King Lear

Stars: Peter Sellars, Burgess Meredith (Rocky series, Magic, Foul Play), Molly Ringwald (Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, Betsy's Wedding). In the opening scene of King Lear, the writer Norman Mailer mumbles to himself, signs a contract, and sits down for breakfast with his daughter. When the scene suddenly begins again, you might be tempted to think you've got a defective tape: on the contrary, this is art. Poor Shakespeare! Later this month his Tempest is drowned in Prospero's Books (reviewed in the October issue); here his masterpiece King Lear is trashed by France's "New Wave"-cum-bored artiste director Jean-Luc Godard. As in his last two outings (Hail Mary and First Name: Carmen), Godard's King Lear is first and foremost incoherent. While Godard himself mumbles the narration (on purpose), we watch Peter Sellars (who stages contemporary versions of Mozart operas in real life) as William Shakespeare the Fifth strolling on the beach, walking in the forest, sitting in a restaurant, always scribbling, scribbling in his little notebook. Is this interesting? Methinks not. Burgess Meredith as Don Learo is meant to represent Lear, while Molly Ringwald is supposed to be Cordelia, but since passages from Lear are quoted from random and often overlaid on top of one another, character is pretty much a meaningless concept here. Seagulls scream incessantly on the soundtrack, cue cards appear throughout saying the same things over and over ("Power and Virtue," "An Approach," "No Thing"), and even a Woody Allen cameo during the closing moments can't save this from being a total mess. Audience: While I was watching this, my dog left the room howling in protest. Ergo, I'd say that this is fit for neither man nor beast.