Lacking money to woo an heiress (Lynn Collins), smitten Bassanio (Joseph Fiennes) turns to his merchant friend, Antonio (Jeremy Irons), whose cash is tied up. But he secures a loan from Shylock (Al Pacino) on the condition that if Antonio defaults, he'll literally pay with a pound of flesh. Michael Radford directs this lush adaptation of William Shakespeare's incendiary drama about passion and justice amid an anti-Semitic atmosphere.