Romeo & Juliet

8/28/2022

Everyone knows how Romeo and Juliet ends, but after this version of the story, there really is no way of knowing how it will begin. The narration starts with the famous “Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.” But then, totally out of the blue, the narrator adds: “And so the prince has called a tournament [as in jousting] to keep the battle out of the city streets.” If you're thinking that there's no jousting in Romeo and Juliet, you're absolutely right. The oddest thing of all, however, is that there is no jousting in this movie either. We see knights in armor, holding lances and riding horses, but director Carlo Carlei and screenwriter Julian Fellowes curiously