What Really Made Me Dislike Henry's Character
If you read my first blogpost, this may not come as a shock to you. I made my thoughts on our favorite king very clear. He doesn't suit my taste in protagonists, his "wooing" of Catherine is borderline painful, I wouldn't unabashedly support a leader like that as a 21st century woman, yada yada. But seeing the 1989 Henry V film tipped me over into thinking, "Wow, this guy is absolutely pyscho."
I plan to get more in-depth with this in my film review, but Bragnagh's portrayal of Henry's character really didn't mesh well with my interpretation of the character or of the play as a whole. I saw Henry as someone who was almost haughty. He's the type of guy to look down on people who betray him with a smile, even while knowing he's totally going to execute them; he's just gonna toy with them first. He's the type of guy who threatens rape and pillage, but I imagined him being calm and matter-of-fact about it, assured of his victory over the French town - the battle had obviously been won at that point.
But the 1989 film takes Henry in different direction. He seems less of a suave, smug, smart-ass and more of a genuine madman. He would be smiling one second, and then his face would go blank the next. It was genuinely disturbing to see. I almost felt like I was watching an episode of Criminal Minds at points. It felt like something was really off.
The first time I noticed this was in the film's adaptation of Act 2, Scene 2, where Henry exposes the traitors. My favorite line from that scene was, "Why, how now, gentlemen? What see you in those papers that you lose so much complexion?" (805). Henry's air here is just awesome. I pictured him frowning only slightly, almost as if he were concerned or confused by the men's reactions. Then he just drops all pretenses and tells them he knows they're traitors. It's like a cat and mouse game. When I read this the first time, I was still on the fence about Henry, but this part made me laugh a bit.
Now, the film takes this in another direction. It's still a cat and mouse game, but Henry has no pretenses that he doesn't know exactly what's going on. And he gets physical extremely quickly, pinning one of the men to a table - or wall, I can't exactly remember - and practically snarling in his face throughout the whole exchange. It made Henry seem almost unhinged, able to turn at the drop of a dime. A lot of his scenes ended this way, and they left a bad taste in my mouth.
I heard someone say once that good leaders probably have psychopathic or sociopathic tendencies. Maybe Branagh was directing and acting under the same notion. Either way, watching Henry do literally anything on-screen was almost painful. I would've much rather seen the Tom Hiddleston version of the character, although I know we didn't have time to watch the series in class. His version of the "wooing" scene was the only one I could even slightly consider romantic or charming, and his "Unto the breach!" speech was infinitely more emotional and moving. He also wasn't needlessly smirking 90% of the time like Branagh, which is much appreciated.
Whenever I think about Henry V from now on, I have a sinking suspicion I'll see Branagh's version of the character in my mind's eye. At least until I watch all of the Hiddleston version, which, let's be honest, will probably be never.
I plan to get more in-depth with this in my film review, but Bragnagh's portrayal of Henry's character really didn't mesh well with my interpretation of the character or of the play as a whole. I saw Henry as someone who was almost haughty. He's the type of guy to look down on people who betray him with a smile, even while knowing he's totally going to execute them; he's just gonna toy with them first. He's the type of guy who threatens rape and pillage, but I imagined him being calm and matter-of-fact about it, assured of his victory over the French town - the battle had obviously been won at that point.
But the 1989 film takes Henry in different direction. He seems less of a suave, smug, smart-ass and more of a genuine madman. He would be smiling one second, and then his face would go blank the next. It was genuinely disturbing to see. I almost felt like I was watching an episode of Criminal Minds at points. It felt like something was really off.
The first time I noticed this was in the film's adaptation of Act 2, Scene 2, where Henry exposes the traitors. My favorite line from that scene was, "Why, how now, gentlemen? What see you in those papers that you lose so much complexion?" (805). Henry's air here is just awesome. I pictured him frowning only slightly, almost as if he were concerned or confused by the men's reactions. Then he just drops all pretenses and tells them he knows they're traitors. It's like a cat and mouse game. When I read this the first time, I was still on the fence about Henry, but this part made me laugh a bit.
Now, the film takes this in another direction. It's still a cat and mouse game, but Henry has no pretenses that he doesn't know exactly what's going on. And he gets physical extremely quickly, pinning one of the men to a table - or wall, I can't exactly remember - and practically snarling in his face throughout the whole exchange. It made Henry seem almost unhinged, able to turn at the drop of a dime. A lot of his scenes ended this way, and they left a bad taste in my mouth.
I heard someone say once that good leaders probably have psychopathic or sociopathic tendencies. Maybe Branagh was directing and acting under the same notion. Either way, watching Henry do literally anything on-screen was almost painful. I would've much rather seen the Tom Hiddleston version of the character, although I know we didn't have time to watch the series in class. His version of the "wooing" scene was the only one I could even slightly consider romantic or charming, and his "Unto the breach!" speech was infinitely more emotional and moving. He also wasn't needlessly smirking 90% of the time like Branagh, which is much appreciated.
Whenever I think about Henry V from now on, I have a sinking suspicion I'll see Branagh's version of the character in my mind's eye. At least until I watch all of the Hiddleston version, which, let's be honest, will probably be never.
Shakespeare, William. The Norton Shakespeare: Histories. Edited by Stephen Greenblatt et al., W.W. Norton & Company, 2016.
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