Yes, the characters´ failure to speak properly is a major obstacle - and since practically everything of relevance is presented verbally, there are whole scenes of which point would have eluded me completely if it weren´t for historical information obtained elsewhere. And boy do they talk - it´s one endless wallop of blather from beginning to end... not just in a strange sounding lingo, but also delivered with a difficult-to-follow accent and spoken much too fast... and it´s only so long one is prepared to gladly listen the lingo about 50% of which is more or less incomprehensible (hell, it would be pretty annoying even if it was easier to follow). And since it´s a film, after all, wouldn´t it have made more sense to approach the thing differently, axe some 2/3 of the high minded chatter and try to rely more on imagery to get the point across (sure, it´s Shakespeare and all so it may seem like a blasphemy for some, but still...). There certainly are movies that are adapted from stage plays which do work fine even in their overt, unaltered talkiness (Who´s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf, Glengarry Glen Ross), but they´re few and far between. This particular number here is, despite the extraordinary acting performances - Olivier being truly amazing - and outstanding production design, frustrating more than anything else.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
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