In Laurence Olivier's 1956 film version of Shakespeare's Richard III, Richard's (played by Olivier) performative and directorial personality is exemplified during a long take wherein he reveals how he will get rid of his brother the Duke of Clarence by making King Edward suspicious of Clarence. Here the setting and camera shots, as well as Olivier's blocking and expressions, demonstrate that Richard is in control of not only Clarence and Edward, but the audience as well.
The mezzanine on which Richard gives his soliloquy resembles a small stage set; his speech is literally punctuated by doors and windows. The scene begins with a medium frontal shot of Richard entering the mezzanine door to tell us about the plots he has laid. Richard's recounting of what he has just accomplished suggests a chorus' summary (ref. Romeo and Juliet) ; in this way he sets up a theatrical space to move in. Unlike a chorus, however, Richard does more than observe -- he acts too. Using "lies well steel'd with weighty arguments" (I.I.148), he has just turned Edward against Clarence. "Well steel'd" suggests strength and support as well as armor; Richard has given himself, his "lies," a protective costume of casuistry so he might be more forceful. He puts off this disguise he begins his soliloquy. The door which he closes on Edward and opens on the mezzanine emphasizes his abrupt and conscious shift from cozening to revelation of his schemes.
The windows that Richard passes in the rest of his speech allow him to capitalize on the drama that he has set in motion. As Richard continues his speech, he moves right, away from the door. The camera zooms back slightly and pans with him, continuing in a medium shot, until he approaches the first window that looks down on the throne room. "Clarence hath not another day to live," Richard says (I.I.150) and opens the left shudder of the window, drawing back to the left foreground so that the audience can see Edward and Clarence through the window. The scene in the window literalizes Richard's claim that he will "set [his] brother Clarence and the king / In deadly hate the one against the other"(I.I.34-35); Edward and Clarence are "set" neatly in the frame of the window while standing in opposition to each other, Edward on the left and Clarence on the right. The take continues with Richard stopping at each window, watching a moment or so, then closing the shutters. In the most notable instance, Edward collapses after ordering the guards to take Clarence to the Tower; Richard claps the shutter closed on him and says decisively to the camera, "He cannot live" (I.I.144). In Shakespeare's play, Richard says this of Hastings. Transposed in this version to refer to Edward and emphasized by the clap of the shutters, the remark gains new significance. Richard, dominating the frame, in the left foreground, brings the shutters like theatrical curtains down on the tiny Edward, who is diminished by distance, thus prefiguring his death. Each span of time that Richard views through the windows becomes a miniature act in a deathly tragedy that he has orchestrated.
Richard even plays upon the audience's trust; Olivier exploits his blocking and, in particular, his gaze, to implicate us in his character's villainy. As the long take starts off, it is important to note that the camera does not shoot Richard from the back as he goes onto the mezzanine; instead it presents a medium shot of him from the side of the door that he opens in onto. In other words, the take begins as if through the eyes of someone who has been waiting for Richard. The audience members thus turn into knowing accomplices, an illusion furthered when Richard looks at the camera straight on before beginning his soliloquy. This "eye-line match" between Olivier and the lens immediately links Richard and the audience, for whom the camera's gaze stands in. Thus Richard's soliloquy turns into a one-sided conversation between him and us.
Olivier marks the significant moments of the speech with "eye contact" to the camera / audience, which entraps us firmly in the center of his machinations. For example, when telling of his plot to get rid of Clarence, Richard stops with gravity, looking into the camera, and says that he has told the king "[a]bout a prophecy which says that 'G' / Of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be" (I.I.39-40). He then gives a sliding glance to one side and starts moving again. To the unwitting Edward, Richard's prophecy fingers Clarence; we, however, privy to Richard's designs, realize that the prophecy, false if interpreted to accuse George Clarence, is true if interpreted to accuse the Duke of Gloucester, which is Richard. Richard's secret double entendre gives an early example of his self-characterization later in the play: "Thus, like the formal Vice, Iniquity, / I moralize two meanings in one word" (III.I.82-83). Because we know Richard's aims, we too can provide two interpretations of the prophecy. Richard's sharing of the double entendre and his head-on confrontation of the audience when he tells the prophecy brings the audience into his hypocrisy. Olivier's Richard thus asserts his control over the viewers by putting us in the role of Vice figures as well, complicit with him.
Richard appears to have control over everything in this take. The doors and windows of the mezzanine turn his presence into one of an actor; through the shutters, Edward and Clarence become puppets that he directs. Olivier masters the viewers' attention, addressing us as confederates. In his attempt to spread his evil beyond the screen, Olivier's Richard thus becomes a man with power enough to overcome any bound -- even that as seemingly great as the one between character on the screen and audience in the seats -- in pursuit of what he wants.
Olivier's speech