Film Review: Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespearean Play Filmed by Director Kenneth Branagh

Action, characters, and dialogue emerge during a less troublesome period in insular Italian history, that of the Sicilian line in Spain’s Aragonese dynasty from 1298 to 1409. Restriction of Catalan-speaking culture to the court and tolerance of Sicilian customs elsewhere furnish a happy explanation for Messina’s Governor Leonato (Richard Briers) welcoming Aragon’s Prince Don Pedro (Denzel Washington) visiting for a month. Leapfrogging over the rival south peninsular regions dominated by Naples and the Papal States gives geographical reasons for Leonato’s welcoming Don Pedro’s push for:

• Benedick (Kenneth Branagh), Lord from northeast Italy’s Padua, to marry his niece Beatrice (Emma Thompson); and
• Claudio (Robert Sean Leonard), Count from northwest Italy’s Florence, to marry his daughter Hero (Kate Beckinsale).

Illegitimate relatives have historical roles reminiscent of a classic mystery’s guilty butler. Don Pedro’s illegitimate brother, Don John (Keanu Reeves), is the film’s and play’s mischief-maker in:

• attempting to convince Claudio of Don Pedro’s (non-existent) ulterior motives regarding Hero; and
• succeeding in persuading Claudio’s belief that Borachio’s (Gerard Horan) intimacy with gentlewoman Margaret (Imelda Staunton) before an open window is instead with Hero.

Many join in supporting Claudio’s humiliating and rejecting Hero as Friar Francis (Jimmy Yuill) begins the wedding ceremony.

Few other than Hero’s father, paternal Uncle Antonio (Brian Blessed), and priest know of another plot complication. Hero lives despite her purported death from heartbreak. Leonato makes Claudio promise to make amends by marrying Hero’s cousin.

But hapless constable Dogberry (Michael Keaton) and headborough Verges (Ben Elton) nab Borachio and Conrade (Richard Clifford), who reveal Don John’s mischief-making. Everybody therefore observes the following day’s happy turn of events, with:

• Benedick expecting to marry Beatrice;
• Claudio marrying Hero;
• Don John receiving a day’s wait to second-guess the next day’s punishment; and
• Guests romping through Leonato’s gardens.

So the 111-minute Much Ado About Nothing -- whose PG-13 rating references bare rears -- provides many reasons for buying permanent copies for lifelong enjoyment, thanks to:

• Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh, director, producer, screenplaywright;
• Patrick Doyle, musician, singer as Balthazar of Sigh No More Ladies;
• Stephen Evans and David Parfitt, producers;
• Roger Lanser, cinematographer; and
• Andrew Marcus, editor.

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Multi-talented Kenneth Branagh infuses "Much Ado About Nothing" with his joy for his craft.
Sir Kenneth Branagh received the 2009 Roma Fiction Fest Lifetime Achievement Award Friday, July 10, 2009, at Cinema Adriano, Right Bank of Tiber, central Rome.: Giorgia Meschini, CC BY SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kenneth_Branagh_at_the_Roma_Fiction_Fest_2009_by_Giorgia_Meschini.jpg

The shaming Hero by way of a cruelly false accusation sets in motion the underlying plot of the joyous triumph of love over all.
"The Fainting of Hero"; 1846 oil on canvas by Irish history and genre painter Alfred W. Elmore (June 18, 1815 - January 24, 1881)

Elizabethan playwright William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, Act IV, scene 1: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Much_Ado_About_Nothing_by_Alfred_Elmore_1846.jpg

"Much Ado About Nothing Official Trailer #1 - Brian Blessed Movie (1993) HD" (2:29)
Uploaded October 5, 2012, by Movieclips Classic Trailers to YouTube ~ URL: https://youtu.be/wGlmhwa0zjw

"Sigh no more - Much Ado About Nothing" (2:34)
Uploaded November 26, 2008 by miricsi to YouTube ~ URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMX0fxUZEwU

"Much Ado About Nothing | Meeting Don John Scene | MGM Studios" (3:28)
Uploaded August 21, 2021, by MGM to YouTube ~ URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgHqiZyBjB0