I have always maintained that Midsummer Nights Dream is unfilmable.It is also in my opinion,unstageable. Thats not to say its a bad play,in fact its so fantastic and magical I have never been convinced the fairies are walking amongst us except in my head. The magic conjured up by the fairie folk, to me,cannot be translated convincingly on screen.
That said,this film is a good effort. It never succeeds in making the fairies magical,but really helps bring out the lover's plight and succeeds in reinventing the mechanicals.
The film starts off strong with likable performances by David Strathairn as Theseus,The Lovely Sophie Marceau as Hippolyta and the ever enjoyable Bernard Hill as Egeaus. As the Young lovers go Anna Friel is miles ahead of the others as Hermia.One of Britian's best kept secrets,the pretty and talented Miss Friel knows how to handle the characters romanticism as well as her toughness. Christian Bale and Domanic West are perfect as the young men,each handling the egotisim and romantic foppery well. The only young lover that does not measure up is Calista Flockhart's rather spastic and twitchy Helena.She is just too modern and quirky to fit the mold the other three have cast.
Kevin Kline makes a pompous and vain Bottom,in a rather unique twist on the role,while Bill Irwin and Roger Rees lend fine support as two of his theatrical co-horts. But the problem of the fairies still remains.This particular film tries to solve the problem by making them more human in look and nature,regretably this takes away much of their magical qualities and puts few barriers between the magical worls and the world of Theseus. Rupert Everett,Stanley Tucci and Michelle Pfieffer ar thus also regulated to the background as much as possible.
That said,this film is a good effort. It never succeeds in making the fairies magical,but really helps bring out the lover's plight and succeeds in reinventing the mechanicals.
The film starts off strong with likable performances by David Strathairn as Theseus,The Lovely Sophie Marceau as Hippolyta and the ever enjoyable Bernard Hill as Egeaus. As the Young lovers go Anna Friel is miles ahead of the others as Hermia.One of Britian's best kept secrets,the pretty and talented Miss Friel knows how to handle the characters romanticism as well as her toughness. Christian Bale and Domanic West are perfect as the young men,each handling the egotisim and romantic foppery well. The only young lover that does not measure up is Calista Flockhart's rather spastic and twitchy Helena.She is just too modern and quirky to fit the mold the other three have cast.
Kevin Kline makes a pompous and vain Bottom,in a rather unique twist on the role,while Bill Irwin and Roger Rees lend fine support as two of his theatrical co-horts. But the problem of the fairies still remains.This particular film tries to solve the problem by making them more human in look and nature,regretably this takes away much of their magical qualities and puts few barriers between the magical worls and the world of Theseus. Rupert Everett,Stanley Tucci and Michelle Pfieffer ar thus also regulated to the background as much as possible.