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From: RuGaNHoZ
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  • I love this version of Hamlet- of course Kenneth Branagh is a brilliant actor- but, uhh, he just looks too darn old. That's the problem with pretty much ALL Hamlets! If you read the play, it's so so so obvious that he is just a teenager. Of course, I suppose it'd be hard to find a teenager capable of playing this role, but at least get someone who looks young!

    Also, I prefer David Tennant's take on this scene. :P

  • It's good.... but... I'm a david tennant fanboy through and through.

  • best hamlet.

    

  • the best Hamlet done.

  • That guy looks too old

  • this is the best Hamlet i love this movie Kenneth Branagh' is really the best Shakespeare player.

  • Kenneth Brannagh kind of sounds like Derren Brown.

  • He goes ham when he puts on the play, though

  • Branaghs hamlet was magnificent not too short not too long!

  • I'm presenting this tomorrow :), So excited, putting as much emotion and passion into it, fully memorized: )

  • @intellegence63smart tell us how it went

  • @bfoaliali it went great, the class was so surprised and my teacher was raining compliments on me. I loved it.

  • Hamlet is the perfect character.

  • He is like the real Hamlet, although he has never existed; Kenneth is truly himself.

  • I love this version of Hamlet. There's just something about Hamlet that makes him so real and believable. I love it. ♥

    And it doesn't hurt that Hamlet is Gilderoy Lockheart~

  • @vjv100 que cosa?

  • i love this :)))

  • I just like this version of Hamlet (:

  • i love how this soliloquy is done, infact, i just love this movie =)

  • I have to recite these lines. its helping to hear his version.

    Love this movie :)

  • @PhilAlexandrs @bulletcookiegirl You just did my english homework. Thank you very much.

  • @Seanoob haha mine too

  • I would like to see Ryan Kwanten in Hamlet !

    I liked Shakespeare....i don't like it anymore (thanks to my teacher !)

  • I KEEP THINKIN THIS GUY REMINDS ME OF THAT GUY FROM RENO 911 WITH THE LITTLE SHORTS.. LOL

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  • y is he 30 when in the book hes 17?

  • @DarkRyokoGirl he isnt 17 in the book....he's actually probably closer to thirty than he is to 17. He's an older prince

  • @danicali88

    30's really not that old either~~~ ^___^ although compared to 17 it is...

  • @DarkRyokoGirl Read the scene when hamlet is talking to the gravedigger, you have to do some math, but shakespeare reveals Hamlets age exactly, i think its 30 or 32

  • Amazing film. Best Shakespeare in Cinema.

  • Kenneth Branagh just totally hams it up, I'll be damned if this isn't the biggest vanity project in the history of film.

  • @degree7 I don't know about *the* biggest vanity project, but it's up there, for sure. Branagh wanted to shoot Hamlet in 70mm, which fell out of usage by then, and hasn't been used since. It was a good decision because it's so gorgeous. And, Branagh really is a ham, but that's what I love about him. He puts forth so much passion into his work. I believe Shakespeare would've been proud of this adaptation. There's absolutely nothing stiff or stale about it, and it's the first full version, too. :)

  • such a great film and representation of Hamlet

  • Great version of the play, memorable. I watched this in high school English.

  • Thanks to Shakespeare, the Brits OWN the English language.

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  • Had shakespear known that students all over the world would have to learn the soliloquys thay he wrote, i have a feeling he would have made them a lot easier to remember...i have to know this whole thing for tomorrow morning!!!

  • I absolutely love this soliloquy. It is possibly the most inspiring and amazing soliloquy ever written by Shakespeare.

    It is a masterpiece of the English language. We are truly blessed to be able to recite these words. 

  • @slinkiwaffel Did it inspire you to off yourself?

  • che voce meravigliosa...una voce da Amleto...ti scava fino al cuore

  • can't wait to buy this :-)

  • actually, his age is an inconsistency in this play. in the beginning, he is said to be 18, and yes the gravediggers reveal that he would be around 35. Yes Shakespeare knew this, but he never corrected his plays. All or most of his plays were just manuscripts. Anything that wasn't working out right, he just abandoned in the writing process.

  • Went with solid over sullied...F over Q2

  • Hamlet is 23. They mention that in the gravedigger scene. (Billy Crystal does a hell of a job in this version!)

  • This is the best Hamlet ever and the only film that has the entire play word for word and then some (they added lines at the end in some of Hamlet's soliloquies).

  • @starrbeatlesqueen Umm, no, they didn't. What they did was switch some lines around. For instance, when Hamlet sees the Ghost when he is with Horatio and Marcellus, he speaks to it before the Ghost beckons. in this movie, the Ghost beckons first, and then when Hamlet is running through the forest after the Ghost, you hear what he says to it in voiceover. (This is all before the Ghost tells Hamlet who he is and that he was murdered by Claudius.)

  • is he Hamlet?

  • Can someone summarize what he just said?

  • He is sick with how everyone moved on so quickly after his father's death. Especially his mother and even more by getting married to her brother in law (Hamlet's uncle from his father's side) only a month after his death.

  • can anyone of you do better than that?

  • @hazlitt1

    I like Branagh's performance and I can't see what's wrong with Iago's part. Henry V was good too.

  • "Frailty thy name is woman"

  • this soliloquy is a key point in the play, it higlights hamlets dispair and anger at his mothers actions and fathers death. he changes the time period of hjow long his father has been dead. it starts with "two months dead, nay, not so much not two" then "a litte month" then "within a month" whic shows hamlets mind is in chaos and confusuon. Kenneth portreyed this very well. and its so well acted.

  • @bulletcookiegirl Mate could you do my Hamley coursework for me :)

  • @bulletcookiegirl I think when he says "within a month!" he is talking about the marriage between his mother and His fathers brother, but not fully explained.

  • Gibson butchered this soliloquy....

  • @henrynzidane24an Gibson violated this soliloquy, and 2.2 'O what a rogue and a peasant slave am I' , and 3.1 'To be or not to be'. Gibson's version of Hamlet put me in physical pain.

  • too*

    grammar nazi attack

  • I love that scene's very beginning, how he leans his weight on the chair like that, like he was holding back so much anger, tears and desperation throughout the entire wedding - to finally collapse like that. Awesome.

  • @PhillAlexandros

    Yes! this film was shot, blocked, and set flawlessly. They tell the entire story of Hamlet by the shot-setup and editing alone. This film is truly one of the greatest, for more than a few reasons.

  • Personally I think the age should be decided according to the intention and interpretation of each production. As cobbean says, there is no complete or original manuscript, and Shakespeare would have revised scenes and circumstances numerous times. A sixteen year old Hamlet will play the part differently to a thirty year old one, but both are equally valid. The focus should be the issues Shakespeare was dealing with, and different productions will explore them differently.

  • Hamlet is supposed to be in college in the play... so his age is somewhat determined... he must be in his 20s or so

  • yes, hamlet is around 35, maybe younger, as he played with his jester before the gravediggers started his job 30 years prior.

  • @kathleeeeeeeeenn But just because he attends college doesn't mean that he is in his 20s.

  • @singlouderplease FACT

    hamlet is in fact in his 30s.

  • I think the question about Hamlet's age has to do with the fact that there is no one complete version of Hamlet. Most modern editions collate material from the Second Quarto and the First Folio...Hamlet is both around the ages of 19 and 30 in a modern edition!

  • I love love love love love this. Favourite soliloquy. Why is everyone ranting about age and maths?

  • Yeah they are both good. It's personal opinion, acting is an art, I myself am an actor, and it's a skill that evolves better as you get older. But in essence it is an art form, and with that some people prefer minimalistic some people drama, some people naturalism, some people abstract. I would love to see you try and do this scene and not get criticized. I think you need to be more open to other peoples point of view and actually start listening instead of arguing.

  • Kenneth Branaugh is a genius!

    i can't stop watching this!

    plus, Hamlet and Ophelia are both in the 16-19 age range. The reason their actors are older is simply because the talent/experience it takes to play such complex characters (especially hamlet!) simply doesn't come to people who are actually 16-19 years old..

  • no! the gravedigger said that he started his job when hamlet was born, and that he has been doing his job for 30 years. So hamlet is around 30, not 16-19.

  • its debatable... some say that Hamlet is 30 some say that the gravedigger wouldn't have been able to count properally

  • theres evidence for both. its just the bard's poor editing.

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  • But alas, Shakespeare intended it for the theater. And in the theater you need to be over-dramatic, which his plays are undoubtedly. In order to project and perform plays that encompass not only extreme human struggle but elements of magic and mystery, you cannot under act a Shakespearean play. Then it losses it all truthfulness and the original dramatic effect on the audience. I agree you can't over-act but that doesn't meant you can't be dramatic like Brannagh portrays...

  • it's SHAKESPEARE. Not realism. The point of it is too be over the top and dramatic, yet still encompassing humanity. The obvious struggle of thought and vulnerability is present, voice and gesture simply highlight it - however do not exaggerate it. He plays this interpretation very very well, in a way that modern audiences can in fact relate too (which is why it has been so successful). ..Would you prefer the moronic over emphasized physical and vocal performance of Mel Gibson?

  • DiCaprio I can argue about, but the rest are pretty good. They perform naturalistic, down-to-earth characters, though, not the heavily-diluted archetypes that Shakespeare used, though he well explored human nature with such stock characters.

    I just don't see what is false with Branagh's rendition. By 'voice,' I don't mean different, cartoon-y type voices (and, yes, I do find the breathy, soft sounds people resort to when they do Shakespearean theater annoying), but instead the use of the

  • voice to convey emotion, much in the same way an individual facing a real situation would. This is not 'false acting,' but instead an attempt to connect with the character of Hamlet. The use of hand gestures is effective, much as you may not believe, because it also incorporates the body, something that stage actors do much better than film actors.

    And another thing: concentrating on gesture and the voice is a staple in live theater. The entire body is noticed much more easily than a facial

  • Gotta hit you over the head with screaming and crying, huh?

    The emotion is evident in the manner he moves and the pitch and tone of his voice. You can hear his disgust as he compares Claudius to the late Hamlet, his anger at the rushing of the wedding, his anger toward his mother, cynicism towards the entire affair. Not just mere rhythm, but adequate pacing for theater and appropriate emotion for a character who is portrayed, before the third act, as being withdrawn, subdued, and subtle.

  • It works in this role, considering Hamlet's mental state.

  • Brillinat adaption!

  • Great. Interesting, he leans on the double chairs which Olivier did in his version later in the same speech.

  • Later? You mean earlier?

  • He means "later in the monolog"

  • see i thought when it said "heres a skull now; this skull hath lain you i' the earth three and twenty years" referring to Yorick a clown Hamlet liked as a child that he was a very young child at Yoricks death, so i just judged it wrong i guess lol.

  • all the hamlets always look old.

  • hamlet was 30

  • in the play it said he was like mid to late 20s

  • nope it says hes thirty, the grave digger says "i have been sexton here for 30 years" and i started on the night that hamlet was born, the day old hamlet fought old fortinbras of norway

  • he didn't say that. he said "Cannot you tell that? Every fool can tell that. It was the very day that young hamlet was born..." and then proceeds in saying "Why here in Denmark. I have been sexton here, man and boy, thirty years" indicating he was working when King Hamlet was alive as well as when Hamlet was born. Hamlet is meant to be 16-18, he just returned from university, which in those days would have been around that time, Ophelia is 14...so it would make sense.

  • no he was working since the day hamlet was born. he has been working for 30 years since, hamlet is therefore 30, thus giving an extra emotional depth to the charecter and further explifiying that fact that hamlet is more then rather sheltered and suffers from what is deemed melencholic inertia.

  • he was in university. Royalty went to university when they were 15 in those days. And actually if you really analyse the text you can see elements of the adolescent...angst, hatred, passion (in vengeance).

  • actually if we're talking history it wasnt unusal for royality in demark at the time to start their education very late possibly even at the age of 15. there is also the fact that such traits empasise the nieveity and court inspired innocence of hamlet

  • But Hamlet remembers Yorick, who had been buried at least "three-and-twenty years" ago at the time of the play.

    Harold Bloom, a Shakespeare scholar, suggests that Shakespeare was reckless in his mathematics and would have laughed at our confusion.

  • Dude shut the fuck up, the performance was perfect!

  • i wish that hamlet lived

  • hamlet is a psycho!

  • hella hopeful man

    got the same Soliloquy

    finally i know how to express the words right thanks man

  • fraility thy name is woman

  • this dudes the best hamlet fo sho

  • really helpful video for when you need to memorize and recite it for english class

  • wonderful

  • My favorite Shakespeare play!

    Such a sad and beautiful story.

  • this doesnt really have anything to do with the play, but i'm reading it in my lit class while watching this movie at the same time and i knew hamlet looked familiar....he plays gilderoy lockheart in harry potter...in case anyone else had the same feeling

  • this was awesome!

  • Wonderful

  • "Fraility, thy name is woman!"

    Love this movie.

  • so not true!

  • Obviously mattcole doesn't have any movie taste. This is by far the best movie version of Hamlet. Branagh is spot on, bringing out Hamlet's depression and confusion and youth... the shots are beautiful and colorful. Awesome movie, and wonderful scene.

  • doesnt look that young

  • This is the most beautiful thing i had ever heard

  • epic

  • you mean play not book, and actually if you see it done properly for example watch this film more than once if necessary, you will see it is far from stupid, although I agree I used to hate school, this is a masterpiece you will understand, its worth the effort.

  • Shakespeare wrote PLAYS to be performed, not just read and put back on the shelf like a book!!, as for this film sucking, this is one of the clearest well spoken versions of the play I have seen, performed by the best actors in this field.

  • here here.

  • Can anyone tell me what's going on in his mind? It sounds like he's very angry at his sister for marrying his uncle. And something else...

    Couldn't really understand everything he was saying in all that yelling and cursing.

  • Basically, he's angry that his mother (not his sister) married his uncle only one or two months after his father's death, even though she'd professed great love for his father and mourned his death.

  • Exactly. His father died and not even a month later his mother married his uncle (her dead husband's brother) and now he is King.

  • This performance reminds ever so slightly of the actor Mark Heap as Dr Alan Statham!

  • he really has a good understanding of hamlets emotion. its great. i love him in this role.

  • i just gave you a thumbs up

  • thanks man.

  • i gave you one too, man!

  • Today is December 10th!

    Happy birthday, Kenneth-- my favorite Hamlet!

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  • No...this is Kenneth Branagh playing Hamlet in the film he directed. Ewan McGregor has no connections with this movie.

  • like smemr said, its kenneth. you can tell.

  • I love you Hamlet!

    <3

  • What's the name of this actor? It's funny to watch him do this, because he also acted as Iago in a movie version of Othello.

  • This is Kenneth Branagh, an Irish actor who was also Iago (Othello), Henry V (Henry V) and Professor Lockhart (Harry Potter: Chamber of Secrets)

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  • as well as Benedick from Much Ado About NOthing :)

  • Funny how at first Hamlet sems like a cool calm guy and then he goes all crazy.

  • Hamlet is outwardly calm, but messed up on the inside: he is po'd by his mother's marriage to his uncle, right on the heels of his father's funeral. He suspects an affair,

    and maybe foul play. In his century, this was also called "incest".

  • wow!

    i love this part of hamlet!

    i have memorized this part since i was 11!!

    and im not lying cuz now im only 13!!!!!!!!

    :))

  • Your are a wierd little child. Go out and play with some friends

  • *have you noticed, not what you noticed.

    sorry, I didn't review it.

  • I hope that I've expressed myself properly. you see, I'm brazilian, so I can express myself better in portuguese, my own language. but I think that is pretty much it.

  • ok, i'll try to explain my point of view:

    setting hamlet in the middle age is... obvious. everybody did it, everybody always does it.

    moreover, the colorful and opolent setting that this movie have conveys precisely the idea of corruption that the text requires.what you noticed how big the castle is? it seems a labyrinth where everybody hides and everything is a secret.

  • this is definitely the best movie version of the play (my favorite one, by the way). it's genius not to set the story in the middle age. the colorful background conveys perfectly the idea of correction required by it.

  • why on earth is it genius to not set the story in the middle ages?

  • yeah she really is a terrible actress

  • The movie is fine, but do yourself a FAVOUR and check out the BBC Radio version of Hamlet (with Kenneth also)... it literally ruined me for any other version (even 15 or more years after I first heard it!

  • Do you know anyone who can post the version you talked about? I would be so pleased to heard it!

  • i listened to that and thought it quite absurd, laughable, in fact! this version is much better, he understand the roll more here. I thought Ophelia in that radio production so bad it was criminal.

  • WOW his acting is so powerful!!!! everyones acting is soo spot on!!!

  • im not a fan of branagh as hamlet. i think he over acts the role to a certain extent. he's just a bit melodramatic for my liking a lot of the time. plus he's a bit too old for the role. Hamlet should be a college student; not a 35 year old or however old he is. just my opinion though

  • hamlet is 30 years old, this is said during the gravedigger scene.

  • Kenneth Branagh is gorgeous

  • oh he does do well in this scene!

    as far as the movie as a whole though, not very good. some of the acting was rediculous, in my opinion.

    but winslet was incredible as always, and i loved branagh as hamlet.

  • winslet is a terrible actress.

  • Bloody brilliant, that. Thank God for the Branagh--thx for posting this! Derek Jacobi directed Hamlet on stage with Kenneth Branagh as Hamlet when he was in his 20s (late 20s?). And during the filming of this one, Jacobi gave him a copy of Hamlet that's been passed on from one Hamlet to another, to the one he thinks is the best Hamlet of that generation. Gielgud, Olivier, and Jacobi all had had it. And Jacobi chose Branagh.

    In 2009, Branagh will direct Hamlet with Jude Law as hamlet!

  • What? Is he really going to do Hamlet again??? If so I'll be super excited, but how it could be better than this film I don't know.

  • I luv this soliloquy!! thank you!

  • Great.

  • BEST PLAY EVER!!!!

  • I don't care what anyone says, this is brilliant.

  • Isn't Hamlet supposed to be a lot younger than someone with white hair would be?

    Fine performance though, I'd say. I don't know. I need to see Hamlet. I've never actually seen the play.

  • He's supposed to be 32-33, if I am not wrong.

  • He's supposed to be 30. Wanna know how I know? You know the graveyard scene? Watch that scene, and really pay attention to the dialogue. The gravedigger says at one point he's been doing his job since 'the very day young Hamlet was born' and later mentions he's been doing it for 30 years.

  • ooh that's a really good observation...thanks!!

  • No problem.

  • Interestingly, though, there is a lot of disagreement about his age. Many think his original age was intended to be about 17. The age of 30 resulted from use of one version of the play.

  • the play starts out with Hamlet at around 20, and he ages in the play, and ends up in his 30's. The most autobiographical of all Shake-speare's plays, it mirrors the life of the author, aka Edward de Vere, down to minute details, including being robbed by pirates. De Vere learned what he needed about Elsinore, as his brother in law was an emissary of the queen to Elsinore, and handed out a report of his time there to the queen's inner circle. Peregrine Bertie was his brother in law's name.

  • what are you talking about, he ages in the play? and by ten years??? what on earth?

  • He's 20 when play starts, and he's 30 according to the grave digger, at the point of Hamlet's return from England.

  • why do you say he was 20?

  • Kindly consider Hamlet to be a compressed narrative. Hamlet starts out younger, leaves for England, and comes back in the graveyard scene, where t