Romeo and Juliet, Comparaison entre 3 films

A film is a visual art-form used to simulate experiences that communicate ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere through the use of moving images. These images are generally accompanied by sound.

When watching a tragedy, you expect to see people die, cry and not being happy at the end, just because of the name: tragedy. When hearing it, the first thing coming in your head is “sad story” so you expect to see a bad ending, with lovers separated, or heroes dying; everything that can break your heart and hurt your feelings. Indeed, that’s the goal of a tragedy, it must hurt, and the viewer has to be hurt to be fully in the play because that’s how he can have pity and have compassion for the characters with “a terrible fate”.

In opposition, while watching a movie you do not especially expect for a particular end (if it is not a blockbuster movie or a really bad one) it only depends of the type of the movie, if it is a drama, we expect for the same ends as a tragedy, if it is a romance it will be a lovely ending, if it is a comedy it will be a happy end. The only thing you hope is not to predict the end.

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare during the beginning of his career. This tragedy is about two young lovers living in families that hates each other. Today, when you think about the incarnation of lovers, you directly think about Romeo and Juliet, they are the iconic figure of lovers.

The Romeo and Juliet story lives since Antiquity. Shakespeare’s plot is based on an Italian tale who got translated into verse by Arthur Brooke in 1562 and remake in prose by William Painter in 1567.

Shakespeare borrowed a lot from both but added number of supporting characters. It is said that the play have been written between 1591 and 1595.

Shakespeare's way of using his poetic dramatic structure was hailed as an early sign of his dramatic talent. The play assigns different poetic forms to different characters. And sometimes the form is changing at the same time as the character develops. Romeo, for example, is using more the sonnet as the piece progresses.

Romeo and Juliet is one of the most adapted numerous play, there is tones of film, musics, and opera venues on it.

Today we are going to focus on Romeo and Juliet’s first kiss scene in three different films: Romeo and Juliet (1936) directed by G. Cukor, Romeo and Juliet (1968) directed by Franco Zeffirelli and William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996) directed by Baz Luhrmann.

Each director shows his version of this mythical scene of the first kiss.

and makes you feel a different emotion. The sets change, the actors change, the music, the sound atmosphere, the plans, the interpretation also change.

So we can ask ourselves: how the different filmmakers interpret Shakespeare’s play?

First, we will devote an entire part to the emotions and feelings felt.

Then we can tackle the notion of love at first sight.

This scene of the kiss makes hearts reel, this impossible love finally takes shape (of love at first sight). Depending on the film, the emotion and the feelings are not the same, indeed each director shows his version of this mythical first kiss scene and makes us feel a different emotion. The sets change, the actors change, the music, the sound atmosphere, the plans, the interpretation also change.

Beauty is at the rendezvous in this play, it comes many times in many ways, for example, seeing all these people dancing together synchronously in Gukor’s film is beautiful, besides, the chosen music, does nothing but embellish this black and white scene where Juliet and Romeo show in a real dance of love.

Beauty is relative, but who can say that Olivia Hussey is ugly? His round, light grey eyes that gracefully wander over Romeo’s face and lips can’t leave anyone marble.

But the beauty is not only visual, indeed, if we (force ourselves) to close our eyes (and ignore Di Caprio perfect face) during the scene of Luhrmann’s kiss, we can hear a tender melody that will not fail to make us shudder.

All these scenes have one thing in common, they are exciting, we cannot forget the idea of Juliet and Romeo getting caught during the act and that their love can be compromised even before it truly begins. This feeling is felt harder in Luhrmann’s film with the elevator’s door that keeps opening and breaking this magic moment for the two lovers, who probably would like it to never stop. This feeling is less felt in Gukor’s film because the couple is in a much larger setting.

Of course, the most intense thing we are going to feel is love, and of course that love reaches its climax when the lips of the cursed lovers touch each other.

We can only be deeply moved by Shakespeare’s poetic dialogue, so when we see these soul mates kissing, we find ourselves deeply touched by this pure love and tenderness, even though we know how this tragic story ends.

The directors use different means to show

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