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King Lear

King Lear

Drama · TV Movie · 2018

An aging King invites disaster, when he abdicates to his corrupt, toadying daughters, and rejects his loving and honest one.

Movie details

King Lear

2018 Drama · TV Movie 1h 55m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.0 / 10

Community rating

An aging King invites disaster, when he abdicates to his corrupt, toadying daughters, and rejects his loving and honest one.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over King Lear?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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The Memory Keeper's Daughter

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Drama · 2008

During a blizzard in 1964, Dr. David Henry delivers his son Paul with the help of nurse Caroline. But when Henry realizes his wife is also carrying a girl with Down syndrome, he hands the second child over to Caroline without his wife's knowledge. Henry's fateful decision yields grave consequences for his family over the next 20 years.

Hamlet

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Drama · 1996

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, returns home to find his father murdered and his mother now marrying the murderer... his uncle. Meanwhile, war is brewing.

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds

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FX's A Christmas Carol

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Hamlet

Hamlet

Drama · 1948

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Richard Eyre

Written by

Richard Eyre

Anthony Hopkins

Anthony Hopkins

Lear

Emma Thompson

Emma Thompson

Goneril

Emily Watson

Emily Watson

Regan

Jim Broadbent

Jim Broadbent

Earl of Gloucester

Florence Pugh

Florence Pugh

Cordelia

Jim Carter

Jim Carter

Earl of Kent

Andrew Scott

Andrew Scott

Edgar

Court is in session

Put King Lear on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Adrenaline Seeker

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.