*. I started out resisting Trevor Nunn’s Twelfth Night. There’s some narration by Feste at the start that isn’t in Shakespeare and then some talk of a state of war that’s also new and unnecessary. Then there’s the general look of the film. This is Illyria, which is to say another magical Shakespearean setting that’s just meant to be some romantic place far away. Meaning far away from the real world. But here Illyria is Cornwall and it looks almost like realism was what Nunn was going for.
*. This put me on my guard. But once this Twelfth Night gets going, and it gets going slowly, it’s a movie that won me over. I actually found myself believing in the nonsense plot, with Imogen Stubbs and Steven Mackintosh actually looking pretty similar as the twins Viola and Sebastian. And there was a feeling of real romantic attraction among the perfect couples. None of the characters comes across as a simple caricature, with even the love-junkie Orsino (Toby Stephens) and the gull Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Richard E. Grant) having multiple sides.
*. I’m inclined to give a lot of the credit to Nunn, a veteran stage director who doesn’t do much with the material here as a movie but lets his cast do their thing and puts them in the best possible position to succeed. Meanwhile, the players are all well cast, with the possible exception of Ben Kingsley as Feste. I’m still trying to make up my mind about him. He’s certainly not a very jolly clown. But then, is he meant to be?
*. The quality of the actors also lets Nunn add some subtle wrinkles and texture to the proceedings. There’s an implication, for example, that Feste knows that Cesario (Stubbs) is a woman that I liked. And we can see that Maria (Imelda Staunton) has her doubts about Toby’s treatment of Malvolio even if she’s just observing in the distance. I call these wrinkles because they do roughen a conventional, smooth reading of the play, but I think they both work.
*. In his review, Roger Ebert references something important that can’t be stressed enough: “Shakespeare’s language is not hard to understand when spoken by actors who are comfortable with the rhythm and know the meaning. It can be impenetrable when declaimed by unseasoned actors with more energy than experience (as the screaming gang members in Romeo + Juliet demonstrate).” This is the problem with so many realistic or contemporary updates of Shakespeare that keep the original language but give us characters who either have no sense of the rhythm of those lines or who have been directed not to deliver them in a dramatic manner but more realistically. Which ends up being less realistic because it just make a hash out of everything.
*. One of the abiding difficulties with Twelfth Night has to do with the treatment of Malvolio (Nigel Hawthorne here). Personally, I’m in the camp of those who think he is “most notoriously abused,” and I don’t find all that he is put through very amusing. I think this is where Nunn’s sympathies lie as well, as Sir Toby (Mel Smith) is not a very likable figure here.
*. You can also see this redirection of our sympathies in the way the film ends. Toby and Maria are ushered off in hugger-mugger (will she even go through with the wedding?), while Malvolio’s big line about being revenged on the whole pack of them is downplayed (tossed off, over the shoulder, as he climbs the stairs). He later exits all cleaned up and heading off, one assumes, to a new position.
*. Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing had come out just a few years earlier and I wonder if its presentation of the scene where Benedict is fooled was in Nunn’s mind when he did the scene where Malvolio finds the letter. Of course they’re very similar scenes anyway, but the way it plays out here really makes me think Nunn had Branagh’s film in mind.
*. Yes, there are time when it misses a lighter, more cinematic touch, especially given the running time. But overall this is an entirely satisfying production without any real weak spots. It’s one of the few Shakespeare films I know of that I can honestly say made me like the play itself a little better. That’s impressive.
Alex on Film 
Well that’s a good result!
I liked it more than I thought I would.
BTW, Booky and I were wondering yesterday if you could score us some jelly babies . . .
Easy peasy, though I’d need somewhere to send them to.
also I just checked, you can buy them on amazon USA, search term ‘Jelly Babies English Candy’ 🙂
Ah, so you Brits aren’t just hogging them all for yourselves! They’re definitely not big on this side of the pond. But even Dr. Who eats them over there!
Jelly babies are lush, we all grow up on them here 🙂
I thought as much!
I got nothing. I have a hard enough time with the plays without mixing mediums and trying for the movies. While I’ve tried a couple of the movies, my overall impression has been rather blase.
I’ll leave them to cinephiles such as yourself.
There are lots of really accessible, looser adaptations. Romeo and Juliet as West Side Story, for example.
Score! Glad you liked this one. Helena Bonham Carter is great – a little quirky, but that only adds interest. Adapting Shakespeare is to do or die, as you know, so sounds like they did a decent job.
Yeah, this is a good ‘un. And I didn’t even mention Bonham Carter. She was always good in period material like this. Well, maybe not Mary Shelley’s Frankentstein. But that was a disaster on everyone’s resume.
What?! Frankenstein is a classic! Robert De Niro, for God sake! John Cleese! If Chevy Chase had turned up, it may have being looking at an Oscar…
Forgot you were a fan of the Chevster. He might have helped Frankenstein . . .
‘…tossed off, over the shoulder, as he climbs the stairs…’
Not an easy trick, but congrats to those who can do it!
It’s Nigel Effing Hawthorne. He’s a pro.
The star of Demolition Man?
I thought you’d know him as Sir Humphrey Appleby.
Do you like jelly babies?
Male ones? Yes.
Didn’t know they were gendered.
Sigh. It’s an ancient joke.
Ah well. I’ll let it go then. Presumably Fraggle will appreciate it.
Oh, what a slam on Fraggle! I’m calling the cops!
Because she’s British? Because she likes jelly babies?
Because I’m ancient, apparently. Which I am so it’s not much of a slam, but I still don’t get the joke re male ones. I’m not good at jokes though so there’s that.
Maybe something lost in translation. I didn’t get the joke either. He’s a strange ‘un.
Back in the day when queer meant strange, my mum used to say ‘there’s nowt so queer as folk, except for thee and me, and even thee’s a little queer’. Can’t say that these days but it made me laugh back then.
Yeah, I still remember a very long time ago when you could say someone was gay and it meant they were happy. Even knew a couple of guys named Gay. That’s all gone too.
The evolution of language.
Sigh. The joke is, a man is buying jelly babies and asks for all male ones. ‘But there’s no difference’ says the seller. ‘Maybe to you, no’ is the punchline. Sigh.
I get it. It’s funny, right?
Not really. But I thought you were referencing the start of this joke. Now I see you were wearily rehashing a previous conversation that had little to do with how Trevor Nunn interprets Shakespeare. The scales have fallen from my eyes and now will be used to monitor my weight in the bathroom.
Yes, Booky and I were wondering where we could get some jelly babies. They are only carried as a specialty item here. We have Gummi Bears instead. Do you like Gummi Bears?
I think I already covered Trevor Nunn’s interpretation of Shakespeare quite fully in my notes but let me know if there was anything you had trouble with.
You’d be better off with old school Cola Bottles or even Irn Bru Cubes. Gelatin dipped in diamond-hard sugar granules to grind into the roof of your mouth.
You didn’t say much about Demolition Man. Hawthorne really excelled when he got decent dialogue to deliver.
Don’t know those treats. Have you ever washed a package of pop rocks down with a can of Coke?
Demolition Man here:
Now, we are, for once, talking the same language. Sherbet granules, open wounds, icy cold drinks, taste sensation. Result.
You do know what happened to Mikey, right?
Wut?
*sigh* Only the most famous urban legend of all time. Even featured in the movie Urban Legend. Getting a real education here.
https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/pop-rocks-urban-legend-mikey-death
Wut? I bet you ARE getting a real education, I take you to school every day. Packed your sandwiches and tied your shoelaces. And yet your Demolition Man review makes no mention of this great Shakespearean actor sharing the screen with Wesley Snipes. Sigh.
When did Stallone do Shakespeare? It’s hard to follow your meandering thought patterns. Are you staying up all night drinking fizzy drinks? Don’t you have school tomorrow? You should be in bed.
How do you know I’m not? Between the covers, watching Demolition Man?
Because the school board has locked you out of those sites since they’re considered inappropriate. Same reason I know you’re not playing Minecraft.
Sigh. What is this babbling? I think the ‘why did Alex not mention this actor in his Demolition Man?’ war is conclusively won.
Have you ever seen a jelly baby in the shape of Nigel Hawthorne? QED.
That is very much the shape of a jelly baby. Yes, I have seen such a thing. How does this help?
You just proved ALL the points I’ve been trying to make. Now go to bed.
With the scent of victory in my nostrils.
The scent of purple gummi.
That’s the title of your first unpublished memoir.
I’m not seeing muchx Nigel Hawthorne in this threadbare analysis.
That’s just a teaser. Have to unlock the rest with Patreon contributions.
Like trying to unpick a lock with a wet herring. So your comment on this actor is to refer me to a review you wrote that makes no mention of him? Sigh.
No, your comment on this movie you mentioned is to refer you to my review of same. *Double sigh*
Yeah, I read your review of Demolition Man, where does it mention Shakespeare? The prosecution rests.
The prosecution is daft. The verdict is not proven, because nobody could understand what the fellow in the powdered wig was saying.
He’s saying, You Got Schooled, Bunty.
You are high on pop rocks and jelly babies. Going to be a big sugar crash soon.
I’ll pop your rocks if you keep up this malarkey.
I’ll toss you over my shoulder as I climb the stairs.
That would be a novelty.