But where to start!?
First of all, this is one of those movies where every actor knows exactly what's happening and why they're saying or doing what they are. A couple of times I wondered if it was overbearingly rigid on Nunn's part with such a strictly cut screenplay, interposing conversations between three settings, or creating action to force beautiful mise en scene, but this is such a talented and knowledgable cast that I can only assume that this film had at least two weeks of full time table work. If that's not the case, then everyone in this movie has ESP and they all agree on everything in each scene - that's just impressive.
I really do love this ENTIRE ensemble. They're all perfectly cast in their roles and bring such warmth and inflection to their lines and actions that within the space of a minute of meeting each character you can see who they are. And again with the screenplay's storytelling, I love the wordless scenes which (usually) Feste witnesses. Lastly for the screenplay, the text was altered a bit in the beginning (Messaline and Illyria are not at war in Shakespeare's play), but it made the stakes for Antonio and Sebastian so much higher! Good choice! Not a ProsperA!
Note to any philanthropists out there who specialize in making dreams come true: Please send me to Cornwall to explore these manses and gardens and landscapes! It's just about the most romantic setting I've ever seen, and the scenery is doing all the work! Kidding! Toby Stephens (Orsino) and Imogen Stubbs (Viola/Cesario) do a LOT of the romantic work in this one. Goodness, when Feste sings them a sad song in the barn and they lean to each other and their eyes are closed and Feste's confused but watching carefully and the song ends and they shake it off... AAAUGH, Romantic tingles.
And, OH!, the music. It does so much for this movie - which has a very coastal England setting (though originally set in Italy) - to have a Celtic-ish set list. The instrumental stuff sounds a bit Victorian, but whenever the vagabond Feste sings it's very homey and warming.
For a romantic comedy this play is so sad for so many people, and Nunn does not shy away from showing us the bad with the good. We can be happy for Viola and Sebastian and probably Olivia, but Antonio, Malvolio, and Andrew Aguecheek get totally shafted. Their individual departures from Olivia's court were just as heart-wrenching as the twins' reunion is heart-warming.
But this movie has the weirdest trailer I've ever seen:
0 ladies doth protest too much:
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