Shall I compare yon film to a summers' day... I had heard good things about Shakespear in Love, and I wanted to see it, but I was still wondering what to expect. I never really go and watch period movies, in fact I think I have only seen two in my life (Glory and Les Misérables) but both of them were an enjoyable experience for me so I figured I really had nothing to lose. Thankfully I didn't let my aprehension get the better of me and I went and saw this film, because I was not dissappointed at all.
Joseph Fiennes plays Williams Shakespeare
If you haven't heard of the title character of this movie, then you really shouldn't bother going to see it (or joining the rest of society for that matter) so I won't descrbe who William (Will for short) Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes, Elizabeth, brother of Ralph Fiennes) is, however I will describe the scene. This film is set in London, England in the late Sixteenth Century. Two theaters, the Rose and the Curtain, are competing for patrons, actors and playwrites. At the beginning of the movie the Curtain is the dominant theater, with the more famous playwrite (at the time) in Christopher Marlowe (Rupert Everett, My Best Friends Wedding) and more financial success. However, the Rose's main playwrite, one Will Shakespeare, promises that his next play, Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter, will be a huge comedic success, even though he hasn't even started the script yet. After auditioning for actors for his newest play Will meets Viola De Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow, A Perfect Murder) a beautiful noblewoman who's greatest dream is to become an actress in one of his plays despite the fact that women are forbidden by law to perform on stage. However, she tricks both Will and the theater owner Philip Henslowe (Geoffrey Rush, Les Misérables, Shine) that she is a male actor when she gets the part of Romeo. Eventually Will figures it out and, as the title indicates, falls in love with her. As Viola's and Will's love intensifies, Shakespeare slowly changes the theme of his play from a comedy to a tragic romance about two star crossed lovers in fair Verona (sound familiar). The only problem is the title... so following the advice of Ned Alleyn (Ben Affleck, Good Will Hunting, Armageddon), a prominent actor of the day, he gets rid of the name Ethel and changes the name of his play to Romeo and Juliet.
Will dances with Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow), even though she is rich and he is a lowly playwrite
As preparation for Shakespeare's newest tiumph commmence, it runs into as many snags and problems as any big budget, feature length film of the 1990's does (except that it is a play from the 1500's). First, Will must convince the cast that the play is a tragedy, not a comedy. Then he must convinve the large egoed Alleyn to play a part that is not the lead, in fact a part that dies halfway through. Then the authorities eventually figure out that the male lead is being played by a woman (remember Viola is dressed up like a boy to be Romeo) and close down the Rose. All this, and Will finds out that his love is betrothed to marry Lord Wessex (Colin Firth, The English Patient), a pompous jerk of a man, by order of Queen Elizabeth (Judi Dench, Mrs. Brown, M in the last two James Bond Movies). Luckily the owner of the Curtain is generous enough to donate his theater so the show can go on. But on opening day, the young man playing Juliet's voice changes and he cannot say his lines and sound like a girl so they enlist Viola to play the part (despite the law) opposite her love Will Shakespeare as her Romeo.
Various actors work on the play
This movie sets an uncomfortable precedence for romantic comedies for 1999. Just like The Wedding Singer set the pace for date movies last year for which no real movie caught up, so to must any hopeful romance film try to catch up with Shakespeare in Love and it won't be easy to do. Not only did this movie have the backdrop of the greatest romances of all time to set up the romantic aspects, but it also had a good mix of humor aimed at the period and Shakespeare himself. As Will is walking through the streets you hear someone condeming both theaters by saying "a plague on both their houses" and "a Rose by any other name would not smell sweet." There is also references to probably at least a dozen of Shakespeares other works from Hamlet to Macbeth, and most of them have some sort of comedic aspect. Most of all, this film has great acting. Joseph Fiennes is superp as the young Bard, bringing the great playwrite down from his deity status to someone who is human. The supporting cast is also great (if you couldn't gather that from the names), especially Geoffrey Rush (no suprise there, considering he is a former Oscar winner) and Ben Affleck (slight suprise, even with his recent success) who fill in any holes that may have been left behind. And as much as I hate to admit it, Gwyneth Paltrow gave a extremely good performance, dispelling the myth (at least for the moment) that she is just in this business for her looks. Last year I told you guys to take your dates to The Wedding Singer to score points... well I guarentee you will win tons more points if you take her to Shakespeare in Love, quite possibly the best date movie of 1998 and 1999 combine (and we are hardly into the New Year).
