This legend influenced a later legend, of course--that of Guinevere and Lancelot in King Arthur's court. The studio used Romeo & Juliet as the comparison point in the trailer and advertisements. So you get the gist: two people find love and because of various obstacles and obligations they did not create and cannot in good conscience avoid, they must resist their passion for each other or only get busy in secret.
The movie draws on the super-old Celtic roots of the story for its setting and plot. Kudos to the screenwriter, Dean Georgaris, for piecing together a coherent plot from the several complicated soap opera versions of legend, which you can get a taste of here; not only is the movie understandable, but it cuts out the dragons and other fantasy bits; I liked the historical feel, like it could have been a (Hollywood-ized) true story.
The look of the movie is swell; the acting is good; it's got lots of swords and arrows, which my husband liked; neither Tristan nor Isolde is annoying (for the most part); and you really want them to get together. I also really liked Bronagh Gallagher as Isolde's maid (since childhood--Isolde is the Irish princess) and Rufus Sewell as Lord/King Marke, who raises Tristan after his parents are killed, makes Tristan his right-hand man, and winds up marrying Isolde to form a shaky truce with Ireland, not knowing that his boy Tristan is in love with her and already knew her in the biblical sense while he (Tristan) was supposedly dead.
Here are our lovers:
Sorry, that's from Wagner's opera. Instead, we've gotta look at these dogs:
Sorry, that's from Wagner's opera. Instead, we've gotta look at these dogs:
James Franco and Sophia Myles
Grade: A
A point of interest: It does not hurt this movie in the slightest that James Franco is real yummy and spends a quality amount of time shirtless.
Dogs indeed! *turns away to retch*
ReplyDeleteCould James Franco, in this look, not play John Taylor in the Duran Duran movie that needs to be made???? lol
I want to watch it again when I get it back from you because I don't remember it much. I looked up my old comments about it on a board I used to hang out at and these were my thoughts at the time...
"The only thing I knew about at the time was that it was an opera by Wagner and is featured in artwork in Neuschwanstein castle. (Ludwig and Wagner were dear friends.)
The dude playing Tristan got to be a bit boring. I was just wishing he'd show some emotion, something. I liked the girl quite alot though.
I Googled Tristan + Isolde and, not surprisingly, the movie strays from the original version(s) of the tale, but not having known anything about it....it was ok with me."
Hmm, now I really want to watch it again.