Page 154 - Shakespeare in the Movie From the Silent Era to Shakespeare in Love

I Know Not Seems / 143

Branagh insists, in direct opposition to earlier films, that Ophelia
is part of her father's conspiracy. Hamlet's sudden anger at her lie
(father is "at home") is no error on his part. Ophelia lies to Hamlet
for her father's sake, even as she lied to her father for Hamlet's sake.
She is not wicked, only weak, false with people she sincerely loves
(father, brother, lover) in a pathetic attempt to survive. Hamlet's
line—"Frailty, thy name is woman"—takes on special meaning,
implying for the first time on film what Shakespeare intended four
hundred years ago. Other versions have Hamlet speak unpleasantly
to Ophelia from the scene's opening, which makes no sense;
Branagh's Hamlet initially approaches Ophelia smiling with antici-
pation, trusting her as fully as he does Horatio. Then he catches her
lying and, understandably, grows furious. There are only two women
in the self-contained "world" of the play; both—100 percent of the
available female population—prove false. No wonder Hamlet sighs
in despair; there could be no other reaction to his situation.
Also effective is Ophelia's oncoming madness and eventual sui-
cide, ordinarily the most difficult element for a viewer to accept.
Branagh suggests a hint of potential neuroses in Ophelia from her
first scene rather than having it descend on her in mid-play. Winslet
speaks tenuously; she grows flustered whenever things do not go as
planned. This increases with every scene; following the vicious rejec-
tion by her lover and subsequent cold-blooded murder of her father,
Ophelia naturally loses control. Branagh dares show her struggling in
a straitjacket, cutting away to flashbacks of Ophelia and Hamlet in
bed, letting us grasp how all these events and lies could cumula-
tively crack an already shaky soul.
By including the complete text, Branagh emphasizes an important
element that, sadly, often gets lost: the sincerity of Claudius's love
for Gertrude. Jacobi's talent, coupled with the character's additional
screen time, makes us aware of Shakespeare's full achievement in
presenting a multidimensional human. Branagh (notably generous
to his costar) seems willing to suggest that Claudius may be the
tragic hero. Hamlet, after all, is presented as good throughout;
Claudius better fits the classic definition of a good man who does
bad things. Unlike any earlier tragic heroes (misguided but not evil),
he does so consciously. Branagh's film makes clear that Claudius
was Shakespeare's dry run for Macbeth. He appears to have mur-
dered his brother less out of ambition than owing to honest emo-
tions for the woman, thus becoming strangely sympathetic.