Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1346 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-10-29
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 128 minutes

Special Features
English
Region 2

Synopsis
Trevor Nunn's version of William Shakespeare's classic comedy revolves around Viola, a young woman who disguises herself as a man to work as a page in the court of Count Orsino. Orsino is hopelessly in love with a woman named Olivia, and soon Viola finds herself hopelessly in love with Orsino. But Orsino thinks she's a man, and her predicament worsens when she realizes that Olivia has fallen in love with her. Nunn's film sets the play in the 19th Century and brings out both the ebullient and the melancholy aspects of Shakespeare's story.

Customer Reviews

Laughter, Tears, and the Rain It Raineth Every Day!
If this "Twelfth Night" is not the definitive "Twelfth Night," it comes close. Under the guidance of director Trevor Nunn, the superb cast plays Shakespeare not only for laughs but also for the dark pathos that underlies the comedy, as is evident in Feste's song, "Come away, come away death, and in sad cypress let me be laid." Ben Kingsley portrays Shakespeare's enigmatic clown, whose rendition of the charming, but usually conventional, "O mistress mine, where are you roaming?," is tinged with a tragic undertone. It not only complements the love-sick Duke Orsino's lament, "If music be the food of love, play on," but, as its last strains linger in the air, it suffuses its listeners with an inexpressible sadness. It is as if, with the final notes, the hitherto roistering Maria, Sir Toby, and Sir Andrew, have become painfully aware of the ephemeral nature of life.

Imogen Stubbs is a delightful (and plausibly male) Viola, disguised as Cesario, who must act as a go-between for Orsino (an incredibly handsome Toby Stephens) and Olivia (Helena Bonham-Carter, who looks as if she has stepped out of a pre-Raphaelite painting). The scenes between Viola and Orsino, as she is falling in love with him and he is most definitely attracted to his young "man" and emissary, are fraught with an almost palpable sexual tension, which Nunn's direction nevertheless conveys with subtle artistry (A similar dynamic may well have been present in the original production when the audience knew that a boy was playing the part of a girl playing the part of a boy.). Viola and her twin brother Sebastian look reasonably enough alike so that the audience can easily suspend its disbelief and, along with the characters, enjoy the confusion about "Which one is Sebastian?."

The production is reinforced by an ensemble cast. Nigel Hawthorne's pompous yet vulnerable Malvolio has the viewer laughing at one moment and crying at the next. The cruel pranks of Maria (Imelda Staunton), Sir Toby Belch (Mel Smith), Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Richard E. Grant) and Feste, the clown, bring Malvolio deservedly low, but as he leaves the household and his tormenters forever, the audience realizes that the comic conspirators may have humiliated him, but they have not robbed him of his dignity. Malvolio's exit is followed by the departure of the brooding Feste, who, "with a hey, ho, and the wind and the rain," strolls along the edge of a cliff above the shore. As he gazes out over the restless sea, he seems to be seeing beyond the play's comic narrative frame into the reality of a future that is ineffably dark.

Nunn's "Twelfth Night" is fast-moving and suspenseful, even if one has seen the play dozens of times. There are so many delightful moments that it is difficult to single one out, but the duel in the orchard between the terrified Viola and the equally frantic Sir Andrew is hysterically funny. The Cornish settings make for a stunning "Illyria." And since the audience is readily transported to that fantastic country, the pre-Raphaelite / Ruritanian costumes and settings do not spoil the illusion.

Outstanding
There have been many great Shakespeare drama adaptations, but Trevor Nunn's Twelfth Night is outstanding even among the greatest. It is wonderful how sensitively and excitingly he handles the issue of identity (girl disguising herself as a boy) and identification (male-female twins)problems.

The major character is Viola, who after losing her twin brother (played by Stephen Mackintosh very convincingly), is forced to disguise herself as a boy to survive in a strange and hostile land (namely Illyria which is at war with her home county, Messaline). The introductory scenes (not included in the drama) showing how brother and sister, sharing a strong bond of affection, lose each other, how dangerous it is for a citizen of Messaline to set foot in Illiyra and how Viola is transformed into a boy give the story a very good frame. The scenes where Viola is being transformed are great, showing how sensitive this girl is, how difficult it is for her to pretend, yet she musters all her courage to hide her pain over the supposed death of her brother. But struggles are not over as she also has to hide her passionate love from Orsino, the Duke of Illyira whom she serves.

Her position is twofold difficult: she soon becomes Orsino's confident, they get really close to each other so she finds more and more difficult to hide her feelings from him; but to ease Orsino's sufferings, she undertakes to act as a "courier" for pursuing his hopeless love, the Countess Olivia.
Then comes another Shakespearean turn of the screw: Olivia, who won't hear of Orsino's passion, falls for Cesario/Viola. In the meantime, Sebastian, thinking her beloved sister, Viola is dead, sets for Illyria as well ...

As it is a comedy all things messed up will sort themselves out at the end, however, this is not a light comedy, the shadow of the tragic is hovering over the whole drama shaped in one of the subplots. The whole film seems to balance at the very narrow edge of tragedy and comedy all the time despite the many hilarious moments.

The most wonderful scenes are the ones of Cesario/Viola and the Duke Orsino (a very sexy Toby Stephens)being together. Nunn is actually showing the emotional and subtle sexual attraction the Duke feels for his "manservant". Absolutely brilliant!
Imogen Stubbs personificates Viola superbly: an upright woman, who, despite the disguise she is forced to wear, is the most honest of all, especially compared to the characters of Orsino and Oliva, both of whom are deluding themselves by imaginary feelings.

The whole cast is wonderful from Helena Bonham-Carter to Ben Kingsley. Music and costume all fit in amazingly with the whole atmosphere of the drama.

this is a glorious production
the comedy is funny: the romantic scenes are moving: the shipwreck is scary...
this is a great translation into film. film's capacity for clear story telling makes this more realistic and believable than shakespeare's gender-confused comedies can sometimes seem.
and the realism only seems to highlight shakespeare's magic: the dialogue is laugh out loud funny: the scenes between viola and olivia take your breath away; the dialogue between toby belch and malvolio bring a darker, crueller comedy. ben kingsley's feste has the magical, anarchic quality of the wise fool, and the gender mix-ups are just a wee bit transgressive.
an outstanding, intelligent, humane, and above all funny production of this great comedy.