Hamlet Details

A filmed stage production of the play

I am working on an essay about screen adaptations of Hamlet and had to watch several filmed Hamlets over the past few weeks. This version is different from the others I've seen in that it is filmed entirely on stage, without any of the visual enhancements that cinema may offer. Nonetheless, it does not suffer from the lack of filmic scenery since both the acting and the photography are excellent. It differs from theatre productions because of the camera angles and choice of the distance a particular scene is shot from or which characters are shown in the frame. All these techniques are used to emphasize the meaning of the spoken verse. For example, in the famous soliloquies close-ups of Hamlet’s face let us see the slightest nuances of his feelings. The Ghost is made to appear towering over the mortals through the positioning of the camera in such a way that he is shot from above at the forefront.

Kevin Kline directs and plays the title role. His Hamlet is intelligent, noble and sensitive. Diane Venora is outstanding as Ophelia, especially in the madness scenes. She is very convincing and moving. Claudius's character (played by Brian Murray) is more complex than in most screen adaptations of Hamlet, since we are shown his human side. He is repentant in the way one might suspect him to be more an opportunist rather than a downright villain. Gertrude is sympathetically played by Dana Ivey (a role that cannot be more different from that of Margaret Addams!). Polonius (Josef Sommer) looks a little bit like an eccentric professor full of good intentions whose death is credibly mourned by his children. The characters’ costumes appear modern (or at least placed in the twentieth century).

In the final scene, Hamlet’s body is carried away by the captains, his arms spread wide making the cross of his body echoing the white cross in the Danish flag hanging on the stage.

As opposed to most screen adaptations of the play, the verse is not truncated or tampered with too much and therefore provides a good material for students of the play.