Love's Labour's Lost

...musical flops in cinema history Love's Labour's Lost is no exception. It was no great financial success, in all honesty with its $ 280 000 box office in the USA it was no success at all.
It's a pity, but no rarity. Many really good small low budget films disappear unnoticed in a flood of mainstream projects and blockbusters or do not get the credit they deserve. But that's showbusiness, but fortunately despite its bank statements Love's Labour's ...
...Forth but certainly not least, Love's Labour's Lost continues the Kenneth Branagh Shakespeare series for lazy readers. And yes, he knows his Shakespeare. I daresay better than any other actor and director in Hollywood these days.
Even next to Shakespearian legend Laurence Olivier he still looks extremely good.
He started his film career with a Shakespeare and he will probably end it with a Shakespeare. After appearing in several minor ... more

Shakespeare as a musical? What strange idea came to Kenneth Branagh's mind this time? One of good old Britain's most beloved writers and shining example of a playwright transformed into a provoking, old-fashio-styled musical?
Why not? He is dead for over 300 years now, so he cannot complain, can he? Besides that, there has not been a good musical in cinema for quite some time, except maybe Woody Allen's "Everybody Says, I Love You". Since the forties musicals haven't worked in cinema. They are too expensive, too complicated in production and no great box office hits.
If you got to cinema you expect to see a film, if you want to see a musical you Stopp by at the theatre. That's it.
In the line of musical flops in cinema history Love's Labour's Lost is no exception. It was no great financial success, in all honesty with its $ 280 000 box office in the USA it was no success at all.
It's a pity, but no rarity. Many really good small low budget films disappear unnoticed in a flood of mainstream projects and blockbusters or do not get the credit they deserve. But that's showbusiness, but fortunately despite its bank statements Love's Labour's Lost has to offer so much more and that not only to Shakespeare and literature lovers.

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KEN AND HIS SHAKESPEARE

Forth but certainly not least, Love's Labour's Lost continues the Kenneth Branagh Shakespeare series for lazy readers. And yes, he knows his Shakespeare. I daresay better than any other actor and director in Hollywood these days.
Even next to Shakespearian legend Laurence Olivier he still looks extremely good.
He started his film career with a Shakespeare and he will probably end it with a Shakespeare. After appearing in several minor TV productions and performing not only but also Shakespeare on stage Branagh made his directorial debut with the adaptation of Henry V in 1989. It was a difficult and trying project to choose for a debut, but Branagh mastered the task in an absolute impressing manner. As if he had never done anything else but Shakespeare in his life. Henry V was no great success at the cinema box office, but it was highly praised by film critics and received many awards and nominations including three Acadamy Awards of which the movie won one for the best costume design.

After so much positive feedback it was only a matter of time until the next Shakespeare would follow. It became Much Ado About Nothing followed by a monumental four hour adaptation of Hamlet again with Branagh himself in the leading role. In between he also found time for playing jealous Shakespeare villain Iago in Oliver Parker's Othello.
After a directional and "Shakespearian" break of four years Kenneth Branagh came back, blowing the dust off the pages and directed, produced, adapted and acted his way through an unusal and extraordinary film musical.

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SHAKESPEARE'S PLAY'S LOST

It is truly promising if a Kenneth Branagh is up to make a new Shakespeare film, but what actually is Love's Labour's Lost? Even if you are no literature or Shakespeare expert you have probably heard something about Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet or Othello, for example. Love's Labour's Lost, as a matter of fact, is included in the row of the less popular Shakespeare plays. Indeed, Love's Labour's Lost seems to be the most unpopular play of Shakespeare's comedies. After Shakespeare's death in 1616 Love's Labour's Lost was not put on stage again until 1839 and even afterwards it was rarely performed. As so many things from the past the play was rediscovered in the late forties of the 20th century. There were more and more stage productions shown in theatres and even three films were made in 1965, 1975 and 1985, but they were only unnoticed TV productions.
The story is quickly told. All in all Love's Labour's Lost deals with the transforming power of love remarks Branagh.

The King of Navarre is determined to devote himself to three years of study in the complete absence of women, joy and luxury. At his side there are his three companions Longaville, Dumain and Berowne. Longaville and Dumain cannot wait to subscribe the contract sealing their oaths, whereas Berowne remains sceptic. In the end he subscribes relucantly, but utters his concerns that such an oath was bound to fail because "necessity would make them all foresworn, three thousand times within this three years' space".
Their good intentions fall into oblivion as the Princess of France arrives with her three ladies Rosaline, Maria and Katharine on behalf of important issues concerning national affairs.
As it could be expected the four philosophs in training fall in love against their better judgement and instead of studying their minds are occupied with the four ladies and they write poetry and try to figure out a way to capture the hearts of their beloved.
In the course of the play they catch each other in the act and realize how wrong they were in making such oaths. Together they decide to break the oath and to woo the ladies.

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LANGUAGE TEST

Compared to Hamlet, Macbeth or even Romeo and Juliet, Love's Labour's Lost appears to be a kind of "Shakespeare Light". The story is banal and full of slapstick humour with a good deal of love squabble. Something you unlikely expect from William Shakespeare.
You truly will be mistaken.
At the latest when you finally found enough motivation to read the play, you will realize how mistaken you have been because IT IS a Shakespeare and you will be swept off your feet either by laughter or frustration, it depends on your attitude towards reading Shakespeare.
No matter which of the two applies to you in the end you will have to read it again and again and again and hopefully in the end you will have made some sense out of the words.
The language is very sophisticated and old-fashioned. The play seems to be an entire wordplay, "a dense, sophisticated worldplay" as Mr. Branagh put it so adequately into words.
In addition to the wordplays you will also find be tortured with allusions and references to Greek mythology and English history and personages to Shakespeare's life-time.
To top it ally you will find some characters speaking French or Latin in this play.

I hope I haven't discouraged you too much, because frankly it is not that bad. You will get used to it and before you realize what's happening you'll start liking it because the stories told by Shakespeare are timeless and still fascinating and enchanting. Love's Labour's Lost is no exception. It is a funny, entertaining piece of literature with a touch of tragic in it. Though a comedy the play does not keep to the classic structure of a comedy. In the end the four couples do not marry as it is usual but are separated as the Princess insists on leaving because of the sudden death of her father the King of France.
The four men in love are told to wait one year until they are allowed to see their ladies again. In this adaptation they even have to wait longer because Branagh changed the setting of Love's Labour's Lost into a fictional "Oxbridge" of the year 1939, short before World War II breaks out. As a result ot that the question if they will ever see each other again becomes even more moving.

Kenneth Branagh and his literary advisor Russell Jackson from the Royal Shakespeare Institute trimmed the play down to 25-30 % of ist original content.
"We cut out all parts that may have been relevant for contemporaries of the year 1596, but that are more difficult to convey in the cinema of these days." explains Branagh. Although shortened the language spoken in the film remains the same as in the original play. In my opinion it only would have been supportive to the film if Branagh had smoothed the language a little bit. Ian McKellen did it in his adaptation of Richard III which was also set in the thirties. He changed all the "thees" and "Thous" into "yous" for example.
Although a small change the words sounded so much more believable and apt, simply because you don't expect people of the 20th century speaking in such old-fashioned language.

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LET'S FACE THE MUSIC

The omitted passages were replaced by ten classic musical songs from the thirties and fourties by George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern and Cole Porter. It must have been difficult to choose not only the right song matching the story and the design of the film but also to integrate them into the film without interrupting the storyline. The only song that doesn't really fit into the context of Shakespeare's play is "There's No Business Like Showbusiness" but strangely enough it is the most imperessive dancing scene in the whole movie and seeing Nathan Lane Stepp in front of the entire ensemble is one of my personal highlights of the film.

Except Nathan Lane who is a well-known musical and Broadway star and Adrian Lester, the cast including Branagh himself did not have any professional experience in dancing and singing. They had rehearsals lasting three weeks before the shooting of Love's Labour's Lost began.
Branagh did not choose professional dancers and singers because he wanted actors and actresses who would be capable to understand the meaning of the play and the quality of their characters better than dancers would have been able to.

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ONCE UPON A TIME

The set design and many features in Love's Labour's Lost remind the spectator of films from the good old times of Hollywood. For example the scene at the near end when the Princess and the three ladies leave on a plane you find strong parallels to "Casablanca" when Humphrey Bogart bids Ingrid Bergmann farewell. The entire film, except the aforementioned scene was shot in a studio which stresses the impression that you are taken back into one of the old MGM musicals ot the thirties and fourties.
The scenery of Love's Labour's Lost is highly souped up. Branagh wanted to create an image of a different world, a world of glamour and splendor. But the world portrayed in this film is also a world of uncertainty, a world at the brink of war where no-one really could predict what may happen the next day. This atmosphere suits perfectly to the end of the play where the lovers have to seperate and don't know if they will ever meet again. Although this hint of tragic can also be found in Shakespeare's play it is much stronger in Branagh's film.
The changing of the setting doesn't have any negative affects on Shakespeare's play, plainly because the story Shakespeare tells in Love's Labour's Lost is still up to date, you may say.

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TO WATCH OR NOT TO WATCH?

The answer is definitely positive. If you like Shakespeare or musicals there is no way around this film. Love's Labour's Lost is highly watchable and one of the most charming Shakespeare adaptations put on screen up to now. It is a feel-good film and the good mood in it is certainly contagious.
Among other Shakespeare adapations Love's Labour's Lost is somehow special because it is so different from other films.
Even if the actors and actresses didn't change into Fred Astaires or Ginger Rogers during the shooting the film doesn't have to hide from the big muscials such as "Top Hat" or "Guys And Dolls". They do a wonderful job and you cannot think of anyone else playing their parts.

The dancing scences connected with the text passages spoken by the actors and actresses work neatly together.
Although not perfect from a professional point of view, the dancing scenes are fun to watch and the songs chosen haven't lost their effect in all these years.

Love's Labour's Lost is colourful and entertaining, full of romance and humour. I can only recommend this film. You will not be sorry after having seen it.

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director: Kenneth Branagh

cast:
Berowne (Kenneth Branagh), King of Navarre (Alessandro Nivola), The Princess of France (Alicia Silverstone), Rosaline (Natascha McElhone), Longaville (Matthew Lillard), Dumaine (Adrian Lester), Don Armado (Timothy Spall), Costard (Nathan Lane), Katherine (Emily Mortimer), Maria (Carmen Ejogo)

 

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