I won’t put on airs. I don’t enjoy Shakespeare. I’ve always found his language ponderous and more suited for study in the classroom than as a pleasant diversion performed in the park. I can appreciate his facility with words, but without the proper context it all just seems so impenetrable. Cue Joss Whedon. The director could scarcely come up with a more divergent follow up to The Avengers than a Shakespearean comedy. The play has been adapted before – notably in 1993 by Kenneth Branagh. It’s one of Shakespeare’s most lighthearted works in fact, as it contains not a single death, although that doesn’t mean the idea isn’t flirted with. Whedon’s contribution is to film the piece in black & white, populate it with attractive Californians, set the action inside his very own stylish home in the present, but have the actor’s speak Shakespeare’s original text without any concessions to 21st century vocabulary or mores. It’s an admittedly odd mix. Akin to an episode of Friends inspired by classic Hollywood comedies of the 30s but spoken in Early Modern English. By and large it works.
I must admit, for the uninitiated the vernacular is a bit perplexing and if you have no familiarity with the play, you’ll be a little confused in the beginning as to where the story is going. There are lots of characters and their names are tossed around without any care for the viewer’s comprehension. You’d be mindful to know the plot beforehand. Otherwise you’ll be lost as to who they’re talking about. I, unfamiliar with the play, had my arms folded for the first 30 minutes. But as the saga develops, a curious thing happens. A relationship emerges between two couples that had me captivated for the remainder of the picture. It basically concerns four people: Benedick and Beatrice supposedly can’t stand one another. They proclaim it to everyone within earshot. Down with marriage in general, but especially to each other – they affirm. In contrast there’s Claudio and Hero, young lovers deeply in love with love and each other of course. The whole company is portrayed by a talented cast who delivers their lines as if they’ve spoken this way all their life. The dialogue is pretty captivating.
The conversation is witty, the barbs fly fast and free and the whole undertaking has the refreshing wit of a screwball comedy. Yes it’s funny. At times, laugh out loud so. The up-to-the-minute touches at the wedding: Sprinkles® cupcakes, an iPod as DJ, are hilarious embellishments that imbue the drama with a fresh sensibility despite the antiquated codes. That a woman’s virginity is more important than her humanity, is asking a lot for today’s audience to swallow. Still, if you’re willing to accept the Elizabethan morals and language, with contemporary dress and surroundings, you’ll be in for a treat. This is poetry from the Bard that I can support. It’s Shakespeare for people who don’t like Shakespeare.
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What my fellow bloggers had to say:
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