SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 1998 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ****
Philip Henslowe is a small businessman with a cash flow problem in SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE. Philip, played by Geoffrey Rush in his best role since SHINE, is the owner of a playhouse called "The Rose," where young playwright William Shakespeare is supposed to put on his next play.
Philip's creditor, Fennyman (Tom Wilkinson), is pressuring him to repay his debts forthwith. This is no problem since Will's next play, "Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter," is in development. Actually, it hasn't even begun since Will, played charmingly by Joseph Fiennes, has a severe case of writer's block.
The movie delightfully mixes the romance and fighting of the play with some equally high-spirited antics off stage. The dialog from the play works its way into the scenes outside of the theater. When Philip confronts Will about the need to finish the play in short order, Will starts speaking poetically. "No, we haven't the time, talk prose," Philip says, interrupting him.
As directed by John Madden (HER MAJESTY, MRS. BROWN) and written by Tom Stoppard (ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD) and Marc Norman, the movie bursts with comedic and romantic joy. It is the small details that separate great films from lesser ones, and it is here that SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE proves its mettle.
When Will writes, the ink gets all over his fingernails. He develops writer's cramps from composing such a large volume of words so quickly. We even watch him sharpening his quill pens.
The hilarious auditions and rehearsals are both insightful and humorous. The acting talent from which Will has to choose is not all top drawer. Philip, for example, insists that his stuttering tailor receive the key part of the narrator since Philip is so heavily in debt to him.
In a perfect bit of casting, Gwyneth Paltrow, in clearly the best performance of her career, plays Viola, a rich but untitled young woman. Her father has arranged for her in three weeks time to marry the noble but less wealthy Lord Wessex (Colin Firth). Her father will obtain royal connections, and Lord Wessex will be rewarded financially. The newlyweds are to live across the vast ocean in far-away Virginia.
Viola, a stunning beauty, seeks true love and poetry for her life. After she falls for Will, she dresses as a boy and wins the part of Romeo in the play. (Women at the time were strictly forbidden to be actors, and men in drag played the women's parts.)
Will falls head over heels in love with Viola and doesn't realize at first that the young boy with the small goatee is his love. This causes one of the sweetest scenes of all when Viola, as a boy, is overcome with sexual desire and plants a huge kiss one night on a stunned Will.
In the film's long romantic middle section, which nicely mirrors the middle of the play they are rehearsing, Viola and Will are so much in love that they have trouble keeping their hands and lips off of each other. These sensuous sequences make the picture one of the best date movies of the year.
The film has as many subplots as a Shakespearean play but manages to develop them well and still stay within the time limitations of a traditional length motion picture. Rupert Everett plays Will's competition, Christopher Marlowe, whom Will sometimes claims to be in order to trick people. Judi Dench (Oscar nominee for HER MAJESTY, MRS. BROWN) plays a different queen this time, Elizabeth I.
The best small part is that played by CHASING AMY's Ben Affleck, as a cocky actor named Ned Alleyn. Will cons Ned into thinking that his part of Mercutio is the lead and the title of the play. Eventually, Ned finds out the truth, and it is he who suggests the better name of "Romeo and Juliet" for it.
The movie ends with the production of the play and some last minute role changes. The movie uses the words of the play to suggest meanings for the actors on and off stage.
"O, I am fortune's fool!" Will says aptly. And Viola asks the question that must be utmost on her mind, "O think'st thou we shall ever meet again?"
The script will sweep you away. One minute you are falling in love, the next you are doubled over in laughter and the next finds you fascinated by the minutia of the stagecraft. The movie is for lovers, for students, for budding actors, for connoisseurs of fine comedy, and for just about everyone.
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE runs 1:53. It is rated R for sex and nudity and would be fine for teenagers.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: www.InternetReviews.com
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