William Shakespeare | A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999)

On first look, this film may seem like a Branagh treatment, and one may be forgiven thinking that because of the star cast and the clarity of Shakespeare's text. However, that is where the similarity ends. This film can be summed up in one word: pretty. Ordinarily, that would be a good thing, but this treatment is almost too pretty. Set in Italy, the scenery is magnificently photographed, but as the film progresses, it becomes tiresome. Michelle Pfeiffer is shot through a heavy gauze and constantly looks sleepy. The fairy scenes are also too pretty. The only gritty pseudo-realism comes when Nick Bottom goes home to his wife, a character not in Shakespeare's play. His humiliation at the hands of the townspeople is also extra-textual, and adds nothing to Kevin Kline's fine performance as the amateur actor who wants to play all the roles in Peter Quince's play, but gets turned into an ass in the forest. Also in fine form are Rupert Everett as Oberon and Stanley Tucci as Philostrate. Most of the 'rude mechanicals' are exactly that in their characters — mechanical, and Calista Flockhart is sorrowfully miscast as Helena, as is Anna Friel in the role of Hermia. But overall, the narrative moves along at an entertaining pace, and if the saccharine prettiness can be endured, the film does provide a modicum of magic, especially in the play-within-a-play-within-a-film of Pyramus and Thisbe. - J.R. Costa

Cast: Nick Bottom: Kevin Kline; Titania: Michelle Pfeiffer; Oberon: Rupert Everett; Puck: Stanley Tucci; Hermia: Anna Friel; Helena: Calista Flockhart; Demetrius: Christian Bale; Lysander: Dominic West; Theseus: David Strathairn; Hippolyta: Sophie Marceau; Peter Quince: Roger Rees; Robin Starveling: Max Wright; Snug: Gregory Jbara; Tom Snout: Bill Irwin; Francis Flute: Sam Rockwell; Egeus: Bernard Hill; Philostrate: John Sessions; Hard-eye Fairy: Deidre Harrison; Bottom's Wife: Heather Parisi; Cobweb: Annalisa Cordone; Mustardseed: Paola Pessot; Moth: Solena Nocentini; Peaseblossom: Flaminia Fegarotti; Master Antonio: Valerio Isidori; Dangerous Boys: Daniele Finizio, Damiano Salvatori; Changeling Boy: Chomoke Bhuyian.

Director: Michael Hoffman; Writers: William Shakespeare, Michael Hoffman; Producers: Nigel Goldsack, Michael Hoffman, Arnon Milchan, Leslie Urdang, Ann Wingate. Production Companies: Fox Searchlight Pictures, Panoramica (IT), Regency Enterprises.

Colour. Runtime: 116 mins.