Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet offers the viewer a faithful and authentic reconstruction of the Renaissance idea of romantic love portrayed in Shakespeare's play.

Romeo + Juliet is a film that transfers Shakespeare's play to a modern setting. Despite all the elements in the play that have been updated, the idea of love is presented very much as Shakespeare depicts it. The attraction between the two lovers is instant and turns almost immediately into intense adoration, which renders the idea of separation intolerable to them.

There are two separate ideas to be disentangled here. The first is whether you find this vision of love authentic. The most common objection to the plot of Romeo and Juliet is that it glorifies a superficial instant attraction. People do not really fall in love at first sight and immediately find life intolerable without each other. True love takes time to grow.

This is an objection to Luhrmann's film, but it is equally a criticism of Shakespeare's play, the mental and emotional atmosphere of which the film carefully reproduces. The film is an authentic representation of the way Shakespeare treats love in Romeo and Juliet, whether or not the play itself is authentic in its depiction of love.