The Merchant of Venice (2004 film)
| The Merchant of Venice | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Michael Radford |
| Produced by | Cary Brokaw Michael Cowan Jason Piette Barry Navidi Luciano Martino |
| Screenplay by | Michael Radford |
| Based on |
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare |
| Starring |
Al Pacino Jeremy Irons Joseph Fiennes Lynn Collins |
| Music by | Jocelyn Pook |
| Cinematography | Benoît Delhomme |
| Edited by | Lucia Zucchetti |
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Production
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| Distributed by |
Sony Pictures Classics MGM (international) Optimum Releasing (UK) Istituto Luce (Italy) |
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Release date
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Running time
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138 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom Italy Luxembourg |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $30 million |
| Box office | $21,417,725 |
The Merchant of Venice is a 2004 romantic drama film based on Shakespeare's play of the same name. It is the first full-length sound film in English of Shakespeare's play—other versions are videotaped productions which were made for television, including John Sichel's 1973 version and Jack Gold's 1980 BBC production.
The title character is the merchant Antonio (Jeremy Irons), not the Jewish moneylender Shylock (Al Pacino) who is the more prominent character. This adaptation follows the text, but omits much. Director Michael Radford believed that Shylock was Shakespeare's first great tragic hero who reaches a catastrophe due to his own flaws. The film begins with text and a montage of how the Jewish community is abused by the Christian population of Venice and brings attention to the fact that, as a convert, Shylock would have been cast out of the Jewish ghetto in Venice.
The film is a co-production between the United Kingdom, Italy, and Luxembourg.
The Merchant of Venice received generally positive reviews; it has a "fresh" rating of 72% at Rotten Tomatoes based on 124 critic reviews, with the consensus, "A respectable if uneven take on the Bard's The Merchant of Venice." On Metacritic the film has an average score of 63/100. Most critics praised both the interpretation of the Shylock character by Michael Radford and Al Pacino and the dark, realistic look of the streets of Venice, for which production designer Bruno Rubeo was honoured by the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists.
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Wikipedia