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Original title: Merchant of Venice, The
Release Date
• USA: Dec 31, 2004
• UK: 3 Dec 2004
DVD Release Date
• R1: May 10, 2005
Budget USD 30,000,000
BoxOffice: $0.5M
Official Website:
The Merchant of Venice Website
MPAA Rating
Rated R for some nudity.
Running Time
2 hours, 18 minutes
Country USA, Italy, Luxembourg, UK
Studio Sony Pictures Classics
More info on IMDb.com
Other Titles
• William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice
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Genre: Drama, Comedy, Period Piece, Courtroom, Revenge
Plot: One of the immortal bard's most frequently performed works gets a first-rate cinematic treatment here, via director Michael Radford (IL POSTINO). Al Pacino is virtually unrecognizable as Shylock, bringing an old-world gravitas to the role and clearly inspiring the rest of the cast to match his intensity. They succeed, and the result is riveting, rousing entertainment. Even if one is familiar with the play in advance, this is white-knuckle suspense and swooning romance all the way through. A 16th-century Venetian sea merchant (Jeremy Irons), devoted to a young lord (Joseph Fiennes), owes a debt for "a pound of flesh" to the anguished Jewish moneylender Shylock. Lovingly filmed in Venice, the film looks great, with settings and costumes all sporting a dusky, lived-in look that matches the subdued, naturalistic interpretation of the dialogue. Lynn Collins is excellent and ethereal as Portia, and her love scenes with Fiennes have an alchemical power that lifts them to dizzyingly mythic romantic heights. Vague homoerotic content and the grim realities of Jewish oppression are not shied away from here, which lends the film further richness and complexity. With the play's rich array of dramatic and comedic elements all perfectly in tune, MERCHANT OF VENICE earns its place as the first
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| Cast |
Al Pacino
The Godfather, The Godfather: Part II, Heat |
 | Jeremy Irons
The Lion King, Kingdom of Heaven, Die Hard: With a Vengeance |
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 | Mackenzie Crook
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Finding Neverland, The Brothers Grimm |
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