It has been said that “of all Shakespeare's tragedies, ‘King Lear' is perhaps best suited to Russian adaptation, being the longest, wildest, starkest, and most replete with pain and suffering at all social levels.” Grigori Kozintzev's 1971 King Lear is based on Pasternak's translation, and is set to a musical score composed by the renowned Dmitri Shostakovich. But it will be remembered for the performance of Yuri Jarvet, whose Lear achieves an elegant, moving balance between royal dignity and the wily madness claimed by the aged. An edge of chaos is reflected in the film's striking black-and-white cinematography.