By Sandy Yang
Daily Bruin Staff
Shakespeare plays have been around for 400 years. But only in
the past decade have experimental Shakespeare films attracted a new
generation of audiences and filmmakers alike, proving once again
the Bard’s accessibility and timelessness.
Part of that thanks goes to director-actor Kenneth Branagh. His
“Henry V” (1988) and “Much Ado About
Nothing” (1993) were the first Shakespeare histories and
comedies to draw box office clout.
Since then, Shakespeare adaptations from Leonardo
DiCaprio’s “Romeo and Juliet” to this
year’s ultra-modern “Hamlet” have opened up
audiences to accept Shakespeare as the original playwright for the
masses.
Branagh may just be this generation’s Shakespeare auteur
““ the Laurence Olivier of the ’90s. But when Branagh
pitched his unique approach at adapting Shakespeare comedy,
“Love’s Labour’s Lost,” it was a tough
sell.
“(Producers) would say why “˜Love’s
Labour’s Lost?’ and I said, “˜It was the only
Shakespeare play that was unperformed for 200 years after his
death,'” Branagh said in a press interview.
“Then they ask why? I said, “˜Well, don’t worry
about that, I’m going to make that work, I’m going to
do it as a musical,’ and they said, “˜A film genre that
hasn’t worked for 40 years, that’s a great
comfort.'” Branagh recalled, “I said
“˜I’ve been in the theater, there’s something so
deliciously silly about it.'”
Shakespeare, silly?
But alas, Shakespeare did write about the kind of love so sweet,
it makes a guy want to jump on tables and belt out any cheesy love
song after glimpsing the perfect girl. And that’s exactly
what the guys do, in Branagh’s version.
In this retelling, “Love’s Labour’s
Lost” takes place a few years before WWI. The King of Navarre
(Alessandro Nivola) and his three best friends (Branagh, Matthew
Lillard, Adrian Lester) vow to study rigorously for three years
while swearing off women. But the men didn’t expect the
Princess of France (Alicia Silverstone) to come with her three
attendants (Natasha McElhone, Emily Mortimer, Carmen Ejogo). At
first meeting, the men and women split off into four couples.
Fighting their urges as best they can, the four men secretly
keep wallet-sized pictures of their respective girlfriends, which
are the inspiration for many sighs and tunes such as Irving
Berlin’s “Cheek to Cheek” and George
Gershwin’s “I’ve Got a Crush on You.”
Realizing they’re pursuing a hopeless endeavor, the men
happily give in to romantic love. The King of France’s death
and the impending war, however, quickly shatter their happy world.
Though separated, the couples hope they will see each other
again.
“Love’s Labour’s Lost” is
Branagh’s fourth Shakespearean adaptation, but his first one
out of Shakespeare’s intended setting.
By having the actors sing and dance Fred Astaire-inspired
numbers while speaking in iambic pentameters, Branagh seems bent on
outdoing the Shakespearean films that were influenced by his own
early efforts.
But that is hardly the case, according to Branagh. The dancing
represents the divine nature that love becomes when words
don’t suffice. He tried to explain this to his cast by
showing “Top Hat,” a classic Astaire-Ginger Rogers
film, on the first day of filming.
“I said, “˜Look, here’s what we can’t
do,'” Branagh said. “But we can be inspired by
what’s behind this: the carefree quality, the way grown men
and women become childlike in their attempts to deceive, flatter
and avoid the issue of what they may be feeling.”
“I want to make that very recognizable,” Branagh
continued. “I think we sometimes long for orchestras to be
played, we romanticize the moment where she knocked over the glass,
she looked around and the look on her face made me fall in love
with her that minute. That escapism is partly reflected in the
movie.”
Boy loves girl. The premise is simple enough. In Branagh’s
explanation, it’s easy to forget that we’re still
dealing with Shakespeare. The audience still has to sit through the
400-year-old language, which can cause some confusion, similar to
what Silverstone has experienced.
“I’ve seen Shakespeare (performances) where I wanted
to kill myself,” Silverstone said. “You don’t
understand what they’re saying; they’re so boring and
indulgent. You feel like they’re doing this
I’m-better-than-you show.”
“That’s before I saw Kenneth’s films,”
she continued. “His movies say, “˜Come here, engage with
me.’ I think that’s what Shakespeare
intended.”
Branagh puts his own stamp of approval on his work based on
whether his 7-year-old neighbor gets it.
“The 7-year-old watched it, and I was wondering if she was
taking in all this dialogue about love and death,” Branagh
said. “She doesn’t bring to it, “˜Oh, I’m
not sure if I’ve read this minor Shakespeare comedy’ or
“˜I don’t know how it sits alongside “˜Titus
Adronicus,’ none of that. It’s just, “˜Is it
entertaining, do I understand it, am I held?'”
“It’s worth remembering ““ not to make films
for 7-year-olds ““ but making films assuming that in the doing
of it, we can set the example of coming to it without fear and
intimidation,” Branagh continued.
“If you let the audience laugh immediately, suddenly
everyone relaxes and can experience it without the terrible dread
as somehow it comments on their intelligence.”
FILM: “Love’s Labour’s Lost” opens in
theaters nationwide this Friday.