"Elijah Moshinsky's TV movie of Shakespeare's 'All's Well That Ends Well' is a funny love story with a twist. Angela Down does a great job playing Helena, who loves Bertram, played by Ian Charleson. Bertram is a nobleman who doesn't love her back. Helena, who learned a lot from her doctor father, cures the King of France and is allowed to marry Bertram. But Bertram runs off to Italy and asks her to do impossible tasks to prove she's faithful. Helena doesn't give up, follows him, and cleverly does what he asked, winning him over.
This movie is one of the best in the BBC Television Shakespeare series. It has beautiful designs, inspired by famous painters like Vermeer and Rembrandt. The costumes and sets are detailed and the lighting adds to the mood of the story.
The actors do a great job, especially Celia Johnson as the kind Countess of Rousillon and Michael Hordern as the funny and loyal Lafeu. Sinden is the thankful King of France and Down's Helena is strong and understanding.
The movie captures the complicated ideas in Shakespeare's play, which is often hard to perform. It's a good mix of funny and serious, romantic and realistic, and explores important themes like gender roles, class, loyalty, honor, trickery, and forgiveness. It also includes great quotes from Shakespeare like "Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none" and "The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together". It's a great movie that shows that everything can end up well."
This movie is one of the best in the BBC Television Shakespeare series. It has beautiful designs, inspired by famous painters like Vermeer and Rembrandt. The costumes and sets are detailed and the lighting adds to the mood of the story.
The actors do a great job, especially Celia Johnson as the kind Countess of Rousillon and Michael Hordern as the funny and loyal Lafeu. Sinden is the thankful King of France and Down's Helena is strong and understanding.
The movie captures the complicated ideas in Shakespeare's play, which is often hard to perform. It's a good mix of funny and serious, romantic and realistic, and explores important themes like gender roles, class, loyalty, honor, trickery, and forgiveness. It also includes great quotes from Shakespeare like "Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none" and "The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together". It's a great movie that shows that everything can end up well."