Review: Cymbeline

Having put forth a contemporary spin on one of the Bard's most famous plays Hamlet back in 2000, director Michael Almereyda tackles one of Shakespeare's least known and more problematic works, Cymbeline. With the British king Cymbeline (Ed Harris) and his court updated as members of the Briton Motorcycle Club, easy comparisons are invited to Kurt Sutter's Sons of Anarchy, the outlaw motorcycle gang television drama heavily influenced by Hamlet. The weakest episode from the weakest season of Sutter's series would readily trump Cymbeline's strongest scene. Almereyda's streamlined adaptation is a misfire from any angle, and it does not even have the consolation of being a noble failure.

The star-crossed romance between Imogen (Dakota Johnson) and Posthumus (Penn Badgley) forms the nucleus of the tale. Cymbeline, encouraged by his scheming second wife (Milla Jovovich), has chosen his stepson Cloten (Anton Yelchin) as Imogen's betrothed. Imogen defies her father by exchanging secret vows with the penniless Posthumus, whom Cymbeline raised as her playmate. The king banishes the arty, skateboarding brooder and places Imogen under house arrest. Posthumus takes refuge with his friend Philario (James Ransone), who introduces him to Iachimo (Ethan Hawke). After hearing Posthumus praise Imogen's beauty and purity, Iachimo wagers he can seduce the princess and prove her fidelity is assailable.

Let's pause and reflect upon the ridiculata at play here. Iachimo challenges Posthumus for a ring. Iago, a similar but more ambitious trickster, convinces Othello of his wife's adultery because he was passed over for a promotion. Iago's villainy was rooted in reason, Iachimo's is barely a whim. Posthumus, meanwhile, has no discernible motive - other than a deep and abiding stupidity - for quickly agreeing to let a man he has known for mere minutes to seduce his beloved. It's a fool's gambit and it will, of course, end in misunderstanding and bloodshed but this is a contrivance that beggars belief.

Cymbeline stumbles on, forging an open-ended relationship with coherence as the king, again influenced by his queen, torches the uneasy peace with the police by refusing to pay the tribute. Posthumus, believing the circumstantial evidence presented by Iachimo, orders Pisanio (John Leguizamo) to murder Imogen (not necessarily an extreme reaction, given the lengths Sons of Anarchy characters would go to in order to exact retribution for offenses both major and minor, perceived or otherwise). Instead of carrying out his orders, Pisanio tells Imogen to disguise herself as a boy and pretend to be dead. Shakespeare hustles up some more bustle before the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink finale which includes a shootout, a return from the dead, a confession, a paternity reveal, and tons and tons of explanatory dialogue.

An absolute mess at the ground level, Cymbeline's contemporisation only underlines its weaknesses. Apple products are prominently deployed, yet are summarily ignored since using them as a means of actual communication would grind the story to an admittedly welcome halt. Almereyda squanders the talents of his estimable cast. It's a crucial indicator of a film's failings when Ed Harris, one of the most magnetic and assured actors around, is adrift and ill at ease.

Cymbeline

Directed by: Michael Almereyda

Written by: Michael Almereyda; adapted from the play by William Shakespeare

Starring: Ed Harris, Ethan Hawke, Milla Jovovich, Anton Yelchin, Dakota Johnson, Penn Badgley, John Leguizamo, Delroy Lindo, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Bill Pullman, Kevin Corrigan, Peter Gerety