Much Ado About Nothing: The Film Directed By Branagh
Kenneth Branagh's decision to set his film at the Villa Vignamaggio in the hills of Tuscany, rather than in a city, sets the tone of his interpretation of Shakespeare's play Much Ado About Nothing. Rather than the formal society overly concerned with outward appearances, which the play intimates, Branagh presents a gay, lusty, warmhearted society which is constantly outdoors in the Tuscany sunshine. The movie is a COMEDY which minimizes the darker strains of the play. In order to support his interpretation of Much Ado as a joyous romp in the Italian sunshine, Branagh inserts and displays many details which the medium of film makes possible. The cinematography and sound track are ...
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raise their fists to signal victory. The excitement is intense. Everyone rushes to the villa amid laughter, squeals, soaring music, shedding cloths, bare bottoms, and bathing. The mood is set. Utilizing the beautiful rose colored villa, gorgeous scenery, glorious music, imaginative cinematography, Branagh's Much Ado is more sensual and aesthetic than intellectual. Shakespeare relied almost wholly on his language for effect-- his sensuality was verbal, Branagh's is visual.
Shakespeare's mood is formal. His society is insecure and so concerned with outward appearances that the people are easily deceived and fail to comprehend the truth. Branagh's characters are self-confident, happy, warm-hearted, affectionate-- but their naïveté makes them vulnerable to deception. Branagh makes his actors act and talk 'like natives of a warm country,' they laugh, applaud witty speeches, hug each other in joy, punch each other playfully. They are all dressed casually in peasant ...
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Beatrice and Benedick, Claudio and Hero, plus Leonato, Don Pedro, etc. Our acquaintance with them unfolds in the sunny hills, courtyard and gardens. It is only Claudio's characterization which seems a bit askew with Shakespeare's intent. Branagh, or perhaps it is Robert Sean Leonard himself in his interpretation of the role, manages to make Claudio seem a victimized, but deeply sincere young man. This Claudio is naïve, but appears to be truly in love with Hero. His reactions to the deceptions arise from his sensitivity. Branagh and Leonard accomplish this by means of close-ups of Claudio's handsome and expressive face and its anguished reactions. The telling lines which ...
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"Much Ado About Nothing: The Film Directed By Branagh." Essayworld.com. October 21, 2006. Accessed April 20, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Much-Ado-About-Nothing-Film-Directed/54315.
"Much Ado About Nothing: The Film Directed By Branagh." Essayworld.com. October 21, 2006. Accessed April 20, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Much-Ado-About-Nothing-Film-Directed/54315.
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