Verlorene Liebesmüh' (2000)

Verlorene Liebesmüh’: Directed by Kenneth Branagh. With Alessandro Nivola, Alicia Silverstone, Natascha McElhone, Kenneth Branagh. An update of the classic Shakespeare story, director Kenneth Branagh shot the film like a classic 1930s musical. It tells the story of four best friends who swear off love.

“I actually enjoy Branaghu0026#39;s acting of Shakespeare, and was looking forward to finding out what heu0026#39;d done with this far-from-easy play. But it is definitely a lost labour of love. Thereu0026#39;s just so much pointless fiddling with the original that lengthy criticism would be repetitive and shrill. So hereu0026#39;s a couple of comments instead.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe only result of replacing large chunks of the play with Cole Porter lyrics is to demonstrate how relatively impoverished C.P. is as a writer when compared with Shakespeare. And I never thought anyone could spoil C.P. for me until Branagh managed it. Branagh must have a tin ear not to realise the serious loss of quality.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd the ending of the play, and all its meaning, is reversed. u0026quot;The words of Mercury are harsh (harsh, underlined) after the songs of Apollo,u0026quot; says Shakespeare, not u0026quot;What about if we fast-forward to a happy-ever-after conclusion?u0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIf the film were clearly signposted as a cabaret reworking based on an original idea by Shakespeare, then nobody could feel cheated by this nonsensical trifle. As it is, after one viewing, my video of the film went straight to a Thrift Shop. At least the next mug to buy it will be donating something to a good cause.”