Twelfth Night

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10/25/2021 Who says the old Shakespeare days can't be funny? In the late 19th century a shipwreck separates Viola (Imogen Stubbs) from her twin brother, Sebastian (Steven Mackintosh) Viola disguises herself as a boy and goes to work for Duke Orsino (Toby Stephens), whom she loves The object of the duke's heart, Olivia (Helena Bonham Carter), does not reciprocate his feelings -- however, she falls madly for Viola, whose true gender she doesn't know Meanwhile, Olivia's uncle, Sir Toby (Mel Smith), manipulates all of their entangled relationships Ben Kingsley plays Feste, the fool in Olivia's castle Hijinks ensue and wacky romantic misunderstandings take hold This plays as a romantic comedy involving gender confusion with a woman looking like a man having a woman fall in love for the supposed-man Trevor Nunn makes a few off decisions regarding the play but the actors rise above most of the material given It's a practice of meditation on desire, disguise and inherent bisexuality Lots of discussing how things play out that's for certain but Shakespeare lovers are in for a treat See more 10/08/2015 Twelfth Night is passable. While some of the performances are a bit silly, nothing about the film is terrible. Rather the problem is that the parts are not played with much harmony. However, Helena Bonham Carter's acting, as always, is delectable. See more 06/18/2015 The movie did much to address some of the things about the play that left me reluctant, by adding a denouement and emotional beats I felt the play was lacking at the end. The end of the movie is wonderfully emotional and appealing. As for the performances, they were all wonderful. Ben Kingsley as Feste played the character in a different way than I expected, with a lot of unresolved pathos despite his foolish ways. His foolish ways are toned down significantly from the play; here he seems more like a father figure to Olivia (played by the fabulous Helena Bonham Carter) than her jester. I especially like Feste at the end of the movie, as his own moving forward paralleled the denouement of many other characters, complete with a lively version of the fool's ending song from the play. The movie emphasized the homoerotic undertones of the play with a few key expressions by Antonio and the dramatization of a growing attraction between Viola (a game Imogen Stubbs) and Orsino (Toby Stephens) even while he believes her to be a man. Nigel Hawthorne as Malvolio is excellent, and there is perhaps a little more sympathy for him by the end of the movie than in the play. One of the things that disturbed me about the play were the tricks being played on him. The same left me still disturbed in the adaptation. Does he truly deserve what everyone puts him through? The poor fool. The final thing I appreciate about the movie is how it helped me to better understand the play and suggested my concerns about the play may be somewhat universal. That does not detract from Shakespeare's genius, though. In fact, I feel what left me fretting about the play was trying to understand the genius of his decisions in writing it. It is a complex work, and well worth the effort to read it, and then gain an even greater appreciation for it through performances like this adaptation. See more 03/24/2015 The butchering and splicing of the original play did little for me but annoy me. Cutting out material and changing words to pander to modern audiences is just speeding along the dumbing down of culture. Also, there are just some weird characterizations and relationships in this version. See more 09/04/2014 http://www.bluestockingbookshelf.com/film/2014/7/29/twelfth-night-1996 See more 07/29/2014 I thought I was going to adore this movie when I first saw it. After all, it had a lot of things going for it. TWELFTH NIGHT is one of my favorite Shakespeare comedies, and I'm a sucker for anything with Helena Bonham Carter, Ben Kingsley and Imelda Staunton all at once. However, the biggest problem I have with the movie is all ABOUT the casting. Helena Bonham Carter, while she tried her best, simply should not have been assigned the part of Olivia. If anything, her deep voice and brash persona would have been perfectly suited for VIOLA. Imogen Stubbs, who again tried her best with the role she received, oddly enough had the exact opposite problem as Carter. Stubbs, with her more feminine voice and timid persona, would have been better suited as OLIVIA as opposed to Viola. But by far the worst casting decision was Ben Kingsley as Feste. Good god. Feste, for those of you who are unfamiliar with TWELFTH NIGHT, is a JESTER. He serves as one of Shakespeare's many token humorous side characters--Feste constantly cracks jokes, dances, sings, and in general provides merriment. However, in this version, Feste is a permanently scowling man wearing drab clothing, constantly mumbling and humming his words. I have no idea what the director was thinking when he thought that Ben Kingsley would have been the perfect Feste. He was anything but! Every time he was onscreen, I wanted to scream--he was killing the mood and comedy of the play for no reason whatsoever. I don't know if the director told Kingsley to play the part the way he did, or if Kingsley decided to not give a shit while filming, but it doesn't matter. It was still a lackluster performance accompanying a spirited character. Another issue I had with this film was the makeup. I simply thought that Imogen Stubbs, when she was dressed as Cesario, looked horrendous. Unlike films such as MRS DOUBTFIRE or THE ELEPHANT MAN, TWELFTH NIGHT's makeup budget looked pitiful. Stubbs looked ratty and creepy as Cesario, very similar to Cary Elwes in THE PRINCESS BRIDE. My final complaint about this film is how all the actors whisper a majority of their lines. This seems to be a trend in films based on the Bard's plays, and it is incredibly annoying. On stage, the actors rarely whisper when performing in a Shakespeare play because of the audience's need to hear what they are saying. However, directors of Shakespeare's play-based movies enjoy overcompensating by commanding their actors to whisper their lines for little to no reason. If it's ROMEO AND JULIET, where the titular characters often are forced to whisper because they are hiding, it is understandable. However, in TWELFTH NIGHT, there are no such excuses for whispering and hissing the lines. I suppose if I had to sum up this train wreck of a movie in one word, it would be disappointment. I badly wanted to like this movie, and it did have so much going for it, but with the miscast and faulty acting, ugly makeup and just all around hideous acting direction, I simply can't. I'm eating this 1.5 stars mostly out of sheer pity. See more Read all reviews

Twelfth Night

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