In the 1999 movie, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” directed by Michael Hoffman, a girl meets a boy, loses him due to love pollen, and wins him back with the help of fairy magic. Although the plot seems simple, it has multiple elements that it takes from the play and amplifies it so it can sit on the big screen. Therefore, the movie is a good adaptation because it portrays the characters well, conveys the costumes accurately, and makes the play understandable.
First of all, “Dream” portrays the characters very well. In the play, Helena is portrayed as an obsessive, ostentatious, and shameless individual. In the movie, Helena, played by Calista Flockhart, is portrayed exactly as shown in the play. Flockhart was able to portray Helena perfectly, as she acted out a shameless lover and was able to play the part of a whiny Helena. Another character who was acted out well is Lysander, who is played by Dominic West, because he was able to make it obvious when Lysander was hit by the love potion and when he was not under the spell. Not only that, but when Lysander was rejecting Hermia, it seemed like true frustration and didn't seem to be staged at all. Another character that was acted well was Nick Bottom, played by Kevin Kline. In the play, Nick Bottom is a little richer than his friends and boasts his …show more content…
With these elements put together, the movie was able to come together and become a good adaptation of the play. Even when Hoffman took out a couple of elements from the play, the movie still came out to be a good adaptation. If the movie followed the guidelines of the play exactly as written, it would be as hard to understand and follow as the original play and would end up being a play that one could watch at any given
First of all, “Dream” portrays the characters very well. In the play, Helena is portrayed as an obsessive, ostentatious, and shameless individual. In the movie, Helena, played by Calista Flockhart, is portrayed exactly as shown in the play. Flockhart was able to portray Helena perfectly, as she acted out a shameless lover and was able to play the part of a whiny Helena. Another character who was acted out well is Lysander, who is played by Dominic West, because he was able to make it obvious when Lysander was hit by the love potion and when he was not under the spell. Not only that, but when Lysander was rejecting Hermia, it seemed like true frustration and didn't seem to be staged at all. Another character that was acted well was Nick Bottom, played by Kevin Kline. In the play, Nick Bottom is a little richer than his friends and boasts his …show more content…
With these elements put together, the movie was able to come together and become a good adaptation of the play. Even when Hoffman took out a couple of elements from the play, the movie still came out to be a good adaptation. If the movie followed the guidelines of the play exactly as written, it would be as hard to understand and follow as the original play and would end up being a play that one could watch at any given