Then in both versions a prince stops the fighting. In Lhurmann’s version the prince arrives in a helicopter and so the helicopter breaks all other sounds and so we can hear only the helicopter. But in Zeffirelli’s version when the prince arrives we hear a fanfare to symbolise that royalty is coming. In Lhurmann’s version the prince has all the power and both families are silent and we see a quick view of one family to another. The prince emphasises on ‘ALL ARE PUNISHED’. Then we hear some peaceful and calm music, to show that the fight it over and its like the calm after the storm.
Then in Lhurmann’s version once this is over we get an overview of harsh Verona, how busy life really is in an urban city. We also see how busy it is and how sleazy it is as well. The audience see prostitutes during the day.
The first time we see Romeo in both versions there is a hole behind him this show that he is still incomplete. Lhurmann’s shows a stark contrast of Verona because Romeo is near the sea, which is suppose to be nice and peaceful which in contrast
We get contrast flicks of the busy and chaotic and sleaziness of the city life. That is full of 20th century icons such as police, guns and violence. Romeo is shown to be in a playground that has rides; this is symbolic to say that Romeo is still a little kid. While he is speaking the camera is going round and round in a spinning motion to show his confusion. Whereas in Zeffirelli’s version when Romeo comes the audience hear soft, float music to that he is dreaming and not seeing the true light.
But in this version Zeffirelli has chosen to cut out the part when Romeo speaks in oxymoron’s, but to show this he has chosen to show Romeo lying down to tell the audience of the heaviness.
Finally in Lhurmann’s version the audience get another glimpse of the violence that fills Verona. The audience see a news bulletin of the violence that occurred in the petrol station a couple of hours ago. But in Zeffirelli’s version the opening scene end with the dead bodies that lay on the ground after the fighting with sad and slow music.
So in the opening scene; both Lhurmann and Zeffirelli has concentrated on using Elizabethan language, but in Lhurmann’s version the lines are more aggressive in contrast to the peaceful lines spoken by the characters in Zeffirelli’s version.
In the closing scenes the directors of both films have demonstrated things in completely different ways.
Lhurmann’s version is set inside a church. At the beginning we can only hear the heavy breathing of Romeo but we don’t actually see his face as he is standing in the dark. Its as though he is scared to come in the true light and see what has actually happened. Then he slowly comes in to the picture and we then see a clear close up of his face. Then suddenly we see a high angle view of the church and the audience can see bright lights in the way of a path. Lhurmann has chosen to set the light out to show that it’s Romeo final walk to face his destiny. As Romeo walks slowly towards Juliet’s tomb there is depressing opera music that seems to get louder as he get closer to Juliet’s tomb. This music is building up tension.
As soon as he reaches Juliet’s tomb the music finally stops. He then slowly gets a ring out from his pocket and places it on Juliet’s ring finger. He puts a ring on her finger as it is round so it symbolises that they can be together forever without any obstacles in their way. The first time the audience see Juliet she is dressed in a white dress with white flowers. The audience see Juliet holding a flower in her hand to show that she is ‘innocent as a bud’. This shows that she is innocent and pure and is symbolic as it shows that she is ready to marry Romeo.
Whereas in Zeffirelli’s version the final scene also takes place in a church but the audience also see the dead body of Tybalt who is next to Juliet. Zeffirelli has chosen that the final moment between Romeo and Juliet cannot be between them but he wants to show how close love and hate is. Whereas in contrast to Lhurmann’s version he has chosen that the final scene between Romeo and Juliet has to be between them and so no one can interrupt their final moment together and to get this effect the audience get a lot of close up of the faces of Romeo and Juliet to show its only between them.
In Lhurmann’s version Romeo whispers words in Juliet’s ear which is a contrasted with the opening scene when the words are shouted this shows that he is only talking to her and not the to rest of Verona. While this is happening the audience get a high angle shot so it’s like the audience are peeping on their intimate scene. During this scene we see a lot of close up of the eyes to show that they are seeing the true light for the first time.
Before Romeo actually drinks the poison he keeps stroking her hair and holds her hand to show that he is really close to her. Finally Romeo has the poison in his and then kisses Juliet for the last time. At he kisses Juliet we see a shot of her hand moving but by this time Romeo has already drank the poison. The tension is built up by the silence as Juliet is gaining the energy to get up. By now Romeo is dieing, he is helpless and destroyed and says his final words in Juliet’s hands.
Even though in his play Shakespeare hasn’t shown that Juliet awakens Lhurmann has shown this to show what a tragedy this is; just because of one second both Romeo and Juliet are doomed. Once Romeo is dead, then there are a couple of seconds silence as Juliet is taking in what has happens and then suddenly the silence is broken by really loud crying from Juliet which echo’s through the whole church, this also shows that the church is empty. Then slowly she gets the gun from Romeo’s pocket and looks at it. The camera focuses on it and zooms up to were it says ‘9mm’. It’s the same as Tybalt’s gun at the petrol station. The audience then hear a clear loud gunshot. The loud sound takes the audience by surprise and makes them shudder. The audience then hear silence.
But in Zeffirelli’s version we see Romeo holding a torch in his hand, as the church is really old, gloomy and dark. The audience hear slow, soft music as he walks in the church. In this version we see Juliet’s body in a white sheet that also covers her face. When Romeo gets to her body the first things he does is that he lifts the veil of her face. This shows that that was the last barrier before they can be together. Just like they are getting married. Romeo then starts to cry and the audience only hear him and no other sounds. Whereas in Lhurmann’s version the music shows the grief. Then just like the other version he drink the poison. But this time Juliet doesn’t wake up. But once Romeo is lying on the ground Juliet slowly awakens. As soon as she wakes up she Romeo dead body this is when we see a close up of her eyes as now she is seeing the true light. Then unlike Lhurmann’s version the Friar comes in. Juliet then asked the Friar for Romeo. But she hasn’t seen him lying on the ground. The Friar looks stunned and scared and looks to the ground. That’s when Juliet realises that Romeo is dead. We then hear some dogs coming and the Friar begins to panic. He tries to take Juliet’s hand but she doesn’t want to go and so the friar leaves Juliet in the church. In this version we hear her heavy, passionate and frantic breathing that is in the same pace as the music; both are speeding up. Again in this version we see Juliet looking at the dagger and then a close up of her eyes, this shows that again in this version she is accepting her fate. But in this version her stabbing is more violent. We actually see the dagger going inside her, and then the reality is shown by the expression on her face.
So then in both versions both Romeo and Juliet are on then floor close to each other. In Lhurmann’s version Juliet’s hand falls on Romeos stomach, this shows that they look like they are peacefully asleep. Whereas in Zeffirelli’s version the audience don’t actually see whether Juliet’s body falls on Romeo but they hear a sound that seems it does.
Then in Lhurmann’s version the audience see really quick flashbacks of Romeo and Juliet’s best moments together and then the final scene of Juliet on Romeo’s body to show that finally they are together in peace.
Then both directors have decided to show the funeral. They have shown that the bodies are covered in black and white cloths. This is symbolic as Romeo was wrapped in black because he didn’t see true light and Juliet was wrapped in white to show that she was pure.
In Zeffirelli’s version we only can hear the sound of bells and it look like a proper death march. In both versions the directors show both families together and everybody is quiet. This shows that the long old feud is over and shown the two families unity.
Finally in both versions we hear the prince who once again has all the power. He emphasises on the price both families had to pay because of the long old feud. We also get close ups of both families as the prince is speaking.
Lastly in Lhurmann’s version the audience again see the little television screen with the newsreader. But this time the news is about the death of Romeo and Juliet and to finish the film the camera zooms out from the television which in contrast to the beginning where it zooms in on the little television.
Both directors have interpreted Romeo and Juliet in the best possible way they can. Lhurmann has concentrated on the love between Romeo and Juliet because he thought a lot of people would be put off by the language, so he add more actions, more music and more pictures. Whereas Zeffirelli has concentrated more on the language Shakespeare has used and showed the fact that it is a tragedy. Because of the time difference between both films there have been many changes. Zeffirelli chose to set his film in a Medieval and old theme, as it is clear of the setting and time as the violence was without modern day weapons but with swords. In contrast to Lhurmann’s modern city version where a lot of guns are used.
Lhurmann has tried to show how much Hollywood, the camera techniques, technology and music has changed.
Throughout the whole play Franco Zeffirelli has only use one single track by Nino Rota’s and changed the pace but to get the effect of music effecting our emotions, Baz Lhurmann has used a verity of music from Urban to Opera.
Throughout the play Lhurmann’s has edited many scenes to make them blend together and so the scene flows together.
Both directors have concentrated on different things to get the point across. Zeffirelli has concentrated more on Shakespeare’s language whereas Lhurmann has concentrated more on the love between Romeo and Juliet. Although Zeffirelli has concentrated on Shakespeare’s language h has decided to cut out the part when Romeo speaks in oxymorons but to show his heaviness Romeo just lies down on his own.
Lhurmann has decided to show Jesus looming over all the action, as throughout the play the audience get constant flicks of the statue of Jesus. Its like he is looking down on all the violence but can’t do anything about it. He has chosen that the film slots into any time period, as it is timeless. So people in any era will understand the dialogue. Whereas Zeffirelli has concentrated on Shakespeare’s language so only people from that era will understand it, as Shakespeare’s language is quiet hard to understand.
The characters that both directors chose caused some controversy. Lhurmann chose Leonardo Di Caprio to star as Romeo as he thought that he looks like a young, innocent boy, and Juliet as Clair Danes. He chose her as she was an unknown star, and so Lhurmann wanted the public to only know her as Juliet and not Clair. But Zeffirelli chose both actors who were unknown. This is what caused the controversy. As the people of those times didn’t know whom the actors were. Romeo was casted by Leonard Whiting and Juliet casted by Olivia Hussey. Although he used unknown characters the film received 4 academy nominations and made over $48 million dollars at the box office.
