Happy Birthday, Samuel Beckett (13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989)

Reason n+1 to give praise and thanks to the generous deities of Youtube – the film once seen, but feared never to be seen again. Anthony Minghella (the English Patient) directs Kirsten Scott Thomas, Alan Rickman, and Juliet Stevenson in Samuel Beckett’s Play (1963), part of the Beckett on Film series.

Sartre suggested that Hell was other people; Eliot replied that Hell was one’s self. Whatever its other constituent parts, it is certain that the ingredients of Hell include shared narratives disputed, and the memories of irrevocable acts.

Enjoy part two after the jump, and if you suspect you’ve heard the dialog before, don’t worry, you aren’t going mad – or no madder than these chattering heads in any case. If, by then, you don’t feel like you’ve been slapped around enough, let me recommend Not I, also superbly filmed (and present in Hell).

Originally posted February 26, 2011