Introduction to the 1993 Film Much Ado About Nothing
Introduction
Watching a good performance of a play brings much
to its audience that cannot be experienced by reading the play. For
example, the playgoer sees real people with their individual expressions
and mannerisms, and in costumes and settings intended to highlight
their actions.
If the viewer doesn't understand every word or line, the
action or expression often conveys the meaning. Live theater has a
special power to excite, inspire, and involve the playgoer with the
action and characters on the stage.
A well-produced, well-directed, and well-cast
film may accomplish most of what occurs in a theater, with the added
advantages of close-ups, speech amplification, greater variety and
realism of settings, and special effects not possible on the stage. A
film is not necessarily better than a stage production, but rather a
different kind of experience with the same story material.
England's Kenneth Branagh is extensively trained
and experienced in the production and performance of Shakespeare's plays
on the British stage. With his own special viewpoints and skills, he
has brought several of them to film, including Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, and King Henry V.
His 1993 film of Much Ado About Nothing is
an outstanding adaptation of the play that benefits from his judicious
cutting and rearrangement of text, as well as from his casting. He has
filmed on location in and around an actual sunny Italian villa of
appropriate age and condition, the Villa Vignamaggio in Tuscany. The
setting contributes greatly to qualities of timelessness and isolation
from the rest of the world, as well as to its visual impact.
Casting
The cast of the film adaptation is headed by
Branagh himself as Benedick and Emma Thompson (Branagh's wife at the
time) as Beatrice. The princely brothers are played by American actors
Denzel Washington (Don Pedro) and Keanu Reaves (Don John), and Claudio
is played by Robert Sean Leonard. Michael Keaton takes his portrayal of
Dogberry to the very edge of buffoonery, and the credulous Leonato is
played effectively by Richard Briers. Other characters are portrayed by
actors who seem completely comfortable with Shakespeare's language and
lines.
New Opening
The film immediately establishes a lighthearted
mood in a new opening scene: First, over a black screen, a voice slowly
recites the first verse of the song from Act II, Scene 3, "Sigh no more,
ladies." During this recitation, the words of the first verse appear
phrase by phrase on the screen. As the second verse is being read, the
sun-washed villa is seen at a distance from a nearby hill, first in a
painting that Leonato is creating, then in its reality. Then the camera
pans across a carefree scene of a picnic with residents of the villa
lounging in the grass and enjoying Beatrice's recitation of the verses
from a small book.
Soon after she finishes the last line, the
messenger who opens Act I, Scene 1, rides in on horseback. The light and
leisurely quality of this opening is shaded by Beatrice's obvious
enjoyment of the song's cynicism about the faithlessness of men (a theme
of the play).
Cuts and Pacing
The action of the first scene follows the
playscript sequence, but with cuts of about half the written text,
resulting in a considerably faster pace. During the much-abbreviated
scene with the messenger, the relationships between Hero and Claudio and
between Beatrice and Benedick are quickly established through facial
expressions, gestures, and actions as well as the lines.
At the point in mid-scene when Don Pedro and his
men appear in the play, another new scene without dialogue is inserted.
This new scene shows the villa's residents hurriedly and boisterously
bathing and donning clean clothes, while the arriving soldiers do the
same. The play's action resumes with a refreshed Don Pedro and his
company formally greeting a similarly renewed Leonato and household. The
scene continues apace. Overall, the scene is cut by more than half, and
yet the omissions are seamless to any viewer who has not memorized the
lines or is not following the script.
Branagh has omitted or cut to the bone several
subsequent scenes and their lines, sometimes inserting in their place a
visual scene that conveys the incident more dramatically than the words.
At other times, he has cut lines and thinned out long speeches to keep
the story moving and to eliminate unnecessary details.
For example, Act
I, Scene 2 — a very short scene between Leonato and his brother — is cut
completely, so the viewer is spared Antonio's confused report about Don
Pedro and Hero. Instead the viewer is immediately plunged into Scene 3,
introducing the dark side of the story with Don John and his two
confederates, Borachio and Conrade.
Other major cuts include:
Act II, Scene 1: Almost all the initial ambiguous conversation between Don Pedro and Hero has been cut.
Act II, Scene 3, and Act III, Scene 1:
Many of the lines among the "conspirators" as they are setting up the
eavesdropping episodes of Beatrice and Benedick have been dropped.
Instead, the two scenes are primarily the eaves dropping, moving quickly
and smoothly from Benedick's to Beatrice's without pause. These two
connected scenes are brought to a close with two joyful images
superimposed on one another: Beatrice soaring high on a swing and
Benedick jumping around in a fountain, both obviously delighted to learn
that they are loved.
Act III, Scene 2: Most of the teasing of
Benedick by Don Pedro and Claudio has been cut. Instead, a scene is
introduced in which Benedick's friends observe him posing before a
mirror to adjust his hair and a scarf.
Act III, Scene 2: In the play, Don John
lays the foundation for Hero's apparent promiscuity after the dance by
talking with Claudio and Don Pedro. That part of this scene has been
cut. Instead, on the wedding eve, a few of those lines are used when Don
John leads them to a window where they observe Borachio making love to a
woman (Margaret) he calls Hero. The scene is enhanced by Claudio's
attempt to scream at the pair, Don John's muffling of Claudio, and
another view of the lovemakers, immediately followed by a view of Hero
asleep in her bed (obviously not in the same room).
Act III, Scene 4: The scene among the women before the wedding has been dropped.
Act V, Scene 3: The scene at the tomb
begins with a nighttime candlelight procession to the tomb. At the tomb,
Claudio reads the epitaph to Hero and musicians play and sing the short
song. No other lines are included.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Branagh retains most of Benedick's monologues in their entirety.
Changes in Sequence
Branagh has resequenced several scenes or parts of scenes to good effect. For example:
In the dance scene of Act II, Scene 1, the
overheard snatches of conversation among masked pairs are presented in a
different sequence.
The scheme to disgrace Hero with a scene at the
window is discussed by Don John and Borachio much later in the film
(after Act III, Scene 3, instead of as Act II, Scene 2). This is
immediately followed by Don John's revelation to Claudio and Don Pedro
(formerly Act III, Scene 2) and the scene at the window (not staged in
the play).
This complete resequencing and tightening of conversation is
quite well done, making the whole deception activity more unified and
believable.
Benedick's attempts at poetry and song,
originally in Act V, Scene 2, are moved to the morning of the second
wedding scene, after the tomb scene (Act V, Scene 3), where it seems
most appropriate and is more related to the revelations about poetry in
that wedding scene.
None of the cuts and changes in sequence alter
the story substantially; instead, they clarify the story line and
facilitate its pace.
Enhancements.
As noted earlier, film can include visual effects and enhancements to the story not possible on the stage.
Several of these have already been identified:
for example, the opening view of the villa, the bathing scene, the
overlaid scene of Beatrice on the swing and Benedick in the fountain,
and the lovemaking scene at the window. Other enhancements of note:
Borachio is seen eavesdropping on Claudio and Don
Pedro as they discuss the plan for Don Pedro to talk with Hero about
marrying Claudio.
As Don John and his men pass Hero, Leonato, and
Beatrice in a hallway — after Don John has made tentative plans to
disrupt Claudio's proposal — Don John stops to kiss Hero's hand, a
gesture of contempt rather than honor. This is then followed by
Beatrice's comments about Don John.
During Benedick's eavesdropping on his friends,
he tries clumsily to maneuver a folding chair, which eventually lands
him on the ground at the moment when he hears that Beatrice really loves
him.
Whenever Dogberry and Verges appear or leave, they gallop absurdly on foot as if they were on horses.
Most of the villa's residents are seen at a huge
banquet the evening before the intended wedding. Claudio and Hero are
observed in intimate conversation and hand-holding. From that bright
scene, the viewer is suddenly taken outdoors where several flashes of
lightning burst across a night sky — a fitting transition to the next
scene, later that evening, when Don John approaches Claudio and Don
Pedro to tell them about Hero's infidelity and to lead them to the
window where they can see for themselves.
The sequence of visual scenes
effectively develops a sense of impending trouble.
Not only does a messenger arrive at the end to
announce the capture of Don John, but Don John himself is brought in
allowing Benedick to deliver his last line about "devising brave
punishments" directly to the prisoner.
The film closes with a boisterous dance of dozens
of the villa's residents and guests all around the elaborate grounds
and gardens of the villa with the camera moving upward and away leaving
the viewer with a beautiful panorama of joyful celebration.
Regardless of the other ways one experiences Much Ado About Nothing — on the stage or from a book — one can expect an enriching new experience watching Branagh's film.
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