A Midsummer Night's Dream : the film

The film A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999) is the most recent of the adaptations of the Shakespeare's play. The director, Michael Hoffman, had taken the liberty to transport the action in the 1900's Italy in « Monte Athena », a fictional place, whereas the story is supposed to happen in Athens, in ancient Greece. We can notice the consonance of the two places, but this completely changes the setting of the story. Otherwise, I would say that the film is faithful to the play. We recognize every characters who are particulary well played by the different actors : for instance, the love and the seriousness of Hippolyta and Theseus, the arrogance of Lysander, the pathos of Helena.... However, Bottom's character is enhanced compared to the original play : we meet him in the street before he goes to the fist craftmen's metting and he's staged with women arround him, he's seducing when his girlfriend appears and he runs away. This scene has been add in the film to emphasize the character, we already know that he's an excessive person. Moreover, the last scene, with the Puck's tirade, happen in Bottom's street and the film ending with the picture of him throught the window, and with that he don't appears like an only funny man but he's eventually a human man. Some elements has been also add to make the play even more funny, like with the cycles of the young lovers for they could go into the wood, when puck discovers one of them and he's surprised by the cylce bell ; when the fairies are amazed by all the human objets brought to them like a mirror ; and finally when the dog arrive on the stage, bark and bites Bottom's suit. The rhythm of the film is sustained as in the play, the events followed quickly between the mistakes, the twists, all the plots are intermingled between them that's why the spectator have to be concentrated. Nonetheless, the film is a bit long as Hoffman didn't cut any part of the play.
I really enjoyed this film