William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet-Romeo + Juliet (1996)

Directed by: Baz Luhrmann | 120 minutes | drama, romance, crime | Actors: Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, John Leguizamo, Miriam Margolyes, Harold Perrineau, Pete Postlethwaite, Paul Sorvino, Brian Dennehy, Paul Rudd

“For never was a story of more wo, then this of Juliet, and her Romeo.” For example, in Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, the narrator ended the play about 1623. In 1996, these words are spoken by a newsreader, who announces the tragic ending of the greatest love story of all time to the viewers. Then the television image changes to snow.

It is just one of the many tricks that director Baz Luhrmann employs to place Shakespeare’s original text in a late twentieth-century setting. He gets help from the master himself, because artists like Shakespeare were way ahead of their time and the decadent theater – with grand gestures and niece humor – fits perfectly into the fin-de-siècle of our time. Luhrmann moves the scene from medieval Verona in Italy to the fictional Verona Beach (filmed in Mexico), has rival families like Crips and Bloods duel under neon lights with revolvers instead of daggers and the love that is, of course, timeless. Romeo and Juliet meet at a costume ball, where he is dressed as a knight and she as an angel with wings (another beautiful trick). From then on it revolves around the classic theme of love against circumstances. The story continues to convince, although you no longer have to be in the Western world for a forced marriage.

It takes some courage to let go of young, classically uneducated and mostly American actors on lines such as “Parting is such sweet sorrow”, but the combination with the exuberant imagery never makes it theatrical. Claire Danes (only 17 at the time of filming) has some trouble with the monologues, but more than makes up for it with her impressive despair scenes at the end and her big-eyed innocence. DiCaprio is in his better days and – as you know – a great romantic and veteran stage actors Postlethwaite and Margolyes (nursie from Blackadder!) can support the two both in and out of the story. There is also a nice role of Harold Perrineau Jr. as Romeo’s mate Mercutio.

The film struggles a bit with the rapid turnaround of events, but that’s part of classic tragedies, in which a lot of time is traditionally spent convincing the audience of the good intentions of the main characters. Very nice soundtrack too, with The Cardigans (Lovefool) and a boys choir singing Prince. Once again in abundance on the credits: the screenwriter of this film is called Bill Shakespeare. Not just for star-crossed lovers.