The Daily Stream: Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing Is Everything
Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they've been watching, why it's worth checking out, and where you can stream it.
The Movie: "Much Ado About Nothing" (1993)
Where You Can Stream It: HBO Max, DirecTV
The Pitch: Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Henry V," the filmmaker's first feature, was a massive success when it was released in 1989. Branagh was nominated for Best Actor and Best Director, and Phyllis Dalton won the Oscar for Best Costumes. The film caused a great deal of buzz around Branagh, and audiences kept a close eye on him. In 1989, he married actress Emma Thompson (who played Katherine in "Henry V"), and the two of them would proceed to work together incredibly well on several notable films. Thompson co-starred with Branagh in the excellent reincarnation thriller "Dead Again" in 1991, and she appeared as the repressed Maggie in the thirtysomethings-reconsider-life drama "Peter's Friends."
With the release of "Much Ado About Nothing" in 1993, however, the pair reached a dizzying height. Based on Shakespeare's frothiest, most lighthearted play, "Much Ado" saw Thompson and Branagh playing the irresistible, bickersome couple of Beatrice and Benedick, and their chemistry cannot be measured by conventional instruments. It's rare that audiences are treated to such a pure distillation of randy, Shakespearean joy. "Much Ado" is a blast of relaxed, horny energy. The cast and filmmaking feel so warm, natural, and comfortable, it almost feels like audiences are watching the cast party after a typical Shakespearean production.
Why it's essential viewing
For those who didn't read "Much Ado About Nothing" in high school, the setup is pretty simple, as far as Shakespearean comedies go. The war has ended, and the soldiers are returning home to stay in a gorgeous countryside villa in Messina. Don Pedro (Denzel Washington) is finally relieved to be back home, the soldiers are ready to open their shirts and party, and the local villa-dwellers are only too happy to join in the celebration. The young Claudio (Robert Sean Leonard), upon seeing the equally young Hero (Kate Beckinsale), instantly falls in love and pleas with his buddies to fix them up. The return also sees the reunion of Beatrice and Benedick, a pair of ex-lovers who constantly fight and insult one another, but who are clearly in love and destined to marry.
Much of "Much Ado" is devoted to laughter and jubilance. An early montage shows people getting ready to greet the incoming soldiers, as they have pillow fights, giggle, and spray perfume down their shirts. Later, the men chuckle heartily as they undress for a communal bath. Everyone was already blissfully horny eating picnic lunches and drinking wine in the Italian sunshine. Now they get to add romantic conquest to their games. Life is good.
Lurking at the edges is the dour Don John, played by Keanu Reeves, the only actor who does not quite avail himself well in "Much Ado." Reeves is appealing as a movie star and is, by all accounts, a relentlessly decent person, but he is well out of his depths reading Shakespeare. There's a reason his acting was lampooned so often. Don John is the killjoy who resents everyone's happiness/horniness and aims to undo it all by actively ruining the potential relationship between Claudio and Hero.
The real main characters
Don John's plan involves making Claudio think that Hero has been unfaithful, forcing him to reject Hero in public. For a fleeting moment, everyone is unhappy. Don John flees and spends most of the film off-screen. He's also barely in the play.
In terms of traditional romantic comedy conventions, the eventual relationship and subsequent marriage of Claudio and Hero should be the very crux of the play. And while Claudio and Hero are appealing, attractive young lovers, they are not the reason we have come here. We have come to see the eventual breakdown of Beatrice and Benedick. We have come to see two very funny, very intelligent people — so obviously perfect for each other — swallow their pride and admit their love. An extended (hilarious) sequence sees Pedro, Claudio, and Leonato (Richard Briers) standing within earshot of Benedick, telling lies about how Beatrice is secretly in love with him. The sequence is then repeated for Beatrice. Old love letters are planted where they can be found, and Beatrice and Benedick each have to talk themselves into being the marrying type.
If that wasn't silly enough for you, Branagh also included Shakespeare's clown in the form of Dogberry, the local police officer. In a world where everyone is calm and happy, crime is sparse and Dogberry (Michael Keaton) and his deputies are ineffectual drunks. Keaton overacts with the best of them, grunting and flatulating with aplomb. The film is already joyous and funny and fun, but Dogberry tips the proceedings into outright hilarity.
Shakespeare, naturally
There may be a temptation when staging Shakespeare to unintentionally push one's actors toward oratory and recitation. As Shakespeare's language is so poetic and gorgeous, one might want to make sure that every syllable is heard, every moment of poetic rhythm communicated. Branagh understands that the poetry will exist regardless, and — throughout his various Shakespearean projects — has encouraged his actors to speak in their own voices. Washington, Reeves, Keaton, and Leonard — the film's Americans — do not affect English accents, and speak their lines with a casual ease rarely heard with the Bard. What emerges from this approach is clarity. The characters become clearer, the relationships become clearer, the jokes become clearer, and the plot is laid bare and simple.
For any youths struggling with Shakespeare, "Much Ado" will be a salve. It reveals that Shakespeare is not only easy but natural. The dialogue in "Much Ado" feels like witty people saying scintillating things in a clever way. Every actor is comfortable with the language and seems relieved to be speaking such gorgeous lines. It is the opposite of dry recitation.
"Much Ado" was arguably the high point of the Branagh/Thompson collaborations. The two divorced in 1995, and each continued to make interesting, sometimes amazing films. Branagh would make a full-scale version of "Hamlet" in 1996, one of the best Shakespeare films ever, and Thompson would win an Academy Award for writing an adaptation of Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility" in 1995. They would also both eventually dip into blockbusters, and they would both appear in "Harry Potter" films. By curious coincidence, they each remarried in 2003.