THE MOVIE

Synopsis:

'William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream' is set in the Tuscany region of Italy during the late 19th century and begins at the court of the reigning Duke Theseus (David Strathairn) where preparations are underway for his marriage to the Queen of the vanquished Amazons, Hippolyta (Sophie Marceau). However, Hippolyta is not entirely overjoyed at the thought of becoming the wife of her nation's conqueror.

A wealthy member of the court, Egeus (Bernard Hill) approaches Theseus to complain that his daughter Hermia (Anna Friel) has refused to marry Demetrius (Christian Bale), her father's choice. Instead, Hermia has fallen in love with, Lysander (Dominic West), a union that her father done not accept. To make matters worse, although Demetrius is actually in love with Helena (Calista Flockhart) who is Hermia's best friend, he has given Helena up in order to marry Hermia.

It soon becomes apparent that according to the law of the land, Hermia must follow her father's wishes and marry Demetrius. If she disobeys this order, she must choose between death or life as a virgin priestess (gasp!!!). Hermia is given until the Theseus' wedding day to decide her fate. Under such stressful circumstances, Hermia and Lysander decide to meet in the nearby woods to plan their elopement. Helena offers to help the two lovers, but their best-laid plans are shattered when Demetrius attempts to thwart the elopement.

In another part of town, a group of labourers led by the carpenter Peter Quince (Roger Rees) and including Bottom (Kevin Kline), Flute (Sam Rockwell) and Tom Snout (Bill Irwin) begin preparations for a play which they are to perform at Theseus' wedding. The group agree to meet in the nearby woods on Midsummer's Eve to rehearse, not realising that Midsummer's Eve is also a time for celebration for the fairies who live within the woods.

The fairies are ruled by King Oberon (Rupert Everett) and Queen Titania (Michelle Pfeiffer) who aren't exactly getting along with each other. At the centre of the dispute is a changeling boy whom Titania has taken but whom Oberon wants. To triumph over Titania, Oberon orders his faithful servant Puck (Stanley Tucci) to gather some magic nectar which when dropped into the eyes, causes the victim to fall in love with the first one he or she sees.

The mischievous Puck drops the nectar in the eyes of his victims at all the wrong times, causing utter chaos and confusion. For example, Hermia, Helena, Demetrius and Lysander fall in and out of love with startling speed, whilst Titania falls in love with Bottom, whose head has been accidentally transformed into that of an ass.

As Theseus' wedding day approaches, it becomes unclear as to who will end up with whom and whether or not Bottom and his troupe will perform their rendition of "The Most Lamentable Comedy, and Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisbe" at the wedding ceremony.

Commentary:

Sigh...there is nothing quite like another Hollywood filmmaker feeling the need to bring the timeless poetry of Shakespeare to the big screen. Of course the trend hit fever pitch a few years back with Mel Gibson and Kenneth Branagh's respective interpretations of 'Hamlet', Branagh's 'Much Ado About Nothing', Ian McKellan's 'Richard III' and Baz Luhrmann's 'William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet' to name but a few!!!

Following on from the big screen success of John Madden's witty 'Shakespeare in Love', writer/director Michael Hoffman ('One Fine Day', 'Restoration' and 'Soapdish') tries his hand at one of Shakespeare's most famous comedies, 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. An interesting piece of trivia for you movie buffs out there, Hoffman's inspiration to write this screenplay came during his performance as Lysander at a performance of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' for the Idaho Shakespeare Festival during his earlier days. Fortunately for all involved, Hoffman's interpretation of worth raving about.

The first thing which is immediately noticeable about Hoffman's interpretation is that the setting for the story has been moved from 16th Century Athens to the Tuscany region of Italy in the late 19th Century. Strangely enough, Hoffman has decided not to meddle with Shakespeare's original dialogue and as such, references to Athens remain intact during the film, which is slightly cringe worthy in my opinion. Nevertheless, the decision to set the story in Tuscany is inspired as it is closer in time for contemporary audiences whilst allowing Hoffman to maintain the highly formal aristocratic culture which envelopes the play. Also welcome is Hoffman's decision to use Shakespeare's Elizabethan dialogue, a move which adds a sense of credibility and style to his feature.

The other noticeable inclusion in Hoffman's interpretation is the deliberate setting of the story during the advent of the bicycle which allows Hoffman to add movement to what have traditionally been extremely static scenes. And who could forget that classic scene where Puck discovers Helena's bicycle for the first time!!!

What I enjoyed most about Hoffman's feature was the enchanting and beautiful nature of the film. It is clear that no expense was spared in relation to style. For example, the lush cinematography is courtesy of Oliver Stapleton who previously worked with Hoffman on 'One Fine Day'. Production design is credited to Luciana Arrighi, an Academy Award nominee for 'Howard's End' and 'The Remains of the Day' and the amazing costumes were designed by Gabriella Pescucci, an Oscar winner for Scorsese's 'The Age of Innocence'. Indeed, the contrast in costume designs is most notable in the principal cast as they begin with overly stuffy aristocratic fashions and then gradually enter a state of nudity during their time in the woods. The soundtrack is credited to Simon Boswell who has previously scored 'Shallow Grave' and 'Cousin Bette' and includes excerpts from Bellini's 'Norman', Verdi's 'La Traviata' and Mendelssohn's traditional composition.

But what about substance I hear you cry!!! Interestingly enough, this amazing ensemble cast carry out their performance with amazing flair. On closer inspection, you will note that the cast has been collated from all over the globe and thankfully have not been forced to swap their natural accents with that of the stiff Brit accent, which immediately qualifies for a double tick in my books!!!

The casting itself is inspired with veteran Shakespearean actor Kline stealing the show (as he usually does!!!). Kline's performance of Bottom is so utterly believable that the pathos of his situation really hits home in the closing moments of the finale.

Also proving that there is more to her than mini-skirts and zany slapstick humour is Flockhart's performance as Helena. Once again, inspired casting for a character which essentially carries all the characteristics of Flockhart's TV alter ego (i.e. twitching, energetic and full of spirit). Further proof that Shakespeare was in fact ahead of his time!!!

Hot on the heels of these performances are Pfeiffer and Everett who utilise every opportunity to bring their camp characters to life. (I won't even begin to explain the tongue-in-cheek humour at Everett being cast as Oberon!!!) Perhaps the best way to explain the interaction between these two Hollywood heavy-weights is to compare them to two scheming/bitchy models up against it at a beauty contest.

Finally, I have to mention the amazing performance of Tucci as Puck. The versatility of Tucci as an actor is a marvel and his performance as the mischievous sprite adds fuel to this argument. Tucci's comic timing is spot on and his smaller physique when compared to Everett's physique merely adds to the hilarity of his situation. No doubt Tucci's Broadway experience can account for his familiarity with this genre.

At the end of the day, Hoffman has successfully interpreted this classical work into a light-hearted romantic comedy which remains fairly faithful to the original source material. In fact, I truly believe that Shakespearean purists will end up deliberating for hours over what was excised by Hoffman to bring the feature under the 2 hour mark. For those not so familiar with the source material, Hoffman's interpretation offers an outstanding visual masterpiece which includes an amazing study of the conflict between love and dignity, and how much dignity we are willing to give up in order to gain love. And at the end of the day, isn't the universal theme of love the reason why Shakespeare is as relevant today as it was during the Bard's era?

THE TRANSFER

Video:

'William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream' is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and is anamorphically enhanced. This represents an amazing concession for Region 4 viewers by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment who had previously released this title in Region 1 without an anamorphic widescreen video transfer and without dual-layering. Mind you, we did have to wait forever for this title to be released, so just as well!!!

Fox has delivered some amazing video transfers of late, and this one is no exception. The video transfer is exceptionally well defined with almost perfect picture clarity. No visible film artefacts were present.

The colour palette was used to great effect in this film and shadow detail is exceptional.

As this DVD is a dual-layered disc, a layer transition occurs at 55:00 which is well placed and was not disruptive to the overall flow of the feature.

Audio:

'William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream' is presented with a default English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, but it is also available with Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks in French, German and Spanish.

Surround speakers are perfectly utilised in the soundtrack to provide ambience and integrates well with the dialogue and score of the feature. Some of the best uses of the surround speakers are during the rain/thunder sequence when the lovers first enter the woods and the magical sound of fairies and forest sounds during the second act of the feature.

As this feature is relatively dialogue intensive, I am pleased to report that the dialogue was always well centered, clear and understandable throughout with no evidence of audio-sync issues. (A blessing considering the complexity of the Elizabethan dialogue)

As noted in my commentary, the period classical music adds tremendously to the style and sophistication of this feature and is presented distortion free and well articulated.

THE EXTRAS

*GASP*

Not a single extra!!! Not even a theatrical trailer which incidentally was included on the Region 1 version.

SUMMARY

I may be biased but I have always loved 'William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream' and so it came as no surprise that I leaped for joy when news came to hand of Hoffman's plans to bring this classic comedy to the silver screen.

Notwithstanding, I heartily recommend this version of 'William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream' as it is a competent entry in the growing list of Hollywood Shakespearean interpretations which deserves to be ranked up there with the best.

The video and audio transfer is testament of Fox's commitment to DVD quality and I hope to see many more quality releases such as this from Fox over the upcoming months. Now what about those extras?