She is a man

• "It's time to settle the score." (“Time to Settle Scores”)
• "Each has its own skeleton in the closet ..."
• "If you wanna chase your dream, sometimes you gotta break the rules." (“If you want to fulfill your dream, sometimes you need to break the rules”)
• “Duke likes Olivia, who has fallen in love with Sebastian, who is actually Viola, whose brother meets Monique, who hates Olivia because she twists with Duke, to make jealous of Sebastian, who is actually Viola, who fell in love with Duke, who takes her for guy ... "(" Everybody has a secret ... Duke wants Olivia who likes Sebastian who is really Viola whose brother is dating Monique so she hates Olivia who's with Duke to make Sebastian jealous who is really Viola who's crushing on Duke who thinks she's a guy ... »)

Viola and Sebastian Hastings are twin high school students. Their parents are divorced, their children live either with their father or with their mother. Sebastian - a poet and musician, dreams of breaking into the stage with his group. Due to constant absenteeism, he was expelled from school and now he must continue his studies in Illyria. But instead of arriving in time for a new school, Sebastian with the group leaves for London for the festival; he asks his sister to “cover” him by calling the school on behalf of his parents.

Mother wants to see Viola shining at the annual “debutantes ball”, picks up her dresses, while the girl loves to play football more than anything else. Viola is the captain of the school women's football team and is determined to win the upcoming competitions, but the women's team is not allowed to participate in the tournament due to its small size, and the coach of the men's team categorically refuses to include the girls in the composition. Viola's indignation, her boyfriend Justin, captain of the Cornwall men's team, agrees with the coach. He also believes that football is not a female occupation. The result is a breakup.

Viola decides to impersonate Sebastian to enter Illyria, join the football team and defeat Cornwell's team in a match that will take place in two weeks. With the help of a friend, stylist Paul, Viola is transformed into a guy, perhaps a little strange, but quite convincing, and goes to Illyria, telling his mother that he will live with his father. In the hostel, her roommate becomes Duke Orsino - the star of the local football team. The guys do not take the imaginary Sebastian very warmly, and the coach determines the newcomer to the second team - there is no chance of appearing on the field. In addition, the principal of the Gold school has shown increased interest in the beginner. At some points, Viola is close to failure, but it saves her that it does not occur to anyone to suspect the truth.

Viola gets acquainted with the beautiful Olivia, who soon falls in love with Sebastian, subdued by his atypical free manner of communication for guys and admired by poetry (a piece of poetry by Sebastian accidentally fell into her eyes). Olivia’s attention, as well as a small performance in a pizzeria arranged by Paul and Viola’s friends, creates Sebastian’s glory as a conqueror of female hearts. As a result, Duke, who is in love with Olivia but does not dare to confess, asks Viola to persuade Olivia to meet with him, in return offering to train Sebastian so that he gets into the main team. And the other admirer of Olivia, Malcolm, realizing that Olivia had "crushed" on Sebastian, begins surveillance, hoping to find dirt on Sebastian. Meanwhile, Viola herself is paying more and more attention to Duke.

Mother recalls that Sebastian and Viola should be present at the carnival. Duke, Olivia and Justin also come there. Viola is in turmoil - she must be herself and portray her brother at the same time. Duke in the attraction “kissing booth” is trying to figure out the queue to kiss Olivia, but as a result kisses with Viola. Seeing this, Justin, jealous of her ex-girlfriend, starts a fight. At the same time, Viola in the image of Sebastian has to run away from Monique - the former girlfriend of Sebastian, with whom he parted before a trip to London.

Duke and Viola constantly communicate, and Viola is finding it harder to hide his feelings for him, which causes many funny situations. A girl in the guise of Sebastian is trying to persuade Duke to invite "his sister" on a date. Olivia’s girlfriend offers the girl the surest way - to make Sebastian jealous by inviting Duke on a double date with Sebastian and Eunice. Meanwhile, the real Sebastian is returning from London and trying to send Monique back. Viola, at the request of her mother, comes to the evening instruction for young debutants. There she meets Olivia and Monique - the girls have a fight in the toilet over Sebastian, and Viola finds out that Olivia fell in love with her (that is, Sebastian). That evening, Olivia confesses to real Sebastian, who arrived in Illyria, in love. This scene is seen by Duke; he decides that Sebastian used his frankness to recapture the girl.

Monique and Malcolm guess about everything and decide to expose Viola at tomorrow's match. Offended Duke refuses to communicate with Sebastian, as a result Viola falls asleep in a strange room and is late for the match. The real Sebastian, who managed to settle in the hostel, is awakened and sent to play, as a result, he, without understanding anything, goes to the first half of the match with Cornwell. Therefore, when Malcolm accompanied by Gold appears on the field and declares that Sebastian is a girl, he clearly refutes their exposure. In the second half goes Viola. During the break, after talking with her brother, she learns about Sebastian's kiss with Olivia and understands what she saw and what Duke was offended by. On the field, seeing that Duke defiantly ignores her, Viola confesses to the substitution and explains what happened. Despite the exposure, Viola give the opportunity to finish the match, in the end she scores the decisive goal from the penalty spot , and the Illyria team wins.

At the debutantes' ball, Viola puts up with Duke, who was offended for cheating with changing clothes.

The plot of the film is a very free adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night , which has been transferred to our day, as the film credits say. The idea came to screenwriter and producer Ivan Leslie after watching the play Twelfth Night directed by Sam Mendes at the London Donmar Warehouse with starring Emily Watson . When writing the script, the role of Viola was immediately intended for Amanda Bines .

The film contains many references to the original play:

• The school in which the main characters study is called Illyria by the name of the country where the action of the Shakespeare play takes place.
• The character of Duke is based on the character of the play Duke of Orsino (in English the name Duke literally translates as "duke").
• On the first day of Viola in Illyria, you can see a school play poster called “What you Will”. It is also an alternate title for Shakespeare ’s Twelfth Night .
• Duke's friends in the film are Toby and Andrew. In the play, Toby is Olivia's uncle, and Andrew is one of her fans.
• Both in the play and in the film, Viola and Sebastian are twins .
• You can find many parallels between Malcolm and Malvolio, the manager of Olivia in the play.
• In the film, Maria is Olivia's girlfriend, and in the play this is her maid.
• Malcolm's tarantula spider, to which he refers in his monologue, was named Malvolio, after the name of one of the characters in the play.
• William Shakespeare was born and raised in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon. The film is called the country club: "Stratford Country Club".
• In one of the scenes of the film, Duke says: “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them”. This is an excerpt from a letter that Malvolio reads in a play.

Two significant plot differences:

• In the play, Viola disguises herself as a man to find work.
• In the play, Viola does not portray his brother, but simply a man, calling himself Cesario. In the movie "Cesario" - the name of the restaurant where several key scenes take place.

Premiere weekend:

• United States (on 2,623 screens): $ 10,730,372 (March 19, 2006)
• United Kingdom (305 screens): £ 994.304 (April 9, 2006)
• Netherlands (on 35 screens): € 60,370 (July 9, 2006)

• Official Russian movie site
• Official movie site # 1
• Official movie site # 2
• Article about the film
• Tatum about the film (English)