SHAKESPEARE AL CINEMA: HAMLET SECONDO KENNETH BRANAGH

This thesis focuses on the popularization on film of William Shakespeare’s plays. If the Shakespearean pictures shot in the silent era were more similar to filmed theatre performances than to adaptations, in the 1920s the Bard’s works start to be adapted for the cinema in order to reach a new and wider audience, thus triggering the phenomenon of the popularization of his plays. This process achieves a significant phase in the 1990s thanks to Kenneth Branagh’s adaptations, which cause a revival of the genre. Branagh’s experience is crucial in that he begins his artistic career in the theatre and afterwards takes on the role of actor and film director. I present two case-studies: In the Bleak Midwinter, directed by Branagh in 1995, and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, directed and interpreted by Branagh in 1996. They both rework the tragedy of Hamlet but from different perspectives: the former appropriates the anxieties of the Shakespearean characters and transfers them to the members of an eccentric, contemporary theatre company, while the latter adapts the integral version of Shakespeare’s play for the screen. That is why In the Bleak Midwinter is defined as an “appropriation” of Hamlet whereas William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is defined as an “adaptation”. The relationship between the two screen versions is investigated. The analysis is based on the exploration of their intertextual connections and on the factors which in the two films contribute to the popularization of the source text. Not only does Branagh interpret the popularization of Shakespeare’s Hamlet as a compromise with Hollywood commercial values but he also includes a deep political awareness epitomized by the persistent presence of the Norwegian prince Fortinbras.