What to expect
J. Stuart Blackton’s production is the first American screen version of the play and shows early cinema translating famous theatre into locations, gesture, and selected incidents.
How to ease in
Do not expect the verbal texture of Shakespeare. Use the familiar outline to notice what the film chooses to make visible when dialogue can no longer carry the romance.
Heads-up
Shakespeare’s lovers are condensed into a brief series of recognisable meetings, separations, and fatal misunderstandings.
A famous story can survive losing most of its words, but it becomes a different object. I watch the gestures asked to carry everything the poetry once held.
Open the note ↓
A famous story can survive losing most of its words, but it becomes a different object. I watch the gestures asked to carry everything the poetry once held.
— Momo
Where to go next
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