Twelfth Night

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Starring: Helena Bonham Carter
Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Type: DVD
Directed By: Trevor Nunn
Studio: Image Entertainment
Release Date: 2005-08-30
Running Time: 134 minutes
A once-in-a-lifetime cast shines in this hilarious version of the beloved Shakespeare comedy! When a shipwreck separates siblings Viola and Sebastian in a foreign land, each thinks the other is dead, and both embark on a series of romantic misadventures involving deception, cross-dressing, dashing counts, obese alcoholics and a perceptive fool who presides over the entire madcap affair. A delight from start to finish, this dazzling treat is British comedy at its best!

When a shipwreck separates siblings Viola and Sebastian in a foreign land, both think the other is dead and embarks on a series of romantic misadventures.

The Best Shakespeare Movie
Trevor Nunn's version of Twelfth Night is the best cinematic rendition of any Shakespeare play. While Nunn makes liberal alterations in Shakespeare's word order and adds some non-Shakespearean text, he captures the humor, romance and poignancy of Twelfth Night. The cast is uniformly superb with Ben Kingsley as a fascinating choice for the role of the Fool and Helena Bonham Carter wonderfully subtle, humorous and endearing. The music is excellent and the settings beautiful. My only criticism is the lack of captioning which I find helpful in Shakespeare films on the first viewing (I had to turn to the written text which is a positive in any case and allowed me to see how Nunn put the film together). I've watched this film many times and enjoyed it every time.

Robert Doyle
Mesa, Arizona

Trevor Nunn's Twelfth Night
This is a review of the 1996 film version of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, with Trevor Nunn as both screenwriter and director. Nunn remade this play into a beautifully filmed two hour movie that is understandable and entertaining for a wide range of people today. Nunn cut out vast swaths of Shakespeare's text, simplified much, and changed a few things, but still largely maintained Shakespeare's characters, subplots, imagery, and purpose.

Other reviewers have already correctly identified this as a suberb movie. Some have also summarized well the plots, listed the key characters and actors, and rightly praised their performances. I will not revisit any of these topics. Rather, I will try to add something new.

Nunn drastically cut out original text. Some scenes contain only a few bits and pieces from the original.

Nunn added lines and scenes. The opening scenes displaying a ships' passengers, a shipwreck, people in the ocean, and narration, is all Nunn's creation. In this opening, Nunn made up many details, and changed a few from Shakespeare.

Nunn also added or changed lines in other parts of the movie. Sometimes this just simplified the language. For example, "gaskins" is changed to "britches", so everyone gets a joke about pants falling down. Other additions work changes to Shakespeare's design.

Nunn presented scenes out of order. For example, Act I, Scene 2 ("What country friends is this ...") comes before Act I, Scene 1 ("If music be the food of love ..."). This also enabled Nunn to add Viola in Act I, Scene 1.
Viola's "I am the man" speech is split in two, and presented in two different places.

Many lines were cut from one place, and plopped down in another.

But, with all these changes, Nunn's movie succeeds in maintaining the gist of Shakespeare's play, while making it accessible to current movie watchers.

Shakespeare wrote plays to be performed by actors. All he had to work with was his text, the actor's performances, and his audiences. He had very little in the way of props, scenery, and customs. Nunn was able to film his actors at beautiful locations in southwest England, film the sea and scenery, and then use the film editing process to piece parts together, and add sound.

So for example, Shakespeare extensively used text to develop imagery of water, the ebb and flow of the sea, sailing ships, and fluidity. He then contrasted this with the imagery of mountains and barbarous caves. He used these images as metaphors for human experience.

Nunn, used some of this language, but cut much. In its place he added video and audio clips of oceans, surging waves, and treacherous ocean cliffs and caves. He cut away to a clip of water the way Shakespeare added dialogue about the water. In one scene, were Olivia meets Orsino, and coldly rejects his love, Nunn has Orsino then smash his glass full of wine against a marble pedastal.

This is one of Shakespeare's most musical plays. Perhaps, the actor Robert Armin played Feste and supplied much of the music. There are songs in Twelfth Night for which original sheet music does not survive. Stage productions, and even many movies, fail to complete the musical element of Shakespeare's musical plays. In Nunn's production, Shawn Davey provided outstanding music. This is not just a great soundtrack; it includes music to Shakespeare's songs sung by the characters.

This play has much to do with uncertainty and fluidity of identity. Viola pretends to be the man Cesario. Olivia thinks a she is a he. Olivia mistakes Sebastian for Cesario/Viola. Antonio pretends to be someone he isn't, but Orsino and his men are not fooled. But, what is he? An evil pirate, an honorable naval officer, a legitimate pirate, or what? Nunn delivers all this.

But, there is much more complexity that he cuts out. Shakespeare usually has characters call themselves by their names, to introduce them to the audience. They also tend to identify social ranks, positions, and relationships. But, not in this play. Nunn undoes some of this uncertainty by adding lines or visual depictions.

For example, Nunn adds a line to Act I, Scene 2. A captain says to Viola, "My lady Viola". In Act II, Scene 1, Sebastian tells Antonio that his sister is Viola. This is Nunn's too. Shakespeare's text listed names in stage instructions and next to speeches. But his audience only heard what the actors said. In a Shakespearean performance, the girl who uttered "What country friends ..." remained a girl with no name until almost the end, when Sebastian says "Thrice welcome drowned Viola".

Nunn did many more things to make the story simpler. Who is Feste? Where had he been during his absense? Is he Maria's brother? (Nunn cut some tantalizing dialogue.) Who are the people of Messaline? What is their relationship to Illyria? (Nunn made up the lines "Messaline with this country is at war" and "The war between the merchants here and ours".) Who are the two captains? (Nunn made up the details of the wreak: a single ship, with both captains on board, hitting rocks.)

Finally, I would add that my DVD version contains one unforgivable omission. There is no commentary track by Nunn and the actors to explain why they did things the way they did.

Where did Nunn come up with the shipwreak and Messaline stories? Why does Maria sing "O mistress mine ..." as a duet with Feste when Shakespeare had her off stage at this point? Why does Olivia throw a glare at Maria when Feste exasperates her? Why is the closing line changed from "We'll strive to please you every day." to "I'll strive ..."?

A shakespirian masterpiece
This movie is a real delight to those who love theather. With almost none other than the actors own capabilities, you can be surprised about how much a little misunderstanding can create such a funny inslght to human nature.

Loved it
I should acknowledge, first of all, that this is probably my favorite of Shakespeare's plays; therefore, I'm inclined to be biased. Still, I loved this movie.

In particular, I was delighted to see Ben Kingsley as Feste the Jester and was impressed that he could sing so well.

I also really enjoyed the scenes wherein Olivia (Helena Bonham Carter) is being wooed by Viola (Imogen Stubbs) for the Duke (Toby Stephens). I liked the banter and the irony of the first scene in particular.

Splendid!
Many people might be compelled to see this film after seeing Shakespeare in Love (Miramax Collector's Series). This is certainly not a bad thing, and there are in-fact allusions to 12th Night in SIL w/all the gender-switching that is goes on in both. Of course, you don't realize you're being "set up" until the end of SIL, but that's part of the fun!

This is a very well-done Shakespeare on-screen production. While plays are all well & good, there is something to be said to seeing Shakespeare filmed outside, inside of castles & w/lavish sets. While some purists may not like it, I think it's good for his plays to be displayed thus.

The acting in this film is top-notch. You can never go wrong w/Ben Kingsley, and he is stellar as the sort of "rudder" character of the story. Thankfully, there are no "gimmick" actors (such as Keanu Reeves in Much Ado About Nothing.

The center stage, however, belongs to Imogen Stubbs. She is absolutely perfect as Viola. She has a appealing screen presence, and she's way sexy even while she's dressed up as a boy. Men dressing up as women is bizarre, but women dressing up as men is quite erotic. There are many scenes of lustful tension in the film, and Stubbs pulls them off wonderfully!

If you're in the market for Shakespeare on DVD, this one is a must-have. While it's not nearly as funny as Much Ado About Nothing, there are a few amusing scenes. Overall, however, this is much more of a drama than a comedy. The soundtrack is subtle but eloquent. I'm sure that Shakespeare himself gave this one a viewing from somewhere beyond the grave, and I've no doubt he was pleased with the effort!