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Feb.6,2005 -Feb.13,2005 |
Shakespeare's pound of flesh
British actor retains period hierarchy in The Merchant of Venice
By Angela Baldassarre
Originally Published: 2005-01-23
Once referred to as Ralph Fiennes' younger, less successful brother, Joseph Fiennes today is considered to be the foremost Shakespearean actor of his generation. His memorable roles as Robert Dudley in Elizabeth, and William Shakespeare in Shakespeare in Love had critics and fans alike clamouring for more of his star-turning work.
Though he's starred in non-period fare, such as Stealing Beauty, Enemy at the Gate and Killing Me Softly, Fiennes, 34, is never better than when he dons those tights and woos the damsels.
Such is the case with Michael Radford's The Merchant of Venice. After a long scroll that tells how Jews lived in 16th-century Venice, the film's first moments show Antonio (Jeremy Irons), a wealthy merchant, spitting in the face of Shylock the moneylender (Al Pacino). Antonio, y'see, is sad because the man he loves, Bassanio (Fiennes), is in love with a wealthy heiress, Portia (Lynn Collins). To help Bassanio get the money he needs to court Portia in style, Antonio, who has a cash-flow problem, appeals to Shylock for a large loan. This becomes the downfall of the lovesick merchant.
Tandem talked to Joseph Fiennes when he was in Toronto.
You must be comfortable in period clothes again...
"Yeah. [laughs] I'm in that sort of 15th, 16th-century gear. Yeah. I guess that I am. Although it's funny because the movies that have seemed to pop are the ones where it's in sort of Shakespearean time. Either Elizabethan or Shakespearean time. But I've done a huge amount of work which has been sort of modern and not in that period. It seems that the ones that have gotten more acclaim are the period ones, the period dramas. I hate to say that word because I look at them and think, 'Okay, why are we doing it? We're doing it because they're really modern. We're doing it because it's about the human condition, love, hate, redemption, mercy, forgiveness, fanaticism, shame, everything that's going on in our own dimensions and the greater sort of globe that we see a lot of today.' So without wagging the finger it seems to be a very politically, globally pertinent piece."
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