Twelfth Night or What You Will (1996) REVISIT

Shakespeare played with the idea of gender quite a bit in his work but as far as I am aware never quite as directly as in Twelfth Night. Shakespeare often gave his characters plot reasons for cross-dressing but that doesn't really exist here in a tangible way. Night works specifically on a meta level when one thinks about the idea of young men playing women playing men and all of the gender fallout that produces. Modern versions, which cast female actors in the roles loose some of this exploration. Yet there remain elements of sexual experimentation as the "manly" character Orsino finds himself falling in love with a "man" Cesario while the overtly feminine Olivia finds herself wooing another woman, sort of. All of this lends itself to some fascinating gender and sexual high-jinks. And how this is played with over time says much about who we are in each moment.

The 1996 film from director Trevor Nunn (a director who seems to direct one film a decade) chooses to only scratch the surface of this element of the play and instead focus on the farce aspect of Night as if it was The Important of Being Earnest. His strong cast, equally talented with comedy and tragedy, play up the Three's Company style pranks and misunderstandings to great entertainment and that makes his film quite watchable and generally delightful. But for me the fascination of this play doesn't reside mostly in the absurd humour. For me what makes Night truly interesting is what it does with gender and sexuality.

There are moments when Nunn's film begins to explore some of the more taboo ends of the story. A moving scene between Ceasrio and Orsino where the two almost kiss is powerful (but might have been more powerful if both actors were men). Much of the gravity of the film is summoned by the weighty performance of Ben Kingsley whose fool is played quite seriously. But Nunn keeps veering away from those more challenging paths and taking us back into the safe territory of farce.

I assume most of this comes from the time in which it was made when issues of sexuality were still just arising in popular culture and gender expression was still ignored by most of society. Today I think productions of Twelfth Night could truly explore some of the rich commentary the play is lousy with. And that again comes back to the idea of how who we are in our moment, informs how we approach these plays and how they might speak to us. Today when we have a more complex understanding of gender, Shakespeare's gender plays, especially this one, could resonate in new ways. Perhaps one day. But for now we have this, rather delightful but generally light, film which is funny and charming.

Twelfth Night or What You Will
Starring: Imogen Stubbs, Helena Bonham Carter, Toby Stevens, Ben Kingsley, Richard E. Grant, Imelda Staunton, Steven Mackintosh
Director: Trevor Nunn
Writers: Trevor Nunn, William Shakespeare