The Film's the Thing: Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet at 30

Kenneth Branagh’s Shakespeare adaptations were key to driving the 1990s Shakespearean cinematic revival. Without 1989's Henry V, announcing the Northern Irish actor as a major acting and directing talent on the global stage, it’s hard to imagine his joyous Much Ado About Nothing from 1993 finding the same audience, or the Bard having the same marketable position above the marquee that resulted in other 90s classics like Richard Loncraine’s Richard III starring Ian McKellen, Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, and even Gil Junger’s 10 Things I Hate About You. In August, Branagh will receive the inaugural EIFF Outstanding Contribution to Cinema Award, and alongside an appearance in conversation, the Festival will screen his epic Hamlet, which is 30 years old this year. 

Hamlet is perhaps the most Branagh of his Shakespeare endeavours, for better and worse. The cast combines acclaimed thespians (Derek Jacobi, Richard Briers, Timothy Spall, Simon Russell Beale) with Hollywood glamour (Julie Christie, Kate Winslet, Robin Williams, Billy Crystal), all captured on gorgeous 70mm. Clocking in at just over four hours (thankfully, EIFF will be presenting it with an interval), nothing is cut from the 'complete' text. Indeed, Branagh added even more, seeking out multiple versions of the play to incorporate lines from the Second Quarto and other texts printed earlier than the First Folio. This is Hamlet supercharged: to its fans, a vital, prestigious account; to its detractors, a bloated, staid vanity project.

The ambition, however, is undeniable. If Branagh flies too close to the sun, combining the cinematic realism of his earlier efforts with an attempt to capture the entirety of Shakespeare’s longest and most famous play – which the playwright is unlikely to have intended to be performed in one go – he has failed grandly and nobly. His devotion to the text not only comes through in his excellently judged performance but in a rich understanding of the political machinations driving every character unrelentingly to their doom. The chance to see this at Filmhouse with an audience may prove a highlight of this year’s EIFF.

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Hamlet screens at Filmhouse, 16 Aug, 10am, and Kenneth Branagh appears In Conversation at Tollcross Central Hall, 16 Aug, 3pm, both part of the 2026 Edinburgh International Film Festival