Carlo Carlei's Romeo and Juliet

It’s enjoyable to watch the different adaptations of Shakespeare’s works, but I give a lot of credit to the unique visions and interpretations of the directors, writers, and actors for making these plays come to life on film—this is especially wonderful for those of us who don’t have the glory of visiting live theater performances. Carlo Carlei, director of the 2013 film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet used New Historicism, as well as Reader Response theory to capture the essence of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy.

One of the most successful aspects of Carlei’s adaptation starts right in the beginning when Romeo is seen sculpting in what one can assume is an in-home art studio. This is especially important to the characterization of Romeo in that he’s an artist, and artists are known for their deep-thinking, and emotional hearts—they often wear their hearts on their sleeves making them passionate about the world they see, yet naïve to it at the same time. According to Mihalay Csikszentmihalyl of Psychology Today (1996), “Creative people combine playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility . . . creative people alternate between imagine and fantasy, and a rooted sense of reality.” Carlei’s portrayal of Romeo fits true to an artist’s personality—especially in the way he responds to seeing Juliet, falling head over heels for her, and in his fatal revenge against Tybalt in the death of Mercutio. Romeo doesn’t stop to think before he acts, he just acts. Additionally, at the beginning of the film adaptation, Mercutio Montague is racing Tybalt Capulet to win favor of the Prince of Verona. While it’s never understood why there’s bad blood between the two great houses, it’s immediately understood that both houses are of equal social, economical, and noble status . . . and are forever competing one against the other. Despite casting a Prince old enough to be a King, these two scenes combined make up no more than approximately five minutes of the film the precedence of audience expectation is widely set.

The set design and costume design appear pretty similar to those found in a typical Renaissance Era setting. It is unknown where the movie was shot, but the setting takes place in Verona. The homes of the Capulets and the Montagues (though we rarely see inside Montagues home), appears to be full of the riches commonly found in homes of Renaissance nobility. For example, Juliet’s bed is a large four-poster bed draped with rich tapestries, and the great halls of the home are full of rich artwork and marble-work. While Romeo wears leather pants, which seems less likely during the real Renaissance, the characters were appropriately dressed with men donning puffy sleeves, vests, capes, and swords while the women wore long gowns with headdresses. Juliet, due to her young age, wore long Renaissance gowns, but did not wear a headdress, nor did she wear her hair turned up, as it was customary for young ladies to leave their hair down. The elements of set design are more traditional to a historical theoretical framework in comparison to an earlier version of Shakespeare’s play that features a more modern riot between houses where horses are replaced by cars and swords are replaced with guns. While there is nothing wrong with modernizing Shakespeare’s works to appear to a younger audience, the historical aspects of Carlei’s adaptation fit with the natural dialogue and capture the essence of true Renaissance life.

The final aspect of Carlei’s film adaptation that works exceptionally well is the additional explanation of the young messenger’s delay in getting Friar Lawrence’s messages to Romeo in exile. In the play, this is never fully explained. However, in the film adaptation, as the young messenger was riding out in the night, a poor man emerges from his shack and seeks the messenger’s help in healing his dying son. Though the messenger hesitates, the man assures him he’s not far from his final destination. Though it is later discovered that Romeo has already left for Verona, without news of the Friar’s plan, the young man alludes to his mission being a waste of time in that he did not succeed in his mission to deliver the news to Romeo, but succeeded in saving a life. Little does the messenger know that in either case, he caused the death of one to save the life of the other—but solidified Juliet’s fate as well. The realness this scene places for the audience is by far one of the best aspects of the film as it shows just how altered we are by the consequences of our actions.

The only real place the film lacked is in its characters’ performances, and of the swords. The swords were extremely skinny and similar to the sword “Needle” used by Arya Stark in HBO’s Game of Thrones. This shatters the illusion of the fighting scenes and makes them feel far less threatening than the fighting scenes of a young girl. Characters holding this much hate for another family, to the point where they are willing to fight in the streets and risk death should be wielding much larger swords. Additionally, the acting, while not terribly bad, was also not exceptionally great. As with other Shakespearean adaptations in which the original text is used, it appears as if the actors are reading the lines directly from the scripts, rather than speaking naturally. This is likely due to the fact that people don’t use Middle English today, but the flow of the lines were often too rushed and took away from the beauty of Shakespeare’s work.

Overall, the film was enjoyable and, without a doubt, a large undertaking by the actors, directors, and writers. It is recommended by anyone preferring a more historically accurate portrayal in theme, dress, and setting—and likely very similar to a stage production. It’s always important to remember that some written things do not translate well to film and vice versa, so approaching any adaptation is a must to get the most out of it.

Works Cited

Romeo and Juliet. Directed by Carlo Carlei, performances by Douglas Booth, Hailee Steinfeld, and Natascha McElhone, 20th Century Fox, 2013.

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. “The Creative Personality.” Psychology Today, 1996. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/199607/the-creative-personality. Retrieved Nov 23rd, 2018.