A handsome production of Shakespeare's cruelest comedy . Yet considering Trevor Nunn spent so long with the Royal Shakespeare Company, he brings little to the play. The film skirts around virtually all of the social and sexual themes raised by the various misunderstandings and alliances that follow the storm-tossed arrival of Imogen Stubbs and brother Steven Mackintosh on the shores of Illyria. Notwithstanding the conservative direction, the performances particularly of Helena Bonham Carter, Nigel Hawthorne and Richard E Grant, are highly polished.