Cymbeline (1982)

Cymbeline is a romance by Shakespeare.Instead of Ancient Britain during the Roman Empire,it is set in the early 17.century (before 1616).Sets and costumes are very beautiful.Acting is quite good,especially of Helen Mirren as Cymbeline's gentle daughter Imogen.Overall ,a very beautiful Cymbeline.

Cymbeline is often seen as problematic, and it not among those of Shakespeare's works which receive the most attention. "The Tragedy of Cymbeline" features Cymbeline as a smaller character who end the play joyous and alive, more clement than before after having realized his error. The plot is a bravura tangle -- a tour de force of Shakespeare's power of creating mazes of deception and misconception, then resolving everything in a symphonic final scene. In a sense, it is plotted like a Shakespearean comedy but otherwise written like a Shakespearean tragedy (in the scene where Imogen decides to disguise her self as a man -- as so many of Shakespeare's comedic heroines seem to -- she also earnestly and poetically begs Pisanio to kill her), becoming interestingly uncanny.Elijah Moshinsky, in directing this production, takes the wise move of playing the script deadly straight (except or course for definitely comic elements such as Cloten's self-love) and wringing as much drama from the play as possible. Largely it works very well, and Cymbeline is, as it should be, an emotionally powerful journey. The effect is aided by good atmosphere and appearance -- these BBC TV productions sometimes show humble origins, but here the appearance of a bleak, and largely empty castle where many scenes take play, and that of similar landscapes outdoors, enhances the mood. The greatest positive attribute, though, is a cast with many extraordinary performances. Helen Mirren headlines and is excellent, making Imogen always believable -- a strong person overwhelmed by circumstances. Michael Gough is wonderful as Belarius in a very sensitive performance that makes the character palpably guilt-ridden, but loving and possessed of pride (this performance makes me wish Michael Gough had done much more Shakespeare). Robert Lindsay is very memorable as Iachimo, taking a rather upsetting sensual pleasure in all his villainy. Richard Johnson is notable too with a fairly eccentric but very good performance as a grumpy, sulky, and cantankerous King Cymbeline, and Claire Bloom is chilling as his villainous wife. Sometimes the pace lags, but it is worth this for the attention paid to hitting all the vital moments of this play. I'm glad the only full screen performance we have of this play is a good one, sensitively directed and blessed with excellent acting from many hands.

Another good adaptation of a Shakespeare play, Cymbeline sees the title character, the King of Britain,cast his daughter Imogen into exile for choosing the wrong husband, lowly Posthumous thus setting off a chain of events that nearly sees him lose his crown. Machinations abound with the King's scheming wife,his fey and pompous stepson, as well as a group of hunters lurking in the nearby forest who have deep and ultimately redeeming connections with the King.Richard Johnson is likable enough as the beleaguered King, and Claire Bloom and Micheal Gough are good enough in their roles. Robert Lindsay could be more menacing in the part of the scheming Iachimo, despite a racy mock-seduction scene with Helen Mirren's Imogen. Mirren is good to watch as the virtuous but naive princess, despite a scene in the end where she's lamely disguised as a boy but no-one recognises her. Paul Jesson, usually cast as rough working class characters, bravely takes the other route as Clothen and comes off well. Micheal Pennington, however, is the biggest loss as Posthumous. He's gamely acting his socks off but he just isn't moving enough to really convince us of his character's plight.The story at least is seen to make sense and that is reason enough to give this one a go. Not the best of the BBC Shakespeare adaptations but not the worst either.

It would be much easier to make a laundry list of complaints about how "Shakespeare didn't know what he was doing," or "everyone and everything bores me," but let's do it the hard way and see what's here.This is one of those late plays that academics can't classify as a tragedy, comedy or history. This is not a mistake of Shakespeare's, but a deliberate choice. "Cymbeline" is crammed full of incident, sprouts multiple strands running off in all directions, and miraculously pulls itself together at the end. In fact, some critics refer to "Cymbeline," "Pericles" and "The Winter's Tale" as the Miracle Plays.So, assuming just for the moment that Shakespeare did know what he was doing, how well has he been served here? Helen Mirren as Imogen is herself a miracle, "in the moment" at every moment, totally committed to her character. John Kane and the ubiquitous Paul Jesson bring similar conviction to Pisanio and Clothen, respectively.Michael Gough surprises with his model delivery of Shakespeare's language - clear and natural. More likely to be remembered for some spectacularly grungy horror movies, Gough has done his own reputation a disservice with his enthusiasm for constant work no matter how scuzzy the script. This is his only appearance in the Shakespeare series, and that's a real pity.Richard Johnson rasps and scowls well as the King (check out his IMDb.com bio for a few surprises). Claire Bloom flirts with a Disney concept of an evil stepmother without quite going over the line. Michael Pennington acts everything that can be acted about Posthumus without the gift of making you care.Robert Lindsay, so grand in comic roles in "Much Ado" and "Twelfth Night," here is the inverse of Helen Mirren, without a single moment of truth as Iachimo - a fumbling, external attempt at a villain by an actor outside his natural range.Elijah Moshinsky's direction is of a piece with others of his in this series. Ignoring all Iron-Age references in the script (Julius Caesar is not long dead), Moshinsky's fascination with Old Masters' paintings gives us a coherent through line to the production, with a particularly wonderful mountain snow set designed by Barbara Gosnold. Occasionally the director provides a striking image, as when one character converses with the mirror reflection of another.However, Moshinsky's editing is occasionally clumsy. When Iachimo presents his false proofs to Posthumus, the camera stays on one character or the other for far too long, and often the wrong one. We strain to see the other character, and aren't allowed to. This is distracting, maladroit, and just not good enough.However "Cymbeline" has much to recommend it, and Helen Mirren's performance alone is worth the price of admission.