Love's Labour's Lost (2000 film)
Encyclopedia
Love's Labour's Lost is a 2000
adaptation of the comic
play of the same name
by William Shakespeare
, directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh
. It was the first feature film to be made of this lesser-known comedy. Branagh's fourth film of a Shakespeare play (he did not direct the 1995 Othello
, although he did play Iago), Love's Labour's Lost was a box-office and critical disappointment.
Branagh's film turns Love's Labour's Lost into a romantic
Hollywood musical
. Set and costume design evoke the Europe of 1939; the music (classic Broadway
songs of the 1930s) and newsreel
-style footage are also chief period details. The cast includes Shakespearean veterans such as Timothy Spall
, Richard Briers
and Geraldine McEwan
, alongside Hollywood actors Alicia Silverstone
and Matthew Lillard
and Broadway
and West End
stars such as Nathan Lane
.
Critics and audiences responded coolly to Branagh's attempt to combine a rarely-produced play with the long-moribund genre of musical film. As a result of its poor commercial performance, Miramax shelved its three-picture deal with Branagh, who subsequently returned to Shakespeare with As You Like It
in 2006.
has vowed to avoid romantic entanglements in order to spend three years in study and contemplation. His chief courtiers agree to follow him in this vow, though one (Berowne) argues that they will not be able to fulfil this plan.
Berowne's claim is proven correct almost instantly. The Princess of France comes to Navarre to discuss the status of the province of Aquitaine
. Though the King does not grant them access to his palace (they are forced to camp outside), each of the courtiers falls in love with one of her handmaidens, and the King falls in love with the Princess herself.
The men attempt to hide their own loves and expose those of their fellows. At the end, after a masked ball in which the pairs of lovers are comically mismatched, all the amours are revealed. However, before the expected nuptial consummation, the women demand that the men prove they are serious by waiting for them.
The comic underplot, in which Costard and others attempt to stage a play (rather like that of the rude mechanicals in A Midsummer Night's Dream
, though with more pretensions to learning) is severely curtailed, as is the boasting of the Spaniard, Don Armado.
, when he had played the King of Navarre. From that period, he was familiar with Harley Granville-Barker
's famous essay arguing that Love's Labour's Lost could be treated as highly stylized, with the dialogue and action treated with an almost musical sense of rhythm. Branagh took this insight a step further and turned the play into a musical, going much further in his adaptation of the play than he had ever done in his Shakespeare films, and risking the alienation of both audiences and serious critics. This decision also allowed him to revisit the Hollywood film musicals he had loved in his youth.
Branagh cast the film without much regard for singing or dancing ability; as in Woody Allen
's Everyone Says I Love You
, the film was meant to highlight energy and enthusiasm rather than smooth competence. Of the cast, only Nathan Lane was known primarily for musical work. Preproduction was dominated by rigorous dancing and singing coaching.
Branagh reversed the philosophy he had used with Hamlet (that is, to keep every word of the original), and instead made major cuts in the play's text. The released version retains only about a quarter of Shakespeare's lines; although Branagh managed to include all seventeen of the original speaking roles, some (most notably among the lower-class characters) are cut almost to nothing.
, who called the movie "unfathomably awful". Rotten Tomatoes
summarized the critical consensus at the time as "Interesting idea, poor execution."
As of December 2009 however, RottenTomatoes.com lists the film as having a 49% positive rating, just one percentage point below an even split. All of the highest rated negative reviews visible from the top page including the negative reviews quoted below express a mixture of positive and negative statements about this film.
Roger Ebert
called the film "winsome, charming, sweet and slight" and ultimately as "light and winning, and yet somehow empty." Kenneth Turan
complained that the film "should be fun but isn't . . . . worst of all perhaps is its smug air of pleasure at how clever it thinks it's being," an opinion also delivered in a more muted way by A. O. Scott
. Some critics complained about the casting. Nathan Lane as Costard received favourable notice, as did Adrian Lester. But the leads (Silverstone and Nivola) were generally panned; Stanley Kauffmann
, who had been highly complimentary of Branagh's four-hour film version of Hamlet
, called them "inadequate in every way." John Simon
complained as well of cutting that left the film's best actors (he mentions McEwan and Briers) with little to do.
The song-and-dance routines received some positive notices: Scott, for instance, praised the last one, "They Can't Take That Away from Me
", as almost rescuing the entire movie. Other reviewers applauded the energy and enthusiasm of the performers. However, some critics viewed the musical aspects as poorly executed and unenjoyable.
Kauffmann and Simon both noted that the film's ending, in which newsreel footage shows the men going off to fight in World War II, was grotesquely at odds with the frothy tone of the movie it concluded. While many reviewers reserved judgment on the direction of Branagh's art, Richard Corliss
suggested that the disaster indicated that the director was creatively spent.
Starring
2000 in film
The year 2000 in film involved some significant events.The top grosser worldwide was Mission: Impossible II. Domestically in North America, Gladiator won the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor ....
adaptation of the comic
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
play of the same name
Love's Labour's Lost
Love's Labour's Lost is one of William Shakespeare's early comedies, believed to have been written in the mid-1590s, and first published in 1598.-Title:...
by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
, directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...
. It was the first feature film to be made of this lesser-known comedy. Branagh's fourth film of a Shakespeare play (he did not direct the 1995 Othello
Othello (1995 film)
Othello is a 1995 film based on William Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name. It was directed by Oliver Parker and stars Laurence Fishburne as Othello, Irène Jacob as Desdemona, and Kenneth Branagh as Iago...
, although he did play Iago), Love's Labour's Lost was a box-office and critical disappointment.
Branagh's film turns Love's Labour's Lost into a romantic
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
Hollywood musical
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
. Set and costume design evoke the Europe of 1939; the music (classic Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
songs of the 1930s) and newsreel
Newsreel
A newsreel was a form of short documentary film prevalent in the first half of the 20th century, regularly released in a public presentation place and containing filmed news stories and items of topical interest. It was a source of news, current affairs and entertainment for millions of moviegoers...
-style footage are also chief period details. The cast includes Shakespearean veterans such as Timothy Spall
Timothy Spall
Timothy Leonard Spall, OBE is an English character actor and occasional presenter.-Early life:Spall, the third of four sons, was born in Battersea, London. His mother, Sylvia R. , was a hairdresser, and his father, Joseph L. Spall, was a postal worker...
, Richard Briers
Richard Briers
Richard David Briers, CBE is an English actor whose career has encompassed theatre, television, film and radio.He first came to prominence as George Starling in Marriage Lines in the 1960s, but it was in the following decade when he played Tom Good in the BBC sitcom The Good Life that he became a...
and Geraldine McEwan
Geraldine McEwan
Geraldine McEwan is an English actor with a diverse history in theatre, film, and television. From 2004 to 2009 she appeared as Miss Marple, the Agatha Christie sleuth, for the series Marple.-Background:...
, alongside Hollywood actors Alicia Silverstone
Alicia Silverstone
Alicia Silverstone is an American actress, author, and former fashion model. She first came to widespread attention in music videos for Aerosmith, and is perhaps best known for her roles in Hollywood films such as Clueless and her portrayal of Batgirl in Batman & Robin .-Early life:Silverstone...
and Matthew Lillard
Matthew Lillard
Matthew Lyn Lillard is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his roles as Stu Macher in Scream, Stevo in SLC Punk , and Shaggy Rogers in the Scooby-Doo film series and the Animated reboot series.-Early life:Lillard was born in Lansing, Michigan, and grew up in Tustin, California...
and Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
and West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
stars such as Nathan Lane
Nathan Lane
Nathan Lane is an American actor of stage and screen. He is best known for his roles as Mendy in The Lisbon Traviata, Albert in The Birdcage, Max Bialystock in the musical The Producers, Ernie Smuntz in MouseHunt, Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls, Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to...
.
Critics and audiences responded coolly to Branagh's attempt to combine a rarely-produced play with the long-moribund genre of musical film. As a result of its poor commercial performance, Miramax shelved its three-picture deal with Branagh, who subsequently returned to Shakespeare with As You Like It
As You Like It (2006 film)
As You Like It is a 2006 film directed by Kenneth Branagh. It is based on the play As You Like It by William Shakespeare. The play's setting is relocated from medieval France to a European colony in late 19th century Japan after the Meiji Restoration. It was shot at Shepperton Film Studios and on...
in 2006.
Synopsis
The King of NavarreNavarre
Navarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...
has vowed to avoid romantic entanglements in order to spend three years in study and contemplation. His chief courtiers agree to follow him in this vow, though one (Berowne) argues that they will not be able to fulfil this plan.
Berowne's claim is proven correct almost instantly. The Princess of France comes to Navarre to discuss the status of the province of Aquitaine
Aquitaine
Aquitaine , archaic Guyenne/Guienne , is one of the 27 regions of France, in the south-western part of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It comprises the 5 departments of Dordogne, :Lot et Garonne, :Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes...
. Though the King does not grant them access to his palace (they are forced to camp outside), each of the courtiers falls in love with one of her handmaidens, and the King falls in love with the Princess herself.
The men attempt to hide their own loves and expose those of their fellows. At the end, after a masked ball in which the pairs of lovers are comically mismatched, all the amours are revealed. However, before the expected nuptial consummation, the women demand that the men prove they are serious by waiting for them.
The comic underplot, in which Costard and others attempt to stage a play (rather like that of the rude mechanicals in A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
, though with more pretensions to learning) is severely curtailed, as is the boasting of the Spaniard, Don Armado.
Production
Branagh became interested in the play during his 1984 season with the Royal Shakespeare CompanyRoyal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
, when he had played the King of Navarre. From that period, he was familiar with Harley Granville-Barker
Harley Granville-Barker
Harley Granville-Barker was an English actor-manager, director, producer, critic and playwright....
's famous essay arguing that Love's Labour's Lost could be treated as highly stylized, with the dialogue and action treated with an almost musical sense of rhythm. Branagh took this insight a step further and turned the play into a musical, going much further in his adaptation of the play than he had ever done in his Shakespeare films, and risking the alienation of both audiences and serious critics. This decision also allowed him to revisit the Hollywood film musicals he had loved in his youth.
Branagh cast the film without much regard for singing or dancing ability; as in Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
's Everyone Says I Love You
Everyone Says I Love You
Everyone Says I Love You is a 1996 American musical film that was written and directed by Woody Allen. The film features many stars, including Julia Roberts, Alan Alda, Edward Norton, Drew Barrymore, Gaby Hoffmann, Tim Roth, Goldie Hawn, and Natalie Portman.Set in New York, Venice, and Paris, the...
, the film was meant to highlight energy and enthusiasm rather than smooth competence. Of the cast, only Nathan Lane was known primarily for musical work. Preproduction was dominated by rigorous dancing and singing coaching.
Branagh reversed the philosophy he had used with Hamlet (that is, to keep every word of the original), and instead made major cuts in the play's text. The released version retains only about a quarter of Shakespeare's lines; although Branagh managed to include all seventeen of the original speaking roles, some (most notably among the lower-class characters) are cut almost to nothing.
Reception
The movie received some noted unfavourable reviews. Few went as far as David EdelsteinDavid Edelstein
David Edelstein is the chief film critic for New York Magazine, as well as the film critic for NPR's Fresh Air and CBS Sunday Morning. He lives in Brooklyn, New York....
, who called the movie "unfathomably awful". Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
summarized the critical consensus at the time as "Interesting idea, poor execution."
As of December 2009 however, RottenTomatoes.com lists the film as having a 49% positive rating, just one percentage point below an even split. All of the highest rated negative reviews visible from the top page including the negative reviews quoted below express a mixture of positive and negative statements about this film.
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
called the film "winsome, charming, sweet and slight" and ultimately as "light and winning, and yet somehow empty." Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan is an American film critic and Lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California.-Background:...
complained that the film "should be fun but isn't . . . . worst of all perhaps is its smug air of pleasure at how clever it thinks it's being," an opinion also delivered in a more muted way by A. O. Scott
A. O. Scott
Anthony Oliver Scott, known as A. O. Scott , is an American journalist and critic. He is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with Manohla Dargis.-Background and education:...
. Some critics complained about the casting. Nathan Lane as Costard received favourable notice, as did Adrian Lester. But the leads (Silverstone and Nivola) were generally panned; Stanley Kauffmann
Stanley Kauffmann
Stanley Kauffmann is an American author, editor, and critic of film and theatre. He has written for The New Republic since 1958 and currently contributes film criticism to that magazine....
, who had been highly complimentary of Branagh's four-hour film version of Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
, called them "inadequate in every way." John Simon
John Simon (critic)
John Ivan Simon is an American author and literary, theater, and film critic.-Personal life:Simon was born in Subotica, Bačka, County of Bačka, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, later, known as Yugoslavia . He is of Hungarian descent...
complained as well of cutting that left the film's best actors (he mentions McEwan and Briers) with little to do.
The song-and-dance routines received some positive notices: Scott, for instance, praised the last one, "They Can't Take That Away from Me
They Can't Take That Away from Me
"They Can't Take That Away from Me" is a 1937 song written by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin and introduced by Fred Astaire in the 1937 film Shall We Dance....
", as almost rescuing the entire movie. Other reviewers applauded the energy and enthusiasm of the performers. However, some critics viewed the musical aspects as poorly executed and unenjoyable.
Kauffmann and Simon both noted that the film's ending, in which newsreel footage shows the men going off to fight in World War II, was grotesquely at odds with the frothy tone of the movie it concluded. While many reviewers reserved judgment on the direction of Branagh's art, Richard Corliss
Richard Corliss
Richard Nelson Corliss is a writer for Time magazine who focuses on movies, with the occasional article on music or sports. Corliss is the former editor-in-chief of Film Comment...
suggested that the disaster indicated that the director was creatively spent.
Cast
Some of the characters in the film adaptation are not in the original script. Gaston, Isabelle, Eugene, Jaques, Beatrice, Hyppolyte, Celimene, and Sophie are not mentioned in the play, and they have no lines in the film. This, however, is a standard feature of Branagh's Shakespeare adaptations; his Hamlet contains many non-speaking walk-on roles that are not included in the original play, but are mentioned in the cast list.Starring
- Alessandro NivolaAlessandro NivolaAlessandro Antine Nivola is an American actor, perhaps best known for his roles in the films Best Laid Plans, Jurassic Park III, Face/Off, and the first two films of the Goal! trilogy.-Personal life:...
- King Ferdinand of Navarre - Alicia SilverstoneAlicia SilverstoneAlicia Silverstone is an American actress, author, and former fashion model. She first came to widespread attention in music videos for Aerosmith, and is perhaps best known for her roles in Hollywood films such as Clueless and her portrayal of Batgirl in Batman & Robin .-Early life:Silverstone...
- The Princess of France - Natascha McElhoneNatascha McElhoneNatascha McElhone is an English actress of stage, screen and television, best known for her roles in Ronin, The Truman Show and Solaris. McElhone also plays a leading role in the Showtime series Californication....
- Rosaline - Kenneth BranaghKenneth BranaghKenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...
- Berowne - Carmen EjogoCarmen EjogoCarmen Elizabeth Ejogo is a British actress, currently based in the United States.-Early life:Born and raised in London, Ejogo is the daughter of Charles and Elizabeth Ejogo née Douglas. Her father is a Nigerian entrepreneur and her mother a Scottish tour guide. During her childhood, Ejogo...
- Maria - Matthew LillardMatthew LillardMatthew Lyn Lillard is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his roles as Stu Macher in Scream, Stevo in SLC Punk , and Shaggy Rogers in the Scooby-Doo film series and the Animated reboot series.-Early life:Lillard was born in Lansing, Michigan, and grew up in Tustin, California...
- Longaville - Adrian LesterAdrian Lester-Personal life:Lester was born in Birmingham, England, the son of Jamaican immigrants Monica, a medical secretary, and Reginald, a manager for a contract cleaning company. He sang as a boy treble in the choir of St. Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham...
- Dumaine - Emily MortimerEmily MortimerEmily Kathleen A. Mortimer is an English actress. She began performing on stage, and has since appeared in several film and television roles, including Scream 3, Match Point, Lars and the Real Girl, and Shutter Island....
- Katherine - Richard BriersRichard BriersRichard David Briers, CBE is an English actor whose career has encompassed theatre, television, film and radio.He first came to prominence as George Starling in Marriage Lines in the 1960s, but it was in the following decade when he played Tom Good in the BBC sitcom The Good Life that he became a...
- Nathaniel - Geraldine McEwanGeraldine McEwanGeraldine McEwan is an English actor with a diverse history in theatre, film, and television. From 2004 to 2009 she appeared as Miss Marple, the Agatha Christie sleuth, for the series Marple.-Background:...
- Holofernes - Stefania RoccaStefania RoccaStefania Rocca is an Italian actress.Rocca is best known for her roles in the films Nirvana , The Talented Mr. Ripley and Dracula . She also was the lead in Dario Argento's The Card Player. Her most recent appearance was in the Italian movie, Commediasexi where she played the main character,...
- Jaquenetta - Jimmy YuillJimmy YuillJimmy Yuill is an actor, born in 1959, in Golspie, Scotland.He is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and later joined the Renaissance Theatre Company. He has appeared in many of Kenneth Branagh's films, most recently as Corin in the 2006 As You Like It...
- Dull - Nathan LaneNathan LaneNathan Lane is an American actor of stage and screen. He is best known for his roles as Mendy in The Lisbon Traviata, Albert in The Birdcage, Max Bialystock in the musical The Producers, Ernie Smuntz in MouseHunt, Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls, Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to...
- Costard - Timothy SpallTimothy SpallTimothy Leonard Spall, OBE is an English character actor and occasional presenter.-Early life:Spall, the third of four sons, was born in Battersea, London. His mother, Sylvia R. , was a hairdresser, and his father, Joseph L. Spall, was a postal worker...
- Don Armado - Tony O'DonnellTony O'DonnellTony O'Donnell, N.D. is an Irish naturopath certified in neurolinguistic programming. He is also a certified hypnotherapist and nutritionist. O'Donnell is the only naturopathic doctor in America who actually shows, on television, the therapeutic benefits of raw herbs...
- Moth - Daniel HillDaniel Hill (actor)Daniel Hill is a British actor known primarily for his television work.His most notable role was as the avaricious Harvey Bains, manager of the retirement home in Waiting for God, alongside Stephanie Cole and Graham Crowden; though he had also appeared with Martin Clunes and William Gaunt in the...
- Marcade - Richard CliffordRichard CliffordRichard Clifford was a Bishop-elect of Bath and Wells, Bishop of Worcester and Bishop of London as well as Lord Privy Seal.Clifford was appointed Lord Privy Seal on 14 November 1387, and resigned on 4 November 1401....
- Boyet - Alfred Bell - Gaston
- Daisy Gough - Isabelle
- Graham Hubbard - Eugene
- Paul Moody - Jaques
- Yvonne Reilly - Beatrice
- Iain Stuart Robertson - Hippolyte
- Emma Scott - Celimene
- Amy Tez - Sophie