In association with

Love's Labour's Lost [2000]
from Pathe Distribution
starring Alessandro Nivola, Alicia Silverstone, Natascha McElhone, Kenneth Branagh, Carmen Ejogo
directed by Kenneth Branagh

Features:

• PAL
• Widescreen

Editorial Review:

Having taken Shakespeare at his word on Hamlet (i.e., not cutting a single syllable out of a very long play), Kenneth Branagh selects a more radical approach with Love's Labour's Lost. Here the prolific director-star weeds out much of the play's dialogue, and adds songs and dances of a decidedly modern bent. The King of Navarre (Alessandro Nivola, Nicolas Cage's wacko brother in Face/Off) and his three comrades (Branagh, Matthew Lillard, Adrian Lester) take a vow: no womanly distractions while they pursue their studies. Ah, but at that very moment, floating down a magical studio-built river, is the queen of France (Alicia Silverstone), accompanied by three ladies-in-waiting. You do the maths. Branagh has set the tale on the eve of the Second World War, which allows for the inclusion of vintage pop songs, including "Cheek to Cheek", "The Way You Look Tonight" and a rousing chorus of "There's No Business Like Show Business", led by--who else?--Nathan Lane. The fact that most of the cast members are not accomplished song-and-dance folk is clearly meant to charm, but the results are spotty at best. Perhaps the most dynamic performer is Natascha McElhone (memorable from Ronin), whose aristocratic bearing and bottomless eyes lend a gravity to the material that is otherwise absent from Branagh's twinkly staging. The play contains some of Shakespeare's loveliest paeans to the language of love, yet Branagh seems to be in a hurry to juice everything up lest the audience lose interest. The labour shows. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

• Some great performances but it doesn't quite work.
  The joyous sweep of Branagh's "Much Ado" or the logic of the concept in his "Twelfth Night" are missing.
  The cuts are too great and the song and dance numbers can outstay their welcome, so that the unique flavour and pleasures of the play get lost.
  Branagh should have had the courage to include the deleted scenes in the DVD version.
  That said there are some great turns from the Anglo-American cast and the ending is spot on for the melancholy/humour balance.
  And at least it isn't... more info

• Indecency Strikes Again.
  I was fairly enjoying this production, in spite of the characters breaking out into 1930's songs now and then. If they had stuck to a 1930s mood I might have been able to watch until the end, but the dance routine at the masked ball was indecent in the extreme and that was the end of it for me.
  A shame! Apart from that, it was really only Kenneth Branagh's acting which was saving this production from complete mediocrity anyway.

• Good if you like 30's style musicals but I don't so spoils it somewhat
  I would have preferred more of the Shakespeare text and less of the song and dance. Although some nice songs were chosen, I'm just not interested in that kind of 30's musical style - I prefer more modern musicals. There was too much song and dance which meant cutting down the Shakespeare drastically so I soon became rather bored and it was hard work watching this attentively.
  I felt it anomalous that Kenneth Branagh, clearly so much older than the other three students, didn't play the King anyway. He... more info

• Unexpectedly wonderful
  I groaned when I found out that LLL was being done as a musical. Has he gone mad at last? No, he certainly hasn't. He's turned a rather inaccessible play (the full text contains heavy parody of the affected language of Elizabethan courtiers and academics) into a scintillating romp. The music and dancing is perfectly apt, and the production is gob-smacking - the colour, the music... everything is a delight. This is a DVD which gives you a little more every time you see it. Life affirming and life enhancing,... more info

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