Director Michael Radford believed that Shylock was Shakespeare's first great tragic hero, who reaches a catastrophe due to his own flaws.

Shylock, spiteful of Antonio (whom the movie implies to be an ex-Jew converted to Christianity) because he had previously insulted and spat on him (for being a Jew), proposes a condition.

To be granted an opportunity to marry Portia, each man must agree in advance to live out his life as a bachelor were he to select wrongly.

The suitor who correctly looks past the outward appearance of the caskets will find Portia's portrait inside and win her hand.

At Venice, all ships bearing Antonio's goods are reported lost at sea, leaving him unable to satisfy the bond.

The Duke, wishing to save Antonio but unwilling to set a dangerous legal precedent, refers the case to Balthasar, a young "doctor of the law" who is actually Portia in disguise.

At Antonio's request, the Duke grants remission of the state's half of forfeiture, but in return, Shylock is forced to convert to Christianity and to bequeath the rest of his property to Lorenzo and Jessica.

It has a "fresh" rating of 72% at Rotten Tomatoes, based on 125 critic reviews, with the consensus, "A respectable if uneven take on the Bard's The Merchant of Venice.

[6] Most critics praised both the interpretation of the Shylock character by Michael Radford and Al Pacino,[3] and the dark, realistic look of the streets of Venice, for which production designer Bruno Rubeo was honoured by the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists.

Reception to the film's treatment of antisemitism was mixed, with some critics praising Radford's contextualizing choices but feeling that they were nonetheless unable to fully prevent Shylock from being an antisemitic caricature,[7][8] and others feeling that Shylock's villainy was sanitised to make him into an overly sympathetic victim of prejudice.