BEFORE: Welcome to a day full of extravagant hype, baseless predictions, and excessive media coverage. Of course, I'm talking about Groundhog Day. But maybe you're more into the sport, so that's fine if that's your thing. Super Bowl Sunday is much more popular, because like most American holidays, it's all about eating. Gee, I wonder why Kwanzaa never caught on - try making one of the pillars "Soul Food", and I'll celebrate that myself. But I digress.
Linking from "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel", Judi Dench was famously in "Shakespeare in Love" with Joseph Fiennes.
THE PLOT: In 16th century Venice, when a merchant must default on a large loan from an abused Jewish moneylender for a friend with romantic ambitions, the bitterly vengeful creditor demands a gruesome payment instead.
AFTER: I haven't watched as much Shakespeare as perhaps I should, except for that version of "Romeo + Juliet" with DiCaprio, but I am planning to record the Olivier versions of "Hamlet" and "Othello" during TCM's Oscar programming, so I'm taking steps to correct the situation. Initially, this wasn't going to be part of the February romance chain, but adding a couple last-minute fantasy films pushed it in to January. But after checking the basic plot, there are suitors and some wooing, so after reviewing the tape, the ref has decided to not issue a penalty.
The motif of racism carries over from last night's film also, with Shylock being the persecuted Jew - a note at the start of the film informs us that Jews were not allowed to have jobs in 16th Century Venice, which is why they relied on money-lending to make a profit - unlike Antonio, the titular merchant, who is famous for his no-interest loans to friends. (This is the point of today's entry where I acknowledge that I COULD relate to recent events, but I have been asked not to. You know what, just forget I said anything.)
The romance part comes about when Antonio's friend, Bassanio, needs money to woo the fair Portia. Portia's late father set up a contest where any suitors have to choose between three caskets (boxes, not dead-person caskets) made of gold, silver and lead, and the first suitor to choose correctly will win her hand. Unless he wants to trade what's inside the box for what's behind Door #2, and a shot at the "Big Deal of the Day".
The only guide to making the correct choice are the three cryptic messages over the caskets - but I think Bassanio just ignored those completely and just determined what he knew about the people who went before him. You've got to figure that 1 out of 3 people would pick the right box, unless somehow there's a trick - maybe everyone's picking the gold and silver boxes, so lead is the right choice. Unless everyone before him figured there was a trick, picked the lead box and lost - which would mean that the trick was that there was no trick. Gah, this is maddening.
It's not much of a spoiler to say that Bassanio succeeds, and in so doing, marries into wealth - which makes that 3,000 ducat loan look like a great investment. But the newlyweds have to hurry back to Venice to save Antonio, who's on the hook (literally) when the loan comes due. Seems he lost most of his fleet due to a storm, and can't pay back the loan, which gives Shylock the right to remove a pound of his flesh.
So many great quotes and metaphors here - how many times have you heard of someone demanding a pound of flesh, or waiting for their ship to come in? What about "All that glistens is not gold," referring to the caskets? What about "If you prick us, do we not bleed?" And of course, "The quality of mercy is not strained".
Bassanio has enough money to pay back the loan, but Shylock won't hear of it, demanding Antonio's flesh and turning down an offer of double or triple-payment. So he's really got a grudge against Antonio, plus his daughter recently eloped with some Christian dude, so how is this not misplaced anger? Portia saves the day by dressing as a man and claiming to be a legal expert, and her creative interpretations of Venetian law manage to turn the tables.
So, in essence, Shakespeare should get credit for creating both "Let's Make a Deal" and "Law & Order".
But unlike some Shakespeare plays where cross-dressing has a point beyond comic effect, I'm not sure what it brings to the table here. Portia needed to cram for the legal exam, but why didn't they just get a real legal expert? Yes, I see that it gives her the opportunity to test the love of her new husband, but maybe when his friend's life is on the line, you shouldn't play dress-up, you should hire a real lawyer.
Also starring Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons (last seen in "The Man in the Iron Mask"), Lynn Collins, Kris Marshall, Zuleikha Robinson
RATING: 4 out of 10 red hats
No comments:
Post a Comment