User reviews

Trevor Nunn's beautifully photographed and acted, deftly written film is one of the most enjoyable adaptations of a Shakespeare play ever made. Helena Bonham Carter is pitch perfect as the beautiful Olivia, who in "deep mourning" for her dead brother, falls in love with Cesario (who happens to be a woman named Viola dressed up as a man, wonderfully played by Imogen Stubbs, the only actress I've ever seen able to create both a charming Viola and a totally believable Cesario), meanwhile Viola falls for the Duke of fictional Illyria (the exquisite Toby Stephens) who is desperately in love with the Lady Olivia. Meanwhile, Viola's lost twin brother (Steven Mackintosh of "Gentlemen Don't Eat Poets", excellent again here) winds up in Illyria and adds to the confusion. Wonderful, layered support comes from Ben Kingsley playing Feste, Olivia's fool. The only flaw, perhaps, is the few minutes before the conclusion when everything seems to be coated with a thick gloss of sugar; the film comes through this unscathed. Trevor Nunn comes through with an exquisite Shakespeare film adaptation (which is a do or die task). A great showcase for the heavenly cast featuring some of the best performances ever by Bonham Carter (save "Wings of the Dove"), Kingsley (in his best supporting turn ever), novice Stubbs, and Stephens. A very worthwhile effort. Rent it, you won't be let down.

Slick Shakespeare adaptation, well acted and very humorous (in parts) in its telling. Naturally, there's always going to be some differences from stage to cinema. The film took advantage of this, of course, to avoid a "stage" feel. The perceptions, or rather the misperceptions, of people and motivations are well explored and portrayed. Ben Kingsley is a standout, for his interesting twist on the character Feste. In short, a good adaptation and film. Recommended.

A lively, bubbly production of one of Shakespeare's more difficult plays. It's hard to know just what Shakespeare was getting at with this story. The text doesn't always seem to make sense. That's reflected in this, as well as any other, production. At times, one wonders what the expressions on characters' faces are meant to indicate. Just after Feste has fooled Malvolio with his imitation of the curate, for instance, Maria has a perturbed look on her face. As if the joke that she herself so elaborately designed now troubles her. There's nothing in the text to indicate that her expression should show remorse; and yet Sir Toby soon after says that he's sick of the whole thing. Why? That's one example of the difficulty of the text (which may have been corrupted over the centuries), and how it is manifested in this particular production's choices. I don't know why Sir Toby remarks at this point that he's sick of the joke, nor do I know whether Maria should share his feelings.

Another difficulty is the role of Feste. Ben Kingsley fills this role, and because Ben Kingsley is a major star, he magnifies this character (in my opinion) out of all proportion. He becomes a sort of Zen master, pompous and oppressive. His jokes aren't funny (maybe we can't find Shakespeare's jokes funny today, but Kingsley's heavy delivery precludes humor), and his last confrontation with Malvolio comes off as a sort of thundering divine retribution. The entire play, the entire cast, stops dead and Feste takes over as if the whole point of the play has been his apotheosis at the expense of the degraded Malvolio. This surely cannot be what Shakespeare had in mind. Throughout the play he has a disconcerting habit of staring at other characters or the camera with what almost be described as a leer.

Maybe Shakespeare would have sighed and commiserated with the producer of this film, because the clowns in his day were also big stars who demanded a lot of meat in their roles. The trouble is that there just isn't much meat in Feste's role according to the text, so we're stuck with leers and thundering retribution and other inventions. Shakespeare had to accommodate his clowns with ever-more important roles, climaxing with characters like Touchstone and Lear's fool. Kingsley is just inventing his own character. At times his work is interesting, but his weight in the production is, as I said, oppressive.

Still, his screen time is relatively small, and much of the rest of the play is a joy, even if the point of the story isn't always clear. Bonham-Carter was never more alluring, Hawthorne is priceless as Malvolio (he was born for the role), and Smith and Grant are the perfect combination of Belch and Aguecheek. I suppose you might object that all four of them put their eyebrows to such prodigious use that their acting might be characterized as hamming. But I don't see how any of these characters can be played straight if the play is to work.

One thing is for sure, no one would ever accuse this production of bogging down. The pace is lively, the sets and the cinematography are always striking, the score is invigorating, and I suspect that I could watch this film dubbed in Swahili and it would still be a lot of fun. Visually arresting is perhaps the best description.

Story by shakespeare! Direction by trevor nunn. After being shipwrecked, brother and sister have survived, but are separated. Viola dresses as a man, to pass as count orsino's assistant. It's a lover's quadrangle, as orsino loves olivia, but alas, olivia does not love the count. She loves... cesario. Who is really viola, dressed as a man! Some good acting, some mediocre acting. And a miscast viola. But... director nunn was married to stubbs, so it was destined to be. Shenanigans ensue. Was probably quite fun and funny at the time, but a lot of the humor is lost in the heavy speech. The camera circling the actors in some scenes got annoying, and the songs they sing just bring everything to a halt. Keep an eye out for ben kinsley and imelda staunton, from harry potter and downton abbey! It's all okay, for a modern shakespeare; nunn keeps true to the thick, florid language, but condenses much of the actual story. One funny bit was the soldiers' hats... they looked like upside spitoons!

The photography on this movie is great, and a lot of the acting is great -- but some of the scenes get very heavy-handed (it's supposed to be a comedy, but somebody's crying every 10 minutes...) and grim which distracts from the flow of the movie and is unnecessary.

I admit I'm no expert on Shakespeare and I'd never read 'Twelfth Night' before seeing this film, so I found it a little difficult to follow. For instance, I could never quite figure out the role of Ben Kingsley's character. I didn't find this film as accessible as two other Shakespeare adaptations which appeared near the same time, Kenneth Branagh's 'Hamlet' or 'Richard III' with Ian McKellen. Consequently, I didn't think it was as outstanding as those two were.

But enough of the negatives. There is plenty to recommend Trevor Nunn's 'Twelfth Night' and first and foremost on the list is an absolutely fabulous performance by Imogen Stubbs. I had seen her before in 'Sense and Sensibility,' where she did a fine job, but she wasn't a particular standout among that remarkable cast. Here she simply steals the show playing Viola, who masquerades as a man, Cesario. Her scenes with Helena Bonham Carter as Olivia, who is smitten with "him," are a great joy and lots of fun to watch. I don't know if any other version of 'TN' ever played up the angle of sexual ambiguity as much as this one does, but it makes it very interesting for a modern audience.

There are many other fine performances, and this is quite a lavish production as well, so on balance I found it worthwhile. But whenever I think of this film I think of Imogen Stubbs.

While I would have preferred my Twefth Night a bit lighter than Nunn's Heavy handed production his choices for the most part work well in context. Nigel Hawthorne as Malvolio is the standout in a fine cast. his malvolio is pompous but sympathetic. I do not believe, however,that malvolio after saying he will be "revenged on the whole pack of you" would up and leave. he should stay at the palace and continue being malvolio, that is his revenge. Helena b. Carter is wonderful as always, charming and witty. Richard e. Grant is also in top form as Andrew. The only real problem I had was Ben Kingsley. always a fine actor,the interpretation of Feste as a Brechtian interloper seemed quite out of place in Illyria. I would love to see him do the same type of performance as street singer in Threepenny Opera though. Mr. Nunn keeps the pace moving and adds a lot of depth even to the smaller roles. Over all a 7 out of 10.

Viola and her twin brother Sebastian are divided and both believe the other to be dead. On unfriendly land, she has to become a servant to Orsini, whom she falls for. To work for him, she has to dress up like a boy(thus commenting on the differences between the genders, and how we relate to the same or the opposite sex). And he wants to be with Olivia, who can't imagine being with her(who she thinks is male), when he sends her to court her. Confused? Then I won't go into the subplots. There is enough unrequited love to go around, and that situation is described well. This is kept in Shakespeare's language(with all it's delicious constructions, several of which have become common sayings today), and whilst I have not read the original play and thus cannot say with absolute certainty, it would appear that the story is intact as far as the roughly two hour running time would allow. Nothing set up is denied pay-off. The jokes and gags are obviously aged, as humor has gone through immense changes over time. However, drunkenness and mix-ups are the basis of a lot of them, and those remain sources of laughter today. The prank played on Malvolio seems harsh and uncalled for today, or at least, by some standards. Fine, by those of mine and my girlfriend, then. The characters are memorable and distinct, in spite of there being about a dozen. Dialog is amazing. The acting is great, and a lot of the funniest moments come from this aspect(Imogen Stubbs in particular). Pacing is reasonable. The editing is well-done, interweaving parallel scenes with one another to strong effect. Whether this is true to the source material, I could not say. This is slightly visual, if the filming is never above average(and at times clumsy). I find the best adaptations of this sort are the ones most based on the verbal content, and that does tend to be the approach here. I recommend this to fans of the excellent writer's comedies. 7/10