Branagh conflates Shakespeare and Tolstoy in this palatial
full-length film of his stage Hamlet. While undeniably cinematic for
example in the mirror-hall recitation of To be or not to be the film
suffers from a theatre/cinema culture clash. Christie goes
unsuccessfully Garbo as Gertrude; you'd never pick her and Jacobi out
as a couple on Mr and Mrs. Winslet fares less badly, despite Branagh's
egomaniacal Hamlet/Ophelia sex scenes. Other stars flit in and out
like a cloudy night. The final fight scene is superb as Branagh's RADA
roots show through the peroxide. Verse has been worse.
