My Cringy Essays

"Romeo and Juliet" - 1968 Film Critique

This was a LA assignment for a film critique on the 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet

Date: April 13th, 2018

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Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet: The True Tragedy

Many know the classic tale, Romeo and Juliet and its tragic ending. The relevance of Shakespeare's most famous play can still be seen today, with over 30 film adaptations, according to Turner Classic Movies. One of these many movies was created by Warner Brothers Entertainment Inc. in 1968, directed by Franco Zeffirelli. The storyline of the film closely follows that of the original play. Two families, the Capulets and the Montagues, are in a feud. A boy from the Montagues and a Capulet girl fall in love. They get married in secret, and problems arise, so the boy, Romeo, flees to Mantua. Juliet, the Capulet girl, drinks a potion that makes her fall asleep, and when she wakes, she and Romeo plan to flee to Mantua and live there. Romeo thinks Juliet is actually dead, so when he gets to the tomb he kills himself. When Juliet wakes up, she sees that Romeo is dead and she kills herself as well. Although the story may be well-intact, there are weak aspects of the film that stick out like a sore thumb. The film is dull and boring because of the lack of music, slow pacing, and overuse of natural lighting.

The evident lack of music during scenes of action make the suspense of the moment seem anti-climatic. While there are sound effects used, no thrilling music is present. This can be seen clearly in the scene of Mercutio's sword fight against the menace Tybalt. Mercutio takes a dip in the fountain, casually tossing insults at Tybalt. Romeo arrives, and Tybalt challenges him to a duel. Romeo refuses, and instead, Mercutio decides to fight Tybalt. Tybalt draws his sword, Mercutio unsheathes his sword in response, and they fight. During this whole scene, there is no music to build anticipation in the viewers. The only things heard are the annoying clanks and clangs of the metal swords, along with occasional speaking from Tybalt, Mercutio, or Romeo. The audience gets bored of this repetitive clanging, and it becomes taxing on the ears. If the film would've added music for at least this scene, then the audience would be interested and engaged in the action going on.

Another disappointment in Franco Zeffirelli's version of Romeo and Juliet is the slow, dragging pacing of scenes. A prime example of this is the pacing during the infamous balcony scene. Romeo climbs over the Capulet's wall into their orchard, spying on Juliet talking to herself on her balcony. He eventually makes his way over to Juliet, scaring her a bit, then they talk to each other for the rest of the night. The morning comes and Romeo and Juliet make plans to meet the next day. During certain parts of this scene, moments can be slower than what is necessary. The film shows Romeo moving stealthily through the orchard, watching Juliet speak for a few minutes. This may have been added to fit in all Juliet's lines from the original play. Even so, it feels awkward to watch Romeo gaze at Juliet speaking for an extended amount of time. From an audience standpoint, the scene seems to beat around the bush and not get straight to the point.

The final unsatisfactory aspect of the 1968 film, Romeo and Juliet, is the intentional overuse of natural lighting. For example, the sword fight between Tybalt and Mercutio has all natural lighting. After Tybalt slays Mercutio, he realizes what he has done and takes off before anyone else finds out. Romeo runs after him in a blind rage and has his own sword duel with Tybalt. In sheer wrath, Romeo ends up killing Tybalt and runs away, fearing the consequences. At the emotionally intense sections of the scene, there is no dramatic shift in lighting. The whole scene has the same amount of lighting, except for during Romeo and Tybalt's duel. The only reason that occurs is due to that section being filmed in an alleyway instead of the city square where Mercutio and Tybalt's fight was filmed. Filming outside has the downside of not being able to control the lighting as well. Still, they could have filmed the intense or dramatic parts of this scene during a passing cloud. Zeffirelli could've at least had the scene darken when Mercutio collapses and dies, to add intrigue and make it seem all the more dramatic.

Overall, Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 Romeo and Juliet will put the audience to sleep over its absence of an engaging soundtrack, tortoise-like pacing, and obsession with filming scenes using natural lighting. The closest thing to interesting music in this movie is the repetitive ear-splitting clangs of swords. The pacing of the movie drags out each scene to their extent, and visually feels like trudging through mud. Poor choices of using all natural lighting in a scene kill extreme moments of drama. If you plan to watch this film, bring a pillow along in case you find yourself nodding off.