SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: William Shakespeare writes "Romeo and
Juliet" and at the same time discovers the woman
who would be the love of his life. This is a
whimsical recreation of how things might have been.
The story is charming and the setting is as
interesting as the characters, though the
credibility of what we see is compromised by
obvious anachronisms and inaccuracies. Rating: 8
(0 to 10), high +2 (-4 to +4)
New York Critics: 21 positive, 2 negative, 2 mixed
It is 1593 and London has two competing theaters, each with a favorite playwright. The Curtain features the plays of Christopher Marlowe, acknowledged to be the greatest playwright of the day. The Rose had a once promising young man who after about ten plays was coming to the end of his creativity. This is William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes). As we join the film Shakespeare's love life is in a shambles as he is totally blocked from writing. Not that it matters because the theaters have been closed due to the plague. That may be for the best as Shakespeare has promised his new play to both theaters. That play, barely begun, being "Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter."
Shakespeare cannot write, having had only the minimal experience at love he got from a loveless marriage. But a woman is about to come into his life. Shakespeare sees Viola De Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow) and falls in love with her beauty. Meanwhile it turns out that Viola is a great fan of Shakespeare and the theater in general. When the theaters are reopened, due to only the most venal of reasons, Viola gives in to temptation, defies the conventions of her time, disguises herself as a man, and becomes an actor. Shakespeare finds the woman he loves and begins an affair with her, ignoring the fact that she is betrothed. When Viola auditions disguised as a man she is promptly cast not as Juliet, but as Romeo in the play that seems to be written scene by scene only one day, or often only hours, before it is rehearsed. Shakespeare finds can write again now that he has something to write about, his love of Viola, and his wild lovemaking during off moments of the rehearsals. The play Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter begins to take shape and is transformed from the comedy everybody has been expecting into the Romeo and Juliet we know. Of course the creative process is not without some help from Shakespeare's friends. We see Shakespeare's talent for pumping Christopher Marlowe and others for ideas and character names.
It should be noted that many of the fine details of this story are carefully researched and there are references to real people and events. In fact, it is mainly the plot as a whole that is completely absurd. The story of Romeo and Juliet was popular long before Shakespeare's time. And it did not involve Ethel, the Pirate's daughter. Shakespeare's plays are almost exclusively adaptations of pre-existing tales. Scholars tell us that "The Tempest" was Shakespeare's only original story. (I am not sure how much consideration they have given to "The Merry Wives of Windsor," essentially a sitcom written solely to reuse the popular character Falstaff.) This story of how Shakespeare's version of Romeo and Juliet came to be written is obviously a complete fiction. Unfortunately, this means that any facts that one does glean about the period or about Shakespeare from this film should be regarded as being highly suspect. John Webster, seen here as a boy with rather gruesome tastes in drama, is probably the playwright who went on to write plays like "The Duchess of Malfi." I do not know if there is any evidence that he knew Shakespeare. There clearly are Flintstone-esque anachronisms in the play like the odd proto-psychiatrist that Shakespeare sees.
The screenplay for SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE is by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard. Much of the screenplay shows Stoppard's sense of humor as shown in other Stoppard plays like "Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern are Dead." The writers even have the audacity to write a little of its own Shakespearean prose and wordplay.
Fiennes and Paltrow are supported by a prestige cast including Geoffrey Rush of SHINE, Ben Affleck of GOOD WILL HUNTING, Judi Dench of MRS. BROWN (who is also the new M in the James Bond series), Colin Firth of THE ENGLISH PATIENT, Simon Callow of FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL, Jim Carter of RICHARD III, and Tom Wilkinson of THE FULL MONTY. Director John Madden is the veteran of MRS. BROWN and episodes of the BBC adaptations of SHERLOCK HOLMES (with Jeremy Brett as Holmes).
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE is a frothy and fun look at the bard and his times, but is not to be taken too seriously. One does not have to be a fan of Shakespeare to enjoy it, but bardophiles will get more out of it. It gets 8 on the 0 to 10 scale and a high +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@lucent.com
Copyright 1998 Mark R. Leeper
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