Behaving badly

There has never been a film of The Merchant of Venice before. This is not surprising. Different Shakespeare plays give trouble to different ages: we are not at ease with Measure for Measure, The Taming of the Shrew or The Merchant because we do not share his views on, respectively, chastity, feminism and anti-Semitism. Also, the star part is neither large nor sympathetic.

This is very much Michael Radford’s version. The director, whose work includes White Mischief and Il Postino, has adapted and cut, introducing nothing eccentric but successfully injecting a pace and thrust more suited to a film. Also, much can be done with a glance or a gesture in close-up that would be lost on the stage. All this is immediately apparent. Antonio (Jeremy Irons) has spat not upon the Jewish gaberdene of Shylock (Al Pacino) but full in his face before a word has been spoken. This is personal.