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Sister From Another Island

It may take some warming up to, but "Twelfth Night," Trevor Nunn’s version of the Shakespeare comedy, eventually wins you over. British director Nunn doesn’t always take advantage of the play’s comic possibilities. But he creates absorbing, original moments—in the unlikeliest of places.

In the film (and the play), twin siblings Viola (Imogen Stubbs) and Sebastian (Stephen Mackintosh) are passengers on a ship claimed by the sea. Diving after his drowning sister, Sebastian is lost in the huge waves. Viola, convinced her beloved brother has perished, finds herself on the island of Illyria, where—worried for her safety—she disguises herself as a man.

Calling herself Cesario, she enters the employ of Orsino (Toby Stephens), a duke who is pining for the love of noblewoman Olivia (Helena Bonham Carter). Obliged to become Orsino’s go-between, Viola unintentionally causes Olivia to fall in love with "Cesario." Meanwhile, Viola herself becomes infatuated with the duke.

These matters are further compounded by the unexpected arrival of Sebastian, and the ongoing shenanigans among the members of Olivia’s household. Malvolio (Nigel Hawthorne), Olivia’s haughty, nosy steward, has so harassed Olivia’s uncle, Sir Toby Belch (Mel Smith), Toby’s friend, Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Richard E. Grant) and maidservant Maria (Imelda Staunton), the three of them decide to play a prank on the humorless manservant.

"Twelfth Night"-the-movie is often not "funny" in the places where it’s supposed to be. Smith’s Sir Toby and Grant’s Sir Andrew, supposedly the amusing life of this particular party, are disappointingly ineffective, for instance.

But the great thing about this movie is its ability to surprise you. Nunn, sensibly, doesn’t try to modernize the matter of gender disguise. In Shakespeare’s time—as many know—men played the female roles. So the playwright intentionally wrote for the triple irony of a man playing a woman playing a man. In the movie, it’s obvious to the audience that "Cesario" is an unconvincing man. This frees us not to worry about it. Instead, we’re able to savor Stubbs simply as the delicate breath of fresh air she is.

I’ve never seen a comedy with a more somber lighting scheme—comedies are usually well lit, as if shadows would suffocate the funniness—but some of the most amusing moments occur in the brooding darknesses of chez Olivia, where the countess is mourning the deaths of her father and brother. The acting interpretations—particularly those of Carter, Hawthorne and Ben Kingsley (as the wise fool, Feste)—are fascinatingly rich, rather than merely farcical. Hawthorne, who played the king in "The Madness of King George," creates the funniest scene in the movie when (mistakenly thinking Olivia has requested him to wear this ridiculous garb as a sign of his true love for her) he appears before his mistress wearing cross-gartered, yellow leggings. Kingsley has such extraordinary screen presence, he almost threatens to overpower his scenes. And—unless he was lip-syncing—who knew he could sing?

TWELFTH NIGHT (PG) — Contains nothing offensive.