The Capuleti & the Montecchi

Society of Illustrators 48th Annual of American Illustration, 2006, p239
Poster illustration, Illustrator: Rafal Olbinski

This poster was created to promote the opera The Capuleti & the Montecchi based on the story of Romeo & Juliet. The illustrator introduces a clever solution to showing the two "star-crossed" lovers being torn apart by their respective families.
One's focus is immediately drawn into the faces and the strong negative space between them. Your eyes naturally follow the zipper downward to the ropes attached to the zipper which continue to pull your attention downward toward the message. The symmetry of the two groups of men pulling and the way they span the writing seems to enhance the message by framing the text. I like how the men dressed in business suits bring the classic tale to modern times and how the men's body language reinforces the idea of pulling your attention downward. Furthermore, the perspective type treatment creates more visual stimulation and interest to the design.
The concept of "star-crossed" lovers is introduced with the faces being formed in the sky and the eyes of the lovers looking upward to the stars (or heaven). I am wondering if the idea of the two halves being torn apart from the top down like a curtained backdrop is representative of the biblical account of the temple veil tearing in two from top to bottom at the moment of Jesus' death. Is the darkeness of the heavens that is revealed symbolic of the darkness that descends upon the families upon the lovers' deaths?