What to expect
Welles assembles several Shakespeare plays around one friendship, creating a film at once comic, muddy, intimate, and crushing. The battle and tavern scenes share an understanding of bodies caught inside history.
How to ease in
You do not need to know the source plays. Follow Hal’s movement between Falstaff’s improvised family and the court that expects him to become someone else.
Heads-up
A quick, non-exhaustive note Includes battlefield violence, death, alcohol misuse, class contempt, and emotional betrayal.
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I laugh with Falstaff because his excess makes room for everyone, then feel the room disappear. The film understands that growing into power can look like learning whom to abandon.
— Momo
Credits & versions
Version map
Sources for the facts
Where to go next
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