TWELFTH NIGHT: OR WHAT YOU WILL
A film review by Cynthia A. Bussiere
Copyright 1997 Cynthia A. Bussiere
United Kingdom/United States of America Feature Film
Director: Trevor Nunn Screenwriter: Trevor Nunn (from the play by William Shakespeare) Producers: Stephen Evans and David Parfitt Cinematographer: Clive Tickner Music: Shaun Davey Costumes: John Bright
Principal Cast Duke Orsino: Toby Stephens Olivia: Helena Bonham Carter Viola: Imogen Stubbs Malvolio: Nigel Hawthorne Sebastian: Steven Mackintosh Feste: Ben Kingsley Antonio: Nicholas Farrell Sir Toby Belch: Mel Smith Maria: Imelda Staunton Sir Andrew Ague-cheek: Richard E. Grant
TWELFTH NIGHT is an adaptation of Shakespeare's bittersweet romantic comedy about shipwrecked siblings, mistaken identities, and, of course, true love. The story opens with a storm at sea during which Sebastian and Viola, twin brother and sister, are separated in a shipwreck. Each presumes the other dead and proceeds to make a new life for himself and herself in Illyria, the ancient country on whose shores each is washed up. Viola dis- guises herself as a man and befriends Orsino, Duke of Illyria. Sebastian lies low with the assistance of his friend Antonio. Even- tually, Viola and Sebastian are reunited, but not before they both participate in the wooing, winning, and wedding of the Duke's beloved Countess Olivia -- together, that is, with Olivia's uncle (Sir Toby Belch), her steward (Malvolio), her woman (Maria), and the uncle's protege (Sir Andrew Ague-cheek). Feste, one of Olivia's servants and resident clown, wanders in and out of the proceedings, alternately making trouble and dispensing wisdom.
Director-screenwriter Trevor Nunn, a director emeritus of the Royal Shakespeare Company, has adapted the play to film in a variety of structurally effective ways. Initially, while keeping the locus of the action in the Dukedom of Illyria (watch for a quick cut to Baedeker's ILLYRIA), he has updated the play in both time and setting to the early-middle nineteenth century. Additionally, he has reordered the sequence of a number of scenes in the play and presented them in such a way as to make greater cinematic sense of the action as a whole. Finally, he has "opened up" the play for the film. The ship- wreck scenes, in particular, have been judiciously expanded to provide some enlightening backstory on the characters. Among other things, these scenes establish Sebastian and Viola as professional performers, thereby lending credibility to their subsequent disguises. These scenes also establish the nature and depth of the friendship between Antonio and Sebastian. Overall, despite some vocal dubbing inconsist- encies, and a few rather abrupt scene changes that could have been fleshed out to provide clearer narrative transitions, the film is a delightful adaptation of the play.
The film was shot on various locations in Cornwall in the autumn. Thus, the sea is present and visible in many key external scenes. Additionally, the locales have a fairy-land aura to them: Olivia's manor seems like Cinderella's house, and Orsino's fortress seems like the Prince's castle. While there are no specific allusions to Christmas time (apart from the title of the film), the warm reds, greens, and golds of the season, as well as of autumn, predominate. Outdoors, these are the colors of fruit and foliage. Indoors, these are the colors of interior decoration and decorative foliage.
The acting is superb. Nicholas Farrell's Antonio adds a dimension of sexual attraction to his friendship with Sebastian that Farrell sublimely conveys without speaking. The fact that Antonio knows the attraction is not mutual only serves to deepen the pathos of the friendship. This male-male pairing is contrasted to the female-female pairing of Olivia and Viola, another situation in which the attraction is not mutual. Both of these pairings are set off against a third male- female pairing of Orsino and Viola. This pairing is not conveyed dramatically as well as it could have been; one senses an incipient attraction more because one perceives it to be logical than because the actors have conveyed it emotionally.
Helena Bonham Carter's Olivia is a joy. In a well-paced transition, her Olivia moves from grief-stricken sister who has sworn off men to eagerly lovestruck ingenue and covers all points in between. Similarly, Nigel Hawthorne's brilliant Malvolio is a character of many layers. Wearing an obvious and ill-fitting toupee that is both the symbol of his dignity and an object of derision, he is capable of low comedy, high dudgeon, and touching pathos. Ben Kingsley's Feste is a fabulous concoction of reserved wisdom and loud annoy- ance. He is also possessed of a very sweet singing voice and sings all of the songs in the play. Considering that these have been sung and recorded fairly frequently by world class singers of art song, Kingsley does a remarkably fine job with this music.
The depth of affection between Viola and Sebastian in this film is something profound to behold. The invisible bond between them conjures up the other when only one is on the screen. Imogen Stubbs and Steven Mackintosh are made up and photographed in such a way that they really appear to be twins. Moreover, the resemblance goes more than skin deep, because they truly act as brother and sister. As individual actors, each seems to be an opposite side of the same coin.
As the film ends, various couples come together and various single persons go their own ways. The dispersion of the latter is quite touchingly staged, suggesting that, while all may end happliy ever after for those who have found their true loves, others are still left alone and bereft.
Apart from everything else this film has to offer, it presents an excel- lent opportunity to watch an ensemble of accomplished Shakespearean actors at work. Additionally, it offers an opportunity to bask in the rhyme and meter of Shakespeare's spoken verse. Finally, it provides an opportunity to consider, or reconsider, an ostensibly light-hearted play that nevertheless continues to reveal hidden depths of the human heart in a series of small epiphanies.
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