The Merchant of Venice (2004)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The merchant of Venice |
| Original title | The Merchant of Venice |
| Country of production | England , Italy and Luxembourg . |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2004 |
| length | 138 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Michael Radford |
| script | Michael Radford / Based on the play by William Shakespeare |
| production | Cary Brokaw Michael Cowan Jason Piette Barry Navidi Luciano Martino |
| music | Jocelyn Pook |
| camera | Benoît Delhomme |
| cut | Lucia Zucchetti |
| occupation | |
| |
The Merchant of Venice is a 2004 British film based on William Shakespeare 's The Merchant of Venice . It is the first theatrical version of this piece. TV versions had already appeared before.
action
In the introduction, the anti-Jewish legislation is Venice in the 16th century briefly outlined: Jews need to ghetto life, able to work only as money lenders essentially and in need of public red hats carry. At night they are locked in the ghetto. Occasionally pogroms take place in which Jews are arbitrarily murdered.
1596: The Venetian merchant Antonio helps his friend, the young, unmarried Bassanio financially. Bassanio wants to ask for the hand of the beautiful Portia, a wealthy young noblewoman, and needs capital for it. Antonio, who owns several merchant ships, borrows money from Shylock, a Jewish moneylender. Shylock, is despised by the Christian majority in Venice, from which he suffers greatly. He holds a deep grudge against society. Shylock contractually waives the usual interest and demands "a pound of meat" from Antonio's body as security. Antonio does not take this seriously and agrees. He signs a corresponding promissory note because he believes that his merchant ships will soon return to Venice richly laden. A Christian servant of Shylock moves to Bassanio to work for him, which offends Shylock. Shylock's daughter Jessica takes a fortune from her father and escapes with a Christian who promises her marriage. Devastated, Shylock confesses to a friend that he'd rather get the "pound of meat" out of Antonio's body than double the debt.
Bassanio goes to the island of Belmont, the home of the beautiful Portia. There he also passes the test that Portia's late father ordered in his will. Applicants for the daughter's hand must select the correct one of three boxes (one gold, one silver, one leaden). One of them contains a picture of Portias. The Prince of Morocco and the eccentric Prince of Aragón had previously failed. Bassanio and Portia are instantly in love with each other and they celebrate engagement. Bassanio's friend Gratiano also becomes engaged to Portia's maid Nerissa. Then Bassanio receives the terrible news: Antonio is broke: his ships are missing. He cannot repay Shylock on time. In a trial, the judges and the public, chaired by the incumbent Doge , try desperately to dissuade Shylock from his plans. But Shylock wants to enforce his rights and cut the meat out of Antonio. This is completely hopeless and thinks that it is pointless to appeal to the charity of a Jew. Suddenly Portia appears disguised as a man. She plays the young "lawyer" Balthasar. She tells Shylock that he is entitled to the flesh, but that he cannot shed the Christian blood. If he does, he faces the death penalty and all of his goods would be confiscated by the state. When Shylock would rather have the money, Balthasar told him that he had just tried, as a stranger, to seek the life of a citizen of Venice. That is why half of his wealth goes to the opposing party (Antonio), the other half to the state. Shylock also suddenly has to beg for his life. The doge immediately grants mercy without the Jew having to ask for it. Antonio then provides generous to the return of his half when Shylock to Christianity convert and his estate after his death bequeath his daughter Jessica and her boyfriend Lorenzo. The devout Jew Shylock is mentally completely broken and accepted. He leaves the court a destroyed person. Bassanio thanks Balthasar profusely and he asks for the engagement ring, which he gives her with a heavy heart. In Belmont, Portia reveals Balthasar's identity. The couples Portia-Bassanio and Nerissa-Gratiano celebrate their marriage.
reception
The Merchant of Venice received good reviews overall. The film has a 72% positive rate on Rotten Tomatoes and a 63/100 positive rate on Metacritic . Most critics praised the depiction of Shylock by Al Pacino and the depiction of Venice by production designer Bruno Rubeo . This received the Nastro d'Argento in the category "Scenography" by the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists. The film premiered in 2005 in the presence of Prince Charles and received a BAFTA nomination for Best Costume Design .
budget
The film had a budget of 30 million US dollars , and took a 21,417,725 US dollars.
Web links
- The Merchant of Venice at the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Illustrated review of the 2004 Hollywood film
Individual evidence
- ^ William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (2004) . In: Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved February 14, 2011.
- ^ The Merchant of Venice Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic . In: Metacritic . Retrieved February 14, 2011.
- ^ Box office