a play written in the rigmarole known as the king 's english .
or i suppose you could just read the cliff notes .
Output: P