칼레이 감독의 영화 『로미오와 줄리엣』에 관한 소고

Abstract

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet might be one of the most popular plays of all time on the screen. Among these film adaptations based on Romeo and Juliet, the most important ones were George Cukor’s 1936 production of Romeo and Juliet, Franco Jeffirelli’s 1968 film Romeo and Juliet, and Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 MTV-inspired Romeo + Juliet. All of these movies faced the same challenge of translating English Renaissance play-script to a new medium and for a contemporary audience, and they became a success or a failure in their own ways. In 2013, the Italian director, Carlo Carlei, hoped to bring back this famous story of star-crossed lovers with a fresh look so that it could be more appealing and accessible to the current young generation who are fans of the Twilight Saga films. Carlei’s Romeo and Juliet was filmed in the actual locations of Verona and Mantua, and set at the time it was written, and still felt almost like a fast-paced action movie with many spectacles. But most importantly, unlike previous major film adaptations, it used the script by Julian Fellowes who not only modernized and simplified Shakespeare’s original language but also invented and reconstructed new lines, in order to ‘rewrite’ Shakespeare for a new generation. In addition, some changes were made with respect to portraying young characters and Friar Laurence. However, all in all, Carlei’s Romeo and Juliet cannot be considered to be successful in creating a genuinely new movie about young ‘forbidden’ love, out of the too well-known story of Shakespeare. We might have to wait for another new film adaptation in the future.