Comparing Zeffirelli's Romeo And Juliet

The Better Movie When a director is making a movie, he must use many elements such as scenery, clothing, style, and speech to tell the story. In the two movies made of The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, both of the directors, Franco Zeffirelli and Baz Luhrmann, portray the story of the star-crossed lovers in very different, unique ways. While Zeffirelli directs the movie as if it takes place in the 1500’s, Luhrmann decided to modernize the play so that it takes place in the 1990’s. The setting, costume, and style are all different because of this. Although both directors follow the original lines by William Shakespeare, there is a huge disparity in the way both directors present the lines. Franco Zeffirelli’s version of The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet was better overall because of the balcony scene and the double suicide scene.
Zeffirelli’s version of the famous balcony scene was much better compared to Luhrmann’s version of the balcony scene.
For example, Zeffirelli’s comely scenery is more suited to the play. The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet takes place during the 1500’s when most buildings are made of stone and wood and most people’s backyards are nature itself. Zeffirelli portrays the balcony scene better because he makes Juliet live in a stone castle rather then a chaotic, technically advanced city like Luhrmann chooses to do. Also,Romeo is in a forest watching Juliet talk to herself on her balcony, which is more accurate to the way Shakespeare wrote the play making the scene better overall. Compared to Luhrmann’s version of the balcony scene, Zeffirelli’s version of the balcony scene is
better. The double suicide scene is better in Zeffirelli’s version of The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet than it is in Luhrmann’s version of The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. While Luhrmann overdramatizes the scene to the point where it is droll, Zeffirelli makes the scene sentimental and heartfelt. In Zeffirelli’s version of the double suicide scene, Romeo and Juliet speak in a way where it is an “…outpouring of the soul” (Elbert) when they are speaking to each other’s dead bodies. When Romeo first finds Juliet at her grave, he sobs and longs for her to be alive and breathing. The same goes for Juliet, for when she finds Romeo dead on the floor beside her, she too longs for him to be alive and cries into his chest. In Zeffirelli’s version of the double suicide scene, the mood of the whole scene is not overdramatic and not under dramatic. Zeffirelli makes it so that it is indeed an outpouring of the soul, enhancing the scene and movie much better then Luhrmann’s version. Zeffirelli’s version of the double suicide scene was better overall then Luhrmann’s version of the double suicide scene. The movie The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet directed by Franco Zeffirelli is better overall because of the balcony scene and the double suicide scene. Zeffirelli uses the element of scenery to make the balcony scene more accurate to the setting of Shakespeare’s play. At the end of the movie, Zeffirelli then uses the actor’s voices to create a sentimental and heartfelt atmosphere. The movie creates a feeling of sadness and sorrow but at the same time shows the viewer what true love can be like. The director shows what it is really like to see a play come to life, rather then just reading it in an English classroom.