 » It all begins
when Hermia and Lysander flee deep into
the forest to escape Hermia's father,
Egeus, who wishes Hermia to marry Demetrius.
Demetrius himself bicycles into the woods
to follow his true love Hermia. Demetrius
is soon followed by yet another desperate
lover: Helena, who adores Demetrius but
finds her affections dreadfully unrequited.
Crashing and flailing, and falling into
mud puddles, the foursome find themselves
near the secret home of the fairies, where
water nymphs and satyrs party into the
night at the fairy bars and cafes. Chaos
ensues when the trickster Puck (Stanley
Tucci) administers a secret love potion-causing
the lovers to mix-and-match with outrageous
results. Meanwhile, a band of actors come
to the same woods to put on a play-a play
that is interrupted when its star actor
Bottom becomes a strange pawn in the love
battles between Oberon, King of the Fairies,
and Titania his Queen.
 Imagine
a work by Shakespeare reduced to one of those pretty, glossy
coffee-table picture books that have only
a dollop of text alongside its sumptuous
photographs, and you might have Michael
Hoffman's adaptation of A
Midsummer Night's Dream. This all-star
version of Shakespeare's comedy is gorgeously
shot in Tuscany, complete with a magical
forest, breathtaking landscapes, beautiful
villas, picturesque villages, stunning
period costumes--oh wait, there's supposed
to be a story here, too! Hoffman hijacks
Shakespeare's basic premise but doesn't
instill it with much more than surface
shine and transplants it to turn-of-the-century
Italy. Ergo, it's left up to the actors
to find the heart and soul of this classic
play, in which the fairies of the forest
play mix and match with four young lovers,
courtesy of a magical love potion. Hoffman
couldn't ask for better (or better looking)
actors to play Shakespeare's dreamlike
love games--Michelle
Pfeiffer, Rupert
Everett, Calista
Flockhart, Christian
Bale, Stanley
Tucci, Kevin
Kline, Anna
Friel, Dominic
West, the list goes on and on--but
he sure as heck doesn't know what to do
with them, aside from putting them in
various states of undress. Only Flockhart
(as the lovestruck Helena),
Tucci (a sprightly Puck),
Pfeiffer (dazzling and funny as the queen
of the fairies), and especially
the sublime Kline (as weaver-turned-donkey Bottom) seem
to connect with their characters in ways
that make this adaptation occasionally
soar; the rest are inexplicably left to
flounder. Hoffman does seem to set himself
right with the film's climax, when Bottom's
amateur acting troupe hilariously enacts
the tale of Pyramus and Thisbe (it helps
that the troupe includes Roger Rees, Sam
Rockwell, and Bill Irwin). Those searching
for a more in-depth exploration of Shakespeare's
farce might do better to look elsewhere,
but if it's gorgeous actors and scenery
you're in the mood for (along with an
evocative opera soundtrack), and an all's-well-that-ends-well
ending, this Midsummer Night will give
you pleasant if weightless dreams.
|
» Caprarola, Viterbo,
Lazio, Italy
» Cinecittà,
Rome, Lazio, Italy (studio)
» Sutri,
Viterbo, Lazio, Italy
» Tivoli, Rome,
Lazio, Italy (interiors)
» Tuscany,
Italy |
