Loves' labours lost

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Loves labours lost is Branaghs attempt to mix Shakespeare with 1930’s song and dance musicals. I can only say I think he has succeeded with the mix from the fact that I enjoyed the film. I cannot compare the film with Shakespeare’s play as I have not seen it but I will try to state a few differences from what I’ve heard from pupils who have seen the play.

The time is the late 1930s and the king, Ferdinand of novarre, and his three companions and best friends, Berowne, Longaville and Dumain have sworn an oath to make their studies more efficient. They make a pact that they all have to sign and in the pact is the things they have to do and the things they can’t do during the three years of study at the university. They will fast, sleep only three hours a day and not see or have any kind of contact with the opposite sex. Berowne signing the pact believes that none of them will be able to keep it and he is right. The king had forgot that the princess of France and her three attendants, Rosaline, Maria and Katherine were supposed to arrive and when the four men see the four ladies their beauty immediately traps them. The four friends, too scared to tell each other they already broken the pact, walk around thinking of the girls in misery as they are not allowed to meet them. The misery happily thought comes to an end when the four men, thinking they are alone on their own, confess their love in the library. But the misery is not over for Don Adriano de Armado who think the pact still exist and he writes love letters to his love a French local wench, Jaquenetta.

The characters show what they feel and think, much in Don Adriano’s case, by exaggerating facial expressions and movements which are positive things because then you keep the kind of acting you would have on a theatre stage. I think Branagh also succeeded with the atmosphere around the characters. You still got the feeling of it being a play as the background was of the same kind as in a theatre, it was not filmed outside, but it was not like if someone would have filmed a play on stage. The mix was perfect. The singing and dancing made the film easyer to watch as it was entertaining and I don’t think it had any negative effect on the story. I like the part in the library best as I think Branaghs mix with song, dance and story was excellent. The singing made it easier to listen to what they said and more pleasant than if they had just sited the lines. The dancing showed what energy thay all had from being in love plus it made it funnier to watch. Even with the song and dance I think the essential of the story got thru. Those who saw the play said they thought the film was more entertaining, as the play was too long and some parts too outstretched. In the film the song replaced some parts where in the play there would have been long lines of talking and that is appreciated by some and not by others. I think it was nice with the song and dancing and I don’t think it can have changed the story too much. I cannot say this film was better than the play firstly because I haven’t seen the play and secondly because people like different things. Some people might think the dancing and singing ruins the story while others think it makes it more comic. From my point of view I don’t think the two, the film and the play, can be put in the same “folder” even if they have the same story because they are two whole different makings with different styles. The acting is not the same an I don’t think t...