King Lear world of Asian manufacturing and music in England. The 2006 Chinese film "Curse of the Golden Flower" is loosely based on King Lear, but, the plot is set in Tang Dynasty China instead of Medieval Europe. Carl Bessai wrote and directed a modern adaptation of "King Lear" titled "The Lears". Released in 2017, the film starred Bruce Dern, Anthony Michael Hall and Sean Astin. On 28 May 2018, BBC Two broadcast "King Lear" starring Anthony Hopkins in the title role and Emma Thompson as Goneril. Directed by Richard Eyre, the play featured a 21st-century setting. Hopkins, at the age of
King Lear ideas of Jan Kott, in particular his observation that "King Lear" was the precursor of absurdist theatre: in particular, the film has parallels with Beckett's "Endgame". Critics who dislike the film particularly draw attention to its bleak nature from its opening: complaining that the world of the play does not deteriorate with Lear's suffering, but commences dark, colourless and wintry, leaving, according to Douglas Brode, "Lear, the land, and "us" with nowhere to go". Cruelty pervades the film, which does not distinguish between the violence of ostensibly good and evil characters, presenting both savagely. Paul Scofield, as Lear, eschews sentimentality: