Shakespeare’s textbook phrase “The whole world is a theater, and the people in it are actors” reflects our life for centuries. But it can be said in another way: the theater is a world in which a person gets the opportunity to more accurately understand himself. This can be seen by watching these five films on the theatrical theme.
Shakespeare in Love (USA, 1998)
The film, directed by J. Maldon and created in partnership with renowned post-modern playwright Tom Stoppard, won 7 Oscars, including Best Picture of the Year. What if Shakespeare’s most famous play, Romeo and Juliet, was meant to be a comedy about pirates? What if in the beginning the young, unknown and penniless Shakespeare was going to make the heroine not Juliet, but Rosaline, Romeo’s first love? How are great works about love and life created?
The life of the young Shakespeare is empty, and the muse has gone, and therefore he is unable to find inspiration. But everything will change when he meets the beautiful Viola, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, who does not think about marriage at all. Instead, she secretly dreams of a stage – inaccessible to women at that time. Disguised as a boy, she comes to the casting for the role of Romeo, where a depressed Shakespeare listens to mediocre actors one after another. She comes suddenly. It was inspiration at first sight.
This film vividly reflects that all life is a theater, and that theater is only a reflection of life, and, sometimes, a cherished desire for a life that is not destined to happen.
Farewell My Concubine (China, 1993)
The action takes us to China, which is going through the dramatic events of the 20th century (up to the Cultural Revolution). Against the backdrop of political events, the unfortunate fate of the opera singer Cheng Deyi is revealed, who devoted his whole life to the theater, because life did not give him anything else. According to the traditions of Chinese opera, one role, one role is given to you for life, and Cheng plays female roles.
His most famous role is that of a concubine in Farewell My Concubine, based on an ancient Chinese tragedy about a woman who cuts her throat to avoid being separated from her lover. Year after year, regardless of the political regimes that change more and more bloody in China in the 20th century, Cheng and his best friend, with whom he secretly loves, play out this tragedy, and a cruel life that did not give them a choice in the distribution of their own roles , inexorably leads them to the denouement of their own tragedy. .
In this film, the ruthlessness of the 20th century is clearly revealed. Heroes are not given the choice of their own role, especially Cheng, who did not choose to be an actor, did not choose his sexual orientation, the only thing he was allowed to choose was whom to love, and even this brought him nothing but suffering, because the place of action and the era he didn’t choose either. The film won numerous awards, the most significant of which were the Golden Globe and Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
All About My Mother (Spain, 1999)
Probably one of the best films of the famous Spanish director of the 20th and 21st century, Pedro Almodovar. Manuela is a single mother, on her son’s 17th birthday she takes him to a performance that she played herself a long time ago, and after that, she promises to tell her son about his father when she comes home. However, the son dies before he can return from the performance. Heartbroken, Manuela decides to return to Barcelona and look for Esteban’s father, the transvestite Lola. She is looking for him for a long time, and life sets its priorities. Sorrow is always replaced by the joy of a new life, and the pain subsides only if you live it to the fullest on stage. Manuela finds old friends, finds new ones, and even in the death of her friend, the pregnant nun Rosa, she regains the role of mother to Rosa’s son, whom she also calls Esteban.
Pedro Almodóvar dedicated his film “…to all the actresses who play; to all the women who play; to all the men who play and turn into women; to all those who want to become a mother and their mother.”
Anna Karenina (UK, 2012)
Another adaptation of the immortal novel by L.N. Tolstoy with Keira Knightley in the title role. One scene plays a significant role in the plot – Anna’s visit to the theater. She, who dared to flaunt her feelings and openly lives with her lover Vronsky, is severely condemned by society. Here, in the theatre, where there are fake scenery on the stage, people are no less fake. Even Anna’s friend Betsy, who had many betrayals to her husband, but this was done in secret, turns away from her. There is noise in the hall, this is the audience discussing and condemning Anna. After visiting the theater, the heroine was finally convinced of the hypocrisy of those around her, this was another shot that pushed her to the tragedy of suicide. The film is distinguished by magnificent theatrical scenery and heartfelt music.
After rehearsal (Sweden, 1984)
The heroes of the film were the people of the theater – the aging director Henrik Volger and the young actress Anna. The plot is Henrik’s recollection of his relationship with Anna’s mother, Raquel. Remaining, as usual, after a rehearsal in an empty hall, director Henrik Volger reflected she is talking about the past day, but the theater actress Anna, who has suddenly returned, interferes in its calm atmosphere. She refers to a forgotten bracelet, but this is a made-up reason. She wants to ask Henrik about her mother Raquel, whom the girl hates because she became an alcoholic and actually left her daughter to her fate. Much in the past opens the eyes of the interlocutors after the rehearsal, forcing them to radically change their attitude towards the memory of Raquel.
“All of the above-mentioned films touch on the theatrical themes in one way or another, but the themes of these films are very diverse. None of these films are about theater, theater is just a lens through which the author views life, and it can be concentrated, intense, more real and true than real life.” – convinced Asya Sosis, director and founder of the theater company Gamayun.