Peter Brook Movies
Though British director Peter Brook has accumulated an impressive number of film and television credits spanning seven decades, Brook is primarily a director of theatrical productions. Nevertheless, he gained his start with a movie; as an Oxford undergraduate student, Brook directed an amateur adaptation of Laurence Sterne's eighteenth-century novel A Sentimental Journey (1943). Brook did not stage his first theatrical production, Dr. Faustus, until a few months later. Brook established his stage credentials with a legendary 1946 Royal Shakespeare Company production of Love's Labor's Lost, and in 1953 coached the actors for a CBS television production of King Lear starring Orson Welles. Brook's first mainstream film was The Beggar's Opera, a 1953 version of John Gay's satirical Baroque ballad opera starring Laurence Olivier in his singing debut as MacHeath. It would prove Brook's most obviously commercial film production; his next was the Resnais-like 1960 Italian/French co-production Moderato Cantabile, which is like an interior monologue come to life.Brook's 1963 movie version of Lord of the Flies used William Goldman's allegorical novel as a springboard for a largely improvised and intensely brutal skewering of the British social structure, enacted by a group of non-professional children and filmed with two handheld cameras to create the illusion of spontaneity. It was an international success, and Brook followed this innovative effort with 1967's Marat/Sade, an in-your-face cinematic adaptation of his own Royal Shakespeare Company production of the play by Peter Weiss featuring Glenda Jackson in her film debut. In 1968 Brook also relied on the Royal Shakespeare Company for Tell Me Lies), a scathing condemnation of the Vietnam conflict which nonetheless remains little known, and collected a series of lectures into a book, The Empty Space, which became the unofficial "bible" of post-modern theater directors.
In 1970, Brook founded Paris' International Centre for Theatre Research, which he continues to lead even at this writing (in 2005). In 1971 Brook's film of King Lear, starring his longtime collaborator Paul Scofield appeared, a bold artistic gamble that Brook mostly lost. While it received a New York Critic's Circle Award, King Lear was widely condemned as a pretentious, overlong festival of misery and gore. Devoting most of the 1970s to efforts onstage, Brook turned to his deep interests in Eastern mysticism to fuel his next major filmed projects, a warmly-received film about G.I. Gurdjieff, Meetings with Remarkable Men (1979) and his sprawling adaptation of the eighteen-volumes-long Indian religious epic, The Mahabharata (1989). The original play that served as its basis ran nine hours, for television it was reduced to "mini-series" size at six hours, and in the video version, it runs just over three. The Mahabharata is lengthy, slow and obscure, but stylistically it is masterful and remains one of the most ambitious undertakings of its kind.
In 2002, Brook made something of a comeback with a critically acclaimed, slimmed-down version of The Tragedy of Hamlet made for television, and through an interesting documentary made about him by his son, documentarian Simon Brook, entitled Brook by Brook. Many hold Peter Brook responsible for introducing excess to post-modern theater; outrageous settings, mixed media, the elimination of the "fourth wall," distinguished actors making bizarre entrances in even more bizarre costumes - techniques largely known through their wholesale adoption by far less talented college and regional-theatre directors in America. Peter Brook's domestic reputation as a film director has never truly recovered from the debacle of King Lear. Yet no one can deny the power and intensity of Lord of the Flies, and to a lesser extent Marat/Sade. Peter Brook at least can easily claim the distinction of being among a very few full-time theater directors, such as Bob Fosse, Alan Schneider and Luschino Visconti, to make a lasting and important contribution to the art of film. ~ Hal Erickson and Dave Lewis, All Movie Guide
It's not uncommon to invite your friends to help you paint your house or move your home, but one twenty-something has something a bit different in mind in this character-driven comedy-drama. Five years after graduating from college, Ellie (Tina Holmes) and her boyfriend Tim (Daniel Serafini-Sauli) have decided to invite a few of their old classmates to their home along the coast of Maine for a weekend reunion. Sid (Eion Bailey) is a would-be actor still trying to get his career off the ground. Whit (Heather Donahue) is a tart-tongued low-level editor with a noted fashion magazine. Peter (Adam Scott) is an openly gay author and frequent source of venomous gossip. Blair (Petra Wright) is good friend of Ellie, and one of the few college pals that she's stayed in touch with through the years; Blair has also brought along her boyfriend, Matthew (Devon Gummersall). As the weekend wears on, with the various personalities and egos not always meshing especially well, Ellie confesses to Blair that she has an ulterior motive for bringing her friends to her home. It seems that Ellie's parents died two years ago, leaving their children a heavy burden of debt, while she was recently let go from her job counseling handicapped children. The house is the only significant asset Ellie has left -- and if it were to burn down, the insurance settlement would more than cover her debts and allow her to start over. So would Ellie's friends be interested in helping to stage a bit of old-fashioned arson? Shot on location using digital video equipment, Seven and a Match was the first feature project from writer and director Derek Simonds. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tina Holmes, Eion Bailey, (more)
- 1999
Helen M. Luke studied psychological and spiritual issues throughout her life. This film looks at her early life in England and her later career as a Jungian psychologist in America. While working at Michigan's Apple Farm, Luke helped many people explore their inner lives, grapple with life's greatest mysteries, and search for their true identities. Author Thomas Moore is among those who've recently noted how much they've learned from studying Luke's writings. The video's interview clips with Luke are among its many highlights. ~ Elizabeth Smith, All Movie Guide
- 1996
- PG13
A workshop of William Shakespeare's Richard III inspires actor-director Al Pacino's breezy documentary, which aims to make the playwright accessible to contemporary American audiences. Though a noteworthy cast of stage actors and Hollywood stars (including Kevin Spacey, Winona Ryder, and Alec Baldwin) gathers to work on the play, Looking for Richard does not present a straightforward filmed version of the scheming, deformed king's rise and fall. Instead, Pacino turns the cameras on the rehearsal process and his own exploration of Shakespeare's history and meaning. Scenes in full costume alternate with readings in street clothes, while interviews gather the opinions on the Bard of everyone from renowned scholars and Shakespearean actors to random New Yorkers. A trip to England allows brief visits to Shakespeare's birthplace and the Globe Theater, but Pacino's focus remains on the United States and his desire to prove that American actors can act the plays without mimicking their British counterparts. Clearly a labor of love for Pacino, the film benefits from his passionate persona and direct, no-nonsense attitude; while the performances may vary in quality, the film manifests a refreshingly casual, unpretentious, and enthusiastic approach to Shakespeare. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Al Pacino, Harris Yulin, (more)
Director Peter Brook collaborates with writer Jean-Claude Carriére for this screen adaptation of the epic, 100,000-stanza Sanskrit poem tracing mankind's quest for universal truth as explored through the ongoing conflict between two warring families - the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Originally a nine-hour stage production, the lengthy play was pared down to just over five hours for the screen. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Langton-Lloyd, Antonin Stahly-Vishwanadan, (more)
This ambitious attempt to film a portion of Marcel Proust's epic novel Remembrance of Things Past stars Jeremy Irons as Charles Swann, a Jewish intellectual who has managed to overcome growing anti-Semitism in 19th century France and travels in an elite social circle. But Swann has become obsessed with Odette (Ornella Muti), a courtesan who cares more for money than Swann's passion for her. In time they marry, but Swann soon realizes his desire for her is based purely on physical lust for someone with whom he has no rapport, or even much affection, and the relationship begins to erode the social acceptance Swann struggled to achieve. Meanwhile, the Baron de Charlus (Alain Delon) finds himself similarly attracted to a young man who does not share his desires. Un Amour de Swann was much praised for its production design and the cinematography of frequent Ingmar Bergman collaborator Sven Nykvist, though many felt director Volker Schlondorff failed to capture the narrative depth and complexity of Proust's novel. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeremy Irons, Ornella Muti, (more)
- 1980
The gifted and intuitive, Oscar-nominated director Jill Godmilow (Antonia: Portrait of a Woman) in 1974) helms this 1980 documentary - an intimate, deeply-felt portrait of Polish theatrical legend Jerzy Grotowski. Grotowski (familiar to many given André Gregory's discussion of him in My Dinner with André) here teams up with a film crew and hearkens off to Nienadowka, Poland - the hamlet where he, his mother and his brother were concealed from the Gestapo during the Nazi occupation of Poland. The film finds Grotowski searching for mnemonic and sensorial associations from his childhood (that, in turn, fueled his art), then trekking off to his aunt's apartment in Rzeszow, where he breaks the fourth wall, addressing the audience one-on-one about the fundamentals of his theatrical work. Peter Brook narrates. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerzy Grotowski
- 1980
Director Peter Brook's Carmen (the spirited woman who loves Escamillo, the bullfighter, but dallies with the soldier Don José) is a filmed version of his popular chamber ensemble presentation of the opera. On the stage, Brook cut the opera down to a more intimate production and trimmed its length to 80 minutes. He also cast young singers in the roles of the young protagonists -- and these innovations created an enthusiastic response. In this filmed version, the appealing theatricality of the stage play is not matched by innovative cinematography and loses some of its force as a result. Brook filmed each of the three casts in three separate "Carmens" -- meaning for the viewers to watch the version with the singers they like the best. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helene Delavault, Eva Saurova, (more)
- 1979
Peter Brook, one of the pioneers of the experimental theatre movement of the 1950s and 1960s, was the director of Meetings with Remarkable Men. Brook tells the story of Asian mystic G. I. Gurdijeff, here played by Dragan Maksimovic. Gurdijeff devotes his entire existence, from youth to old age, in quest of the meaning of life. He eventually develops a form of meditation incorporating modern dance. Terence Stamp, who in Meetings with Remarkable Men plays Prince Lubovedsky, himself briefly retreated from his career after this picture, in favor of Eastern meditation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dragan Maksimovic, Terence Stamp, (more)
- 1971
In director Peter Brook's King Lear, Paul Scofield portrays the title character, a senile old ruler, whose susceptibility to flattery proves his undoing. The premise involves Lear's ill-fated attempts to divide his kingdom amongst his three daughters -- a goal that ultimately leads to tragedy. The stark terrain of Denmark stands in for England in this version, adding a brooding visual texture to the picture that exists alongside the traditional Shakespearean dialogue. Lear's daughters are played by Irene Worth (Goneril), Susan Engel (Regan), and Anne-Lise Gabold (Cordelia); others in the cast are Alan Webb (Gloucester), Cyril Cusack (Albany), Patrick Magee (Cornwall), and Jack MacGowran (the Fool). Younger viewers and those faint at heart be warned: King Lear is one of Shakespeare's most graphically violent works, and director Brook takes every opportunity to emphasize the carnage and gore. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Scofield
- 1968
Subtitled A Film About London, this drama is a quintessential experimental counter-culture film of the late 1960s that centers on the questions raised by the Vietnam war. Renowned Shakespearean theater director Peter Brook serves as producer and director. It includes many members of the Royal Shakespeare Company, such as London actors Mark Jones, Robert Lloyd), and Pauline Munro, who essentially play themselves. They become obsessed with a photograph of a wounded Vietnamese child and begin discussing the war with their friends and fellow actors. They attend a series of lectures and teach-ins, discussing the issues of the day with a number of activists, including the American Black Panther leader Stokely Carmichael. The discussions are combined with newsreel footage in a bizarre collage of images. Moved to do something, the group of actors puts on a series of skits about the war. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mark Jones, Pauline Munroe, (more)
- 1967
Benefit of the Doubt had its roots in US, a Peter Brook play produced by the Royal Shakespearean Company. This anti-war documentary blossomed into a multi-media presentation, then to a 70-minute film. The movie version expands upon Brook's piece with authentic newsreel footage of the Vietnam War. Despite the original title, the film concentrates on the British, rather than American, view of the war, which in 1967 was a lot more dove-ish than in the States. Eric Allan and Mary Allen head the cast of this agit-prop time capsule. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric Allan, Mary Allen, (more)
Adapted from his own Royal Shakespeare Company production of Peter Weiss' play entitled The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates at Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade, Peter Brook directs this fascinating look into revolution, power, and human frailty. During the 19th century, fashionable theatergoers would attend ostensibly therapeutic stage performances by mental asylum inmates. The film opens on July 19, 1809, with Monsieur Coubnier (Clifford Rose), the officious head of the Charenton asylum, introducing that night's show -- a drama about the assassination of French Revolutionary War firebrand Jean-Paul Marat, written by that institution's most notorious resident, the Marquis de Sade (Patrick Magee). The play begins conventionally enough , considering that the lead actress (Glenda Jackson) is a narcoleptic, the actor playing Marat (Ian Richardson) is a paranoiac, and another actor, a sex maniac with very pressing urges, is kept in chains. But the work soon evolves into a dialogue between Marat and De Sade. Though both men were early supporters of the Revolution, their ideas of the shape of the movement took very different courses. Espousing a form of proto-Marxism, Marat is at first presented as the sort of tyrannical idealist that became depressingly familiar in the 20th century, a la Lenin and Pol Pot. But then later, Marat seems haunted by the terror he has unleashed and unable to understand where he went wrong. De Sade, on the other hand, preached his own unusual brand of Nietzschean existentialism. Unlike Marat, he not only recognizes the inherent weakness of the human character, but he revels in it. Murder as an act of individual passion should be celebrated, De Sade at first argues; murder as an anonymous act of statecraft should be deplored. The individual is not given meaning though politics but through acts of spontaneous passion and desire. As the play progresses, the revolution depicted in the play soon develops into an outright revolution on the stage. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ian Richardson, Patrick Magee, (more)
Peter Brooks' big-screen adaptation of William Golding's classic Lord of the Flies adheres closely to the source material. After a plane accident, 30 school-age boys find themselves stranded on an island. The boys decide that the disciplined Ralph (James Aubrey) will be their leader. Jack (Tom Chapin) heads up a group who will hunt and butcher the local population of pigs for food. Also on the island is the mature, intelligent Piggy (Hugh Edwards). Eventually Ralph and Jack become the center of a war for leadership on the island. The story was filmed with less success in 1990. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Aubrey, Tom Chapin, (more)
- 1960
In this drama, an industrialist's wife finds herself bored by her opulent existence. One day, while she waits for her son to finish his music lesson, she hears a woman scream at a nearby bistro. She then sees a man being hauled away from a woman's body. Her curiosity piqued, she becomes a regular at the cafe. There she meets one of her husband's workers. Over drinks, they talk about the murder. As they converse, the worker realizes that the woman herself wants to die, and he abandons her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Didier Haudepin, (more)
- 1953
- G
One of the first important distinctions to be made about this version of King Lear is that it is not the same version directed by Peter Brook in 1971. Brook was responsible for the staging of this 1953 version, but it was Andrew McCullough who put it to film. Orson Welles portrays the titular character, one of the most memorable and important characters from the Shakespearean canon. The story begins with the famous request Lear makes of his daughters: to express how much they love him. In exchange, Lear will divide his land and power amongst them based on the extent of their answers. Cordelia (Natasha Parry), the youngest and the one whom Lear loves the most, answers very modestly -- yet honestly --and incurs the wrath of Lear, who not only withholds his gift to her, but banishes her as well. Lear divides his lands and power between the two older daughters, Goneril (Beatrice Straight) and Regan (Margaret Phillips), who intend to take swift and complete control of their father's power almost instantaneously. Lear is reduced to an angry, bitter man who realizes too late what has happened. After a series of indignities are inflicted upon him by his daughters, he retreats into a storm, vowing revenge. This film is an above-average adaptation with a very capable cast and a well-staged presentation. The subplot of Gloucester and his sons has been removed, however, presumably in interests of time conservation, but it doesn't seriously hinder the story. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Orson Welles, Natasha Parry, (more)
- 1953
Laurence Olivier makes his singing debut in this lively adaptation of John Gay's 18th century theatrical piece The Beggar's Opera. Olivier stars as Captain MacHeath, the leader of all bandits and cutthroats in England. MacHeath is in love with Polly Peachum (Dorothy Tutin), the daughter of beggar king Peachum (George Devine). He has also dallied with Lucy (Daphne Anderson), the offspring of corrupt constable (Stanley Holloway) Lockit. Since it is in the best interest for both Peachum and Lockit to rid the world of MacHeath, the two conspire to imprison and hang the scoundrel, but an unexpected turn of events rescues MacHeath from the executioner's noose. Adapted for the screen by Dennis Canaan and Christopher Fry, The Beggar's Opera manages to retain the raffish charm of the stage original while still being wholly cinematic in approach and execution. The same basic story was later retooled by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill as The Threepenny Opera. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurence Olivier, Stanley Holloway, (more)
