‘Elsinore’ Review: Andrew Scott Is Shattering as British Actor Ian Charleson, Throwing Himself Into Playing Hamlet While Succumbing to AIDS

The late British stage and screen actor Ian Charleson, who died of AIDS-related causes in 1990 at age 40, is mostly remembered for his role in the 1981 Oscar winner Chariots of Fire. That inescapable attachment haunts Charleson, played with raw determination, grace and an almost overwhelming depth of feeling by Andrew Scott in Elsinore, a tremendously moving account of the final year in the Scottish actor’s life. When his agent reminds him that he starred in one of the most celebrated films of all time, Charleson shoots back: “And all anybody can remember about it is the theme music.”

Scott’s searing dual performance — as Charleson and as Hamlet in a National Theatre production that became both the ultimate challenge and fulfillment of his professional career — makes Simon Stone’s film an emotional powerhouse even if it doesn’t avoid inspirational cliché. But it’s a vivid picture of London at the height of the AIDS crisis and a stirring gesture of gratitude to art, specifically theater, as a lifeline even when death looms large.

Elsinore

The Bottom Line

A hymn to the theater powered by a towering lead turn.