A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999)

Lovers' lives are complicated by city law, feuding faerie royalty, and... love.

Director:

Michael Hoffman

Writers:

William Shakespeare (play), Michael Hoffman (screenplay)

Stars:

Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Everett

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kevin Kline	...	Nick Bottom
Michelle Pfeiffer	...	Titania
Rupert Everett	...	Oberon
Stanley Tucci	...	Puck
Calista Flockhart	...	Helena
Anna Friel	...	Hermia
Christian Bale	...	Demetrius
Dominic West	...	Lysander
David Strathairn	...	Theseus
Sophie Marceau	...	Hippolyta
Roger Rees	...	Peter Quince
Max Wright	...	Robin Starveling
Gregory Jbara	...	Snug
Bill Irwin	...	Tom Snout
Sam Rockwell	...	Francis Flute

Storyline

Shakespeare's intertwined love polygons begin to get complicated from the start--Demetrius and Lysander both want Hermia but she only has eyes for Lysander. Bad news is, Hermia's father wants Demetrius for a son-in-law. On the outside is Helena, whose unreturned love burns hot for Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander plan to flee from the city under cover of darkness but are pursued by an enraged Demetrius (who is himself pursued by an enraptured Helena). In the forest, unbeknownst to the mortals, Oberon and Titania (King and Queen of the faeries) are having a spat over a servant boy. The plot twists up when Oberon's head mischief-maker, Puck, runs loose with a flower which causes people to fall in love with the first thing they see upon waking. Throw in a group of labourers preparing a play for the Duke's wedding (one of whom is given a donkey's head and Titania for a lover by Puck) and the complications become fantastically funny.

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Plot Keywords:

puck | fairy | unrequited love | love potion | transformation | 

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Taglines:

Get to the Bottom of Love

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Genres:

Comedy | Fantasy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sexual content

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

UK Italy USA

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

14 May 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream

Filming Locations:

Caprarola, Viterbo, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

$11,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,285,620, 16 May 1999, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$16,071,990, 29 August 1999

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox Searchlight Pictures, Regency Enterprises, Taurus Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Some of the orchestral score is from Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's 1843 incidental music for this William Shakespeare play. It has also been used in Frederick Ashton's 1964 ballet adaptation of the play, "The Dream", and in George Balanchine's ballet version of the play. The 1935 film version of A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) also used generous chunks of Mendelssohn's music.

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Goofs

After calling Hermia a "dwarf", Lysander has a lot less mud on his face in the next shot.

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Quotes

Tom Snout: [Puck has turned Bottom into a donkey] Bottom, thou art changed. What do I see on thee?
Bottom the Weaver: What do you see? What; do you see an ass' head of your own, do you?
Peter Quince: [backing away] Bless me. Thou art translated.
[all run off, leaving Bottom alone on the stage]
Bottom the Weaver: Why do they run away? I see their knavery. This is to make an ass of me.

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Connections

Version of Sen noci... (1986)

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Soundtracks

Wedding March
from the 1843 German stage production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
Composed by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (as Felix Mendelssohn)
Performed by Boston Symphony Orchestra (as The Boston Symphony)
Conducted by Seiji Ozawa
Courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg
By Arrangement with PolyGram Film & TV Music

User Reviews

Gorgeous film not bad Shakespeare adaptation

There have been many adaptations of Shakespeare plays over the last decade or so, most of them aimed squarely at younger viewers. You know the drill: The director picks out rocking, hip tunes to spice up the soundtrack and some hot, young stars to broadly interpret the Bard's work.

That's not the case here. Kevin Kline gets to ham it up as Nick Bottom, the base mechanical with delusions of thespian grandeur, and Michelle Pfeiffer gets to show off her own acting chops as Titania, the Queen of the fairies. Okay, so maybe a little knowledge of the play itself would help the average viewer, but if you're not a fan of the play, you can still witness some absolutely sumptuous camerawork and some funny, funny scenes - many of them dealing with the spellbound Bottom, who's been turned into a jackass. Stanley Tucci underplays (somewhat surprisingly) his role as the mischievous Puck, and even Callista Flockhart turns in a solid performance as one of four human (non-fairy) lovers.