Ein Sommernachtstraum - A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999)

Shakespeare's comedy about two couples in love with the wrong partners, and how they are finally brought together rightly, thanks in part to the bungling work of Puck. It is completely in the language of the Bard, with Michelle Pfeiffer as the Fairy Queen and Kevin Kline as the one turned into her evening's lover with donkey ears. (Audio 2: english)

Toskana, Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts. Hermia, die Tochter des Grafen, trifft sich heimlich mit ihrem Geliebten Lysander, anstatt dem väterlicherseits gewünschten Demetrius ihre Treue zu erweisen. Deshalb fliehen die beiden Liebenden noch in der Nacht in den nahegelegenen Wald, wo Oberon und Titania über Elfen und Waldgeister herrschen. Um Titanias Gunst wieder zu erlangen, initiiert Oberon mit Hilfe seines Adjutanten Puck ein Ränkespiel, in dessen Verlauf die Wesen des Himmels und der Erde von einem amourösen Abenteuer ins nächste stolpern. (Audio 1: german)

Shakespeare's intertwined love polygons begin to get complicated from the start--Demetrius and Lysander both want Hermia but she only has eyes for Lysander. Bad news is, Hermia's father wants Demetrius for a son-in-law. On the outside is Helena, whose unreturned love burns hot for Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander plan to flee from the city under cover of darkness but are pursued by an enraged Demetrius (who is himself pursued by an enraptured Helena). In the forest, unbeknownst to the mortals, Oberon and Titania (King and Queen of the faeries) are having a spat over a servant boy. The plot twists up when Oberon's head mischief-maker, Puck, runs loose with a flower which causes people to fall in love with the first thing they see upon waking. Throw in a group of labourers preparing a play for the Duke's wedding (one of whom is given a donkey's head and Titania for a lover by Puck) and the complications become fantastically funny. Shakespeare's comedy about two couples in love with the wrong partners, and how they are finally brought together rightly, thanks in part to the bungling work of Puck. It is completely in the language of the Bard, with Michelle Pfeiffer as the Fairy Queen and Kevin Kline as the one turned into her evening's lover with donkey ears.

OT: A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999 USA GB) - Director: Michael Hoffmann
Actors: Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Everett, Stanley Tucci, Calista Flockhart, Anna Friel, Christian Bale, Dominic West, David Strathairn, Sophie Marceau, Roger Rees, Max Wright