Protesting Too Much...

When I saw that it was Emma Thompson's birthday today, and given how my mind often floats to Shakespeare, I of course thought of her portrayal as Beatrice in Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing (1993). Married in real life at the time, both Thompson and Branagh brought the best out in each other, and with Beatrice and Benedick, that worked perfectly well.

I also thought of why we root for couples like B&B, Darcy and Elizabeth or C.K. Dexter Haven and Tracy Lord ("The Philadelphia Story"), and I think it's because it's so clearly obvious that they belong together -- if only they would put the gloves down for a moment; set aside their pride and prejudice; talk.

I love such couples, and it's truly the getting-there that's most thrilling. Once they do get together, it's wonderful still, but it's the verbal jabs that make you shake your head with the knowing that these two people may know a lot, but they have yet to open their eyes and hearts to what's right in front of them. And it's the arguments and disagreements that make the moment when they DO get together, all the more powerful. In Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare let Beatrice and Benedick fight their battles, but it's clear that he was also working his magic, bringing his star couple closer together as we cheer on from the sidelines.