Lauren NuDelman
Brit. Lit Before 1800
November 4, 2011
Twelfth Night – Movie Review
I expected this particular film adaptation to be a bit light-hearted and breezy, probably because the only other interpretation of the play that I have seen is She’s the Man. However, even though this adaptation was very amusing and comedic, there was a sad air that I was not expecting, specifically in Feste’s character. Ben Kingsley is a great actor, and he definitely added an interesting twist to character that I probably would have never thought of, yet I like the playful “allowed fool” in Shakespeare’s play better then the excessively morose Kingsley, though I do have to say that he was still excellent at conveying his wise messages to the other characters. Overall, I thought this was a great adaption of Twelfth Night. It stayed as close to the original as it could to the original in movie format; even though many passages were edited out, it was still spoken in the Shakespearean language and most of the actors remained true to their characters. In particular, I liked how convincing Viola was as a boy. Though I know many won’t agree with me, I felt that she actually did look like an effeminate boy – I think her terrible haircut and her little moustache greatly aided her in her disguise. I also thought that the casting of her and her twin brother Sebastian was well done, because they actually did look similar. Helena Bonham Carter was a great actress in this, as usual. In my opinion, she played the part of the grieving sister really well, as well as the lovesick teenager-esque girl. I also liked the setting of the movie; it tied in perfectly with Illyria, replete with the green and hilly landscape that was “Shakespeare’s fertile land of possibility.”
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