Romeo and Juliet Film Analysis

The ending to Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet caught me completely off guard. Unlike the beginning of the movie, Romeo and Juliet’s death scene started slow and had classical music playing in the background. Prior to this scene, I felt as thought the movie was constantly jumping, and had very modern music, so this struck me as very dramatic. In addition to the slow camera movements/spans and the classical music, the room where Juliet was been held was filled with modern neon-lit crosses. Personally, I felt this was in place to remind the audience the audience that the time was still modern, despite Juliet being surrounded by gold, candles, and being dressed in all white, which also showed her purity. 

During the build up to Romeo’s decision to kill himself, Juliet’s subtle movement helped create tension, angst, and drama to the scene. The scene is already dramatic enough, however this only added to emotions. Perhaps the most upsetting part was when Romeo drinks the poison just as Juliet’s hand reaches and touches his face. This made me think back upon Romeo’s lines, “O that I were glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek!” (2.2.24-25) Right before his death, Juliet manages to touch his cheek, something that Romeo envisioned doing to her. In a way, this made Romeo’s death even more tragic for me, especially because Romeo now knew, right before he died, that his true love was actually alive and fine, making his death almost purposeless. 

Another intense moment was when Juliet slowly reaches for romeo’s “sword”, or in this case, his gun. Her slow placed movement and the camera’s close perspective on her face, added to the suspense in the scene. For a moment, I questioned whether or she would kill herself, and when the shot was finally fired, I jumped out of seat. That moment was so intense that her death had more impact. It is doubtful whether that scene would have had the same feeling if we did not see Juliet witness Romeo’s death and her inability to save him. Juliet being unable to stop and save Romeo is in the play as well, however in this adaptation, she saw him drink the poison and could not react fast enough, where in the play, she was asleep and unaware of his rash decision. Because of this, I believe the audience was left feeling empty and utterly socked. 

Besides this adaptation being very different, I thoroughly enjoyed witnessing the key differences. They gave me a new perspective on the play and were interesting, as wall as intriguing.