Another way in watching the film ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ contributed to my understand and appreciation of the play is due to two of the casts which are Benedick (Kenneth Branagh) and Beatrice (Emma Thompson). The reason for this is because they bring the characters to life using their scheming and humorous discussions and incredible facial expressions. This helps to understand their feelings in substantial moments in the film.
The manners and behaviours of Benedick and Beatrice result in plenty of humour especially in the very beginning of the play, upon their initial meeting and the garden scene in which both Benedick and Beatrice are tricked into believing that the one has love for the other. Instantaneously when Beatrice and Benedick meet they start with verbal abuse with contemptuous glances and mockery, of which Benedick comes forward as the winner “...I would…continuer…” The director ingeniously gives the audience close-ups of Beatrice and Benedick’s faces when they are insulting one and another which portrays the way they are feeling. This is because that way the audience would be able to see Beatrice and Benedick’s expressions. This moment is exceptionally entertaining to the rest of the characters as well as the audience, and we gain knowledge of a likely previous relationship between the two that creates a new impression of attention in the face of the audience.
In the next scene, the garden scene, both Benedick and Beatrice are tricked into believing that the one has love for the other. The camera concentrates on the garden in a bird’s eye shot, rotating around the different areas of the garden. The garden itself is very beautiful, and makes a reference to the gardens of paradise and that it is perfect and very romantic. Claudio, Leonato and Don Pedro listen to Balthasar’s song, which is the very song that was used in the introduction of the film. While the song plays, the camera focuses on the women around the garden who are doing housework for instance washing and drying clothes, highlighting the fact that the song is about women being tricked and neglected by men. In the actual play, Shakespeare did not provide music to accompany the song, but the film producers have done the song as an extra with music and tune, which is used in many romantic scenes throughout the film, making it a very considerable piece of music. After Leonato, Claudio, and Don Pedro have ended listening to the song, they leisurely walk around the garden, within hearing area of Benedick, so that they may trick him into believing that Beatrice loves him. All three actors perform this scene extremely cleverly and they do this by using Shakespeare’s limited stage directions and unresponsive words to make the scene much more noticeable and pleasurable. This is done by all three actors putting a lot of feeling and exaggeration into their lines and facial expressions which lets the audience know how they are feeling. Claudio, Leonato and Don Pedro are able to get across to the audience the fact that they are deceiving Benedick, and that makes Benedick’s reactions to the situation much more humorous. Benedick enters the garden with a folding chair, which he endeavors to set up while Claudio, Leonato and Don Pedro talk between themselves. Benedick finally does set up the chair, and sits on it but almost immediately when Don Pedro states that Beatrice is in love with Benedick he falls off the chair in shock. This evil spirit states that Benedick is shocked and startled at this piece of information and adds humour to the film. Benedick again proves a source of amusement when he uses an unprepared bird call to hide his shriek when he overhears that Leonato and the rest think him too proud to love Beatrice. Benedick’s uses many facial expressions convey his fusion of feelings very effectively when he listens to Don Pedro talking, such as surprise and amazement, and shame at himself, and help to liven up this scene. Benedick also moves around and uses many more facial expressions during his soliloquy, to stop it from becoming dreary, and to fully convey his thoughts.
These laughable and humorous reactions to the events really contributed to my appreciation and understanding of the play. This is because it helped to release the tension from the previous scenes by setting off a lot of humour. This kind of reinforcement is not experienced from the play itself as of the limited amount of stage directions Shakespeare has included, so the actresses or actors had to improvise according to their situation that makes the film more valuable.
A further way in which the play contributed greatly to my understanding and appreciation of the play is through the characters’ characters uses of speech throughout the play. The director was not entirely dedicated to the original text of Much Ado About Nothing written by Shakespeare. Nevertheless, the selection of lines/speeches that were included were still adequate enough to have been able to suggest the various different plots clearly therefore bringing the play to life and making it more realistic.
The actors and actresses deliver their lines in much a enhanced way because when it is normally read from the play it is not very effective. This is because the actresses and actors use the right pitch along with facial expressions effectively convey the plots and the significance of the play as well as the characters feelings and sentiment at certain scenes to the degree that the scenes are eventually brought to life in front of our eyes.
The right tone is vital in delivering speeches/lines. As mentioned above, it helps in reflecting the characters feelings and sentiment. This is important for the audience hence we are able to gain the right understanding of the moment and the character portrayed in it. Without this, for instance when reading the text of the play in the book, it generally is difficult to accomplish the right point of view and it is often easy to get the wrong impression about the plots and characters’ feelings.
In the film the communication of tragedy and comedy was incomparable which helped contribute to my understanding appreciation of the play. The humour in the play was brought out to a top level of degree, as shown in examples given before, and this same degree was used for the tragic scenes of the play. For instance, the scene where Claudio grieves over Hero’s death and hangs an epitaph at her tomb is where the director integrates pathetic fallacy. The whole scene is in obscurity, which portrays the sorrow and the grief of the characters, especially Claudio, with a pageant of candle bearers. The director concentrates on Claudio only because he is the main character of this scene and the actor (Robert Sean Leonard) representing Claudio uses the correct tone of voice and language to successfully express his sadness at Hero’s assumed death.
The use of music and song was excellent as it helped by highlighting the dramatic moments of the film. This contributed to my understanding and appreciation of the play because it created the atmosphere of the scenes which helped the scene liven up. An example of good use of music is at the beginning of the film where the soldiers such as Claudio and Benedick are riding in. The music then is linked with loud, rousing music assigning the victory, strength and courage of the men, and their supremacy and authority over the other characters.
The song sung by Balthasar in a particular scene in the original play is used to a great degree all the way through the whole film. It is first heard at the opening of the film, where the words of the song are displayed in white upon a black background read by Beatrice to enable the audience to concentrate on these words. The song is about the inconsistency of men, and is used here at the beginning as an prologue to the main theme of deception in the play. The music of this song is moreover used in a number of scenes of the film, predominantly in the scenes where there are feelings of love and happiness between the characters, such as the moments of love between Beatrice and Benedick or Claudio and Hero. The same music is used in the end of the film where everybody is dancing in the gardens after the wedding which brings an end to film, as it first began with. The director in a way takes you back to the start of the film again.
The scene which I found the most memorable and effective and which contributed to my understanding and appreciation of the play is the mask party scene. Shakespeare did not give any exact stage directions in play therefore the director had free choice over what he wanted to have in the film for this precise scene. Firstly in this scene the director brings together dancing, music and romance to make the scene more lively as well as more fascinating and tempting to the audience. The success in this scene is where director cunningly uses different masks for different characters, each mask portraying the personalities of the owner. Benedick’s mask is of a funny, inane face, which suggests to the audience the view that Beatrice has of him; Claudio’s is of a cupid, which is sulking and looks puerile which tells the audience that Claudio is immature and sensitive; and Don Jon’s is of a red demon, which signifies his malice. Another reason why the mask party contributed to my understanding and appreciation of the play is because the mask party in its entirely is a representation of deceit and deception.
In conclusion, watching the film Much Ado About Nothing really contributed to my understanding and appreciation of the play. This is because of the representation of the characters, the humour as well as the beautiful scenery and settings. The director of Much Ado About nothing has made the whole play much more realistic and authentic and appealing to the audience. I would not have such positive opinion of the play if I hadn’t watch the film and I am very lucky to have watched and been able to understand one of Shakespeare’s utmost plays.
