Amleto di Meno, Un

Alternative title: One Hamlet Less
Synopsis: Feature film. A comic spoof drawing irreverently on both the Shakespeare play and the 1877 story by Jules Laforgue. Hamlet (Carmelo Bene) is a would-be playwright. He suffers from inept Freudian analysis by Polonius ( Giuseppe Tuminelli), and Ophelia and Gertrude (Isabella Russo and Luciana Cante) are women conjured up in his erotic imagination. After Claudius kills his father, Hamlet only thinks of preparing to put the theatre production in Paris that he was getting ready at Elsinore. After his coronation, Claudius asks Hamlet to stay and promises to finance his theatrical ambitions. Polonius wishes to study Hamlet’s ‘Oedipus Complex’ and gets killed. Hamlet divides his time between the cemetery and the theatre. Laertes, a budding member of the union, goes to Paris and stabs Hamlet at Ophelia’s tomb.
Language: Italian (Standard)
Country: Italy
Medium: Film
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Year of release: 1973
Duration: 82 mins

Director

Carmelo Bene

Screenplay

Carmelo Bene

Music

Carmelo Bene

Art Direction

Carmelo Bene

Cast

Notes: Different sources cite different running times from 62 to 85 minutes. A two-minute clip (Hamlet holding the skull) apparently taken from a television screening on RAI is hosted on globalshakespeares.mit.edu (accessed 12/20120).
General: Shot almost entirely on 2 sound stages at Cinecitta except for one location shot.
Awards: Carmelo Bene nominated for the Golden Palm award at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival.
Reviews: The literary source is Jacques Laforgue’s The Story of Hamlet/Hamlet ou les suites de la pitie’ filiale. 1877

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