As French forces gather on England, King Lear (Anthony Hopkins) divides his land among his three daughters (Emma Thompson, Emily Watson, Florence Pugh). The most memorable cinematic version of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy is still Kurosawa’s Ran (1985); this TV movie places the story in an alternate modern, militarized Britain, but it’s not enough to make it stand out. The best thing about it is the first-rate cast – Hopkins as the raging, aging monarch, Thompson and Watson as his scheming daughters and Jim Broadbent as the tortured Gloucester.

2018-Britain. Made for TV. 115 min. Color. Written and directed by Richard Eyre. Play: William Shakespeare. Cast: Anthony Hopkins (Lear), Emma Thompson (Goneril), Emily Watson (Regan), Jim Broadbent, Florence Pugh, Jim Carter… Christopher Eccleston.

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