Kenneth Branagh's film of Shakespeare's Hamlet

Kenneth Branagh's film of Shakespeare's Hamlet is remarkable for the use of the entire, uncut text of the play and for its elaborate design. Despite the director's commitment to the full text, however, he shows an even more remarkable lack of faith in the power of the language and acting and, in fact, visually supplements the text at certain points in ways that underline his uneasiness with leaving anything unshown. The visual strategy devised for this film is revealed in many places to be based on reasonable considerations of how the look of the piece can enhance its meanings. But even when the best intentions govern the choices the film fails in almost every respect because the production design, costumes, and art direction seem to be there for their own sake rather than to serve the drama.

The facts behind the production of the film hint at the problems. The interiors of Elsinore Castle were constructed on two adjoining stages at Shepperton Studios in England and joined by connecting doors "making it, at over 250 feet in length, the largest single set in the United Kingdom" (Castle Rock). The designers intended to make the sets reflect Scandinavian neoclassicism of the early nineteenth century. But the exteriors were filmed at Blenheim Palace, the home of the Dukes of Marlborough, which was built by John Vanbrugh between 1705 and 1722. Other exteriors were shot on the grounds of the palace, employing many tons of imitation snow. The costumes, designed by Alexandr

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t the filmmakers' choices will either support or undermine the tragedy's meanings. In some instances the poor choices are merely distractions. There are, for example, no curtains or tapestries anywhere in the glacial "castle" until it is necessary to provide one for Polonius' death scene. Other more serious problems emerge when, for example, the settings are simply incorrect. The scenes where Polonius talks with his children (and with Reynaldo), for example, are traditionally set in his own house. It would not matter so much if they were set in some unidentified room--even an apartment in the castle. But the scene of Laertes' departure for France is set in what is obviously and unambiguously a chapel. Since it was built by Branagh's designers it must be assumed that this was a deliberate choice. But it makes no sense at all. The scene is acted out and Laertes makes his departure through the open-grilled gates of an interior chapel in what is obviously Elsinore Castle. Aside from the fact that such a setting is an inappropriate place for a personal conversation of this kind the use of this set deprives the scene of the impact needed for the contrast between Laertes and Hamlet and between Polonius' genuine family and the '

Category: Film - K