Synopsis
An aging actor remembers his past stage triumphs and contemplates a dim future on the stage of an empty theatre. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.
1992 Directed by Kenneth Branagh
An aging actor remembers his past stage triumphs and contemplates a dim future on the stage of an empty theatre. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.
Hattyúdal, Il canto del cigno, Le chant du cygne, Лебедина пісня
Kenneth's nom for the Academy Award Best Live Action Short Film and you can find everything that Branagh is "made on":
- a long love story with theatre
- dream, melancholy and stories.
- a great respect for those who taught him in his first years of acting life.
- Shakespeare from Cechov's eyes.
Once again Im so grateful to this man.
John Gielgud is fantastic The version I saw on Youtube was really bad though so it kind of brings it down. I would like to see a better transfer of this.
Branagh was getting Oscar nods for Chekhov movies before Hamaguchi made it cool!
A bit overcooked, but still a very sweet love letter to the theater.
-YouTube-
I must admit that I might not grasp the entire idea of Anton Chekov's story in this adaptation since I watched it in an inferior visual quality without English subtitles. Interestingly, I can comprehend the context outside the film. Here, we had John Gielgud, who might be one of the most outstanding theater actors, channeling his reflection on the "acting world" in his old age—resulting in a crowning performance in his career.
To add onto the debate in this short film about the power of the theater and stories, stories save lives. They certainly saved mine.
Love how Shakespeare's work (specifically King Lear, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Othello) was used to encapsulate everything Gielgud's character was feeling. This short film truly felt like a love letter to the theater, in an odd way, or perhaps more so, a love letter to Gielgud's stage career. Gielgud's character, meanwhile, heavily reminded me of my grandfather in his 90s after the death of my grandmother, not just in the cynicism, but in the sense of looking back in "an open wound" and lamenting as to the now and how age and time have changed…
Kenneth Branagh brought the stage to the screen. Such a spellbinding performance by JohnGielgud
For any fan of great acting this is essential. You get to watch Sir John Gielgud tear it up for 21 minutes of pure gold.
Don't worry John Gielgud, you will always be in my heart and in my memory. ❤
"Any tasteful, truly sensitive person, how could they possibly tolerate us? The life we lead, the way we behave."
Kenneth Branagh's Final Curtain, with John Gielgud as an octogenarian vaudevillian who putters around an empty stage feeling sorry for himself until he's buoyed by his faithful prompter, played by Richard Briers. He doesn't need much prompting to whip out speeches by Lear, Hamlet, Romeo, and Othello, though. A fine tribute to a great actor.