Thanks very much to everyone for the suggestions about which Shakespeare productions to watch, which should keep me going for ages! This will just be a short posting to say that I’ve watched the Kenneth Branagh production of As You Like It on DVD, and enjoyed it very much. I have also recently seen a much earlier version, the 1936 production with Laurence Olivier as Orlando, which I wrote about over on my old movies blog - Olivier is great as always, but the film seems rather stilted and also cuts out great chunks of the play. This modern version keeps much more of Shakespeare’s text – watching it, I realised that several important characters had been completely cut out of the 30s movie.
The most immediately striking thing about Branagh’s version is the setting, moving the Forest of Arden to 19th-century Japan - where the characters are re-invented as members of a self-governing enclave of British merchants. However, it was actually filmed in the UK with oriental touches like samurai warriors added in. This makes for beautiful costumes, but I’m not sure the Japanese element adds much apart from that – especially as so much of it takes place in the forest, which somehow looks very English. It does mean that the wrestlers become Sumo wrestlers, which is an intriguing idea.
Bryce Dallas Howard, David Oyelowo and Alfred Molina
The cast is wonderful – especially Bryce Dallas Howard as a lively, sensitive Rosalind, though it is difficult to find her disguise as a man convincing for a moment! Romola Garai, one of my favourite costume drama actresses, is excellent as Celia and the two heroines work well together. David Oyelowo is also good as romantic hero Orlando, with Adrian Lester as his older brother Oliver. I also really liked Kevin Kline as Jaques, the melancholy man, with the ”Seven Ages of Man” speech – now hoping to see the DVD of Kline’s stage performance as Hamlet. Another stand-out performance comes from Richard Briers as the old servant Adam.
Kevin Kline as Jaques
Brian Blessed is an actor I sometimes find rather overwhelming in contemporary roles, but he comes into his own speaking Shakespeare’s verse and I enjoyed his double role here as the usurping Duke and his exiled brother. Alfred Molina also has a lot of fun as the fool Touchstone, who gets many of Shakespeare’s best comic lines. Branagh himself sadly doesn’t appear (except for his voice saying “Cut!” at the end of Rosalind’s epilogue) but the whole production carries his unmistakable stamp. It all feels very lighthearted and warm and looks visually gorgeous – with Jaques adding the right touch of melancholy amid the general happiness. After seeing these two films of As You Like It, I’d really like to see a stage production – and will be looking out for one over the coming year.
I’ve got this DVD and love this adaptation of As You Like it. My favourite characterization is Devin Kline’s Jaque. But the whole cast was brilliant. I’ve never seen this play in any other adaptation nor on stage. Though I’d love it!
Thanks for another interesting and personal review, Judy!
Hugs.MG
Thank you MG, sorry to be slow in replying. I really liked Kevin Kline’s portrayal too – hoping to see his take on ‘Hamlet’ very soon.
Nothing Kevin Kline does disappoints me.
I think you are right there, Vic. Thanks for commenting!
Another one to add to my wish list. I did see the BBC version many years ago. It was good but rather text book. I like Branagh’s approach to Shakespeare, making it accessible to the average person though that upset a lot of critics. I always felt that Branagh was treated very harshly and recently was very pleased to read an article praising him.
I like Branagh too – I’ve always liked him since seeing him on stage in ‘Another Country’ in the early 1980s (though his part was taken in the film by Colin Firth, who was also excellent.) I wasn’t aware of there being a lot of negative reviews, so am quite surprised to hear this. Hope to write about more of his productions soon. Thanks, Janette!
I do love this version, though after seeing a version on stage (with only 8 actors – many, many doublings, often switching on stage – but brilliantly played and totally convincing) I noticed that though much of the text is there, there are still sad cuts.
What makes the film for me, though, is Bryce Dallas Howard’s luminescent performance. Though Romola Garai et all are amazingly talented, and support her fantastically (especially in Garai’s astonishingly moving defiance of her father), Howard takes the basically absurd nature of her predicament (and no, she isn’t convincing as a man – but she convinces us despite that) and makes it magical. She is madcap, intelligent, sensative, loving, despairing by turns, and through it all, completely winsome and amazing. (As a result, the epilogue, which is basically just her riffing about whilst saying Shakespeare’s lines, works wonderfully – and it was so nice to hear Branagh’s voice as the last words, even if I missed his acting).
Thank you, Ian – I hadn’t read it for a while and so the cuts didn’t strike me so much. I do agree that Howard is wonderful even though she isn’t convincing as a man – and also that the epilogue works brilliantly, with the glimpse of the crew packing everything up, and Branagh’s voice at the very end.
I saw the RSC’s production in Stratford upon Avon not long after writing this posting. It also had a lot of doubling up (though more than eight actors, which must have been amazing!) and worked very well.
Hey Judy, thanks for your insightful comments on my blog! I wasn’t V impressed w/ this film, BUT I did like Kline & Howard. She’s like a breath of fresh air (compared most young ladies in Hollywood these days).
I think I’ll rewatch it soon…
EMMA
Sorry to be so slow in replying, Emma! Sorry to hear you didn’t like this movie as much as I did, but glad you liked Kline and Howard. Maybe you will enjoy it more on a second viewing.:)