Storyline

In Writer, Producer, and Director Julie Taymor's version of "The Tempest", the main character is now a woman named Prospera (Dame Helen Mirren). Going back to the sixteenth or seventeenth century, women practicing the magical arts of alchemy were often convicted of witchcraft. In Taymor's version, Prospera is usurped by her brother and sent off with her four-year daughter on a ship. She ends up on an island; it's a tabula rasa: no society, so the mother figure becomes a father figure to Miranda (Felicity Jones). This leads to the power struggle and balance between Caliban (Djimon Hounsou) and Prospera; a struggle not about brawn, but about intellect.

Plot Keywords

storm at sea, based on play, sorceress, slave, drunkard, storm, island, sorcery, banishment, spirit, undershirt, anachronism, drinking, sword, forest, urination, frog, eclipse, clothes line, chased by a dog

Short Review

Dispensing with tableau compositions, this adaptation feels liberated from static theatrical and, to a lesser degree, cinematic convention by the overall openness of its staging and camerawork that's somewhere between handheld and Steadicam.

Trailer

Streaming Service

1. Amazon Video : Rent from $1.99, Or $0.00 with a Prime membership

2. Apple iTunes : Track Price: 14.99, Track Rental Price: 3.99, Collection Price: 14.99, Track Hd Price: 19.99, Track Hd Rental Price: 3.99, Collection Hd Price: 19.99

3. Vudu : [SD - Buy: 19.99, Rent: 3.99] [HDX - Buy: 19.99, Rent: 3.99]