Don't allow me to spoil your fun. If you view Shakespeare in Love uncritically, it can be energetic and entertaining. It is by no means a bad, or even a mediocre film. The sets, costumes, and cinematography are very good. It is an acceptable film, but one that has been wildly overrated.
Joseph Fiennes stars as William Shakespeare. He is a rising star in the English theater, but needs inspiration. He gets it from lovely, stagestruck Viola de Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow). Unfortunately, she is betrothed to Lord Wessex (Colin Firth). For dramatic purposes, his character is a pompous, cruel middle-aged man who wants her only for her fortune. Henslowe (Geoffrey Rush) plays an indebted theater owner.
There are many minor historical mistakes in Shakespeare in Love. Marlowe was murdered in 1593. "Romeo and Juliet" was written in 1595 or 1596. "Twelfth Night" was written in 1601 or 1602. In the movie, all three events take place during the same month. Romeo and Julie were well-known characters that long preceded Shakespeare's play about them, making his working title "Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter" somewhat unlikely. Also, the first settlement in Virginia was Jamestown, established in 1607. This was after the death of Queen Elizabeth I. Certainly, no English colony was growing tobacco there in 1593. While Shakespeare's wife is mentioned, his three children are not.
It can be argued that these mistakes aren't significant. Shakespeare in Love is a comedy and a drama, not a documentary. Mary, Queen of Scots (1971) presents an equally ridiculous version of Elizabeth-era England, and yet that film is very good.
But one advantage that Mary, Queen of Scots had was that its comedy was subtle, perhaps even unintentional. That's not the case for Shakespeare in Love. One sequence has Shakespeare dressing as a handmaiden, talking in an obviously phony high-pitched voice, and covering 'her' face as if 'she' was a harem girl in an Arabian Nights film.
Another problem is Paltrow trying to pass as a man onstage. No one in the cast, not even Shakespeare, recognizes her as a woman. Even after he has become smitten with her offstage. When he eventually does discover her impersonation, he allows her to continue in the role, even exchanging passionate kisses with her where they can be easily discovered. Her presence onstage threatens to ruin the production, the company, even his career. Shakespeare seems to care nothing about any of this, but after all, he is in love.
Shakespeare in Love is very hammy. Judi Dench plays a meddling Queen Elizabeth. She dramatically provokes and enforces wagers, and otherwise pays great attention to matters that realistically would be of little interest to her.
The wild, passionate, adulterous love between Shakespeare and de Lesseps already strains credibility, without them breathlessly reciting lines from his plays while making love. A similar exaggeration can be seen in the enthusiasm of the later rehearsals, with cast members gaping in amazement at the quality of the prose and performances.
However, Shakespeare in Love was nominated for an incredible thirteen Academy Awards. It won seven, including the major awards Best Picture, Best Actress (Paltrow) and Best Original Screenplay (Marc Norman, Tom Stoppard). Judi Dench won Best Supporting Actress. It also won for the costumes, sets, and score.
The film was nominated, but lost, in the categories of cinematography (Richard Greatrex), film editing, makeup, and sound. John Madden (No relation to the football commentator!) was nominated for Best Director, while Geoffrey Rush was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.
Rush and Fiennes also starred in Elizabeth, another film from 1998 featuring the Virgin Queen. Many of the cast and crew, including Madden and Dench, were previously in Mrs. Brown (1997). That film had Dench playing a different British Queen, Victoria. She received a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her role.
A recommended alternative to Shakespeare in Love is the Franco Zefferelli version of Romeo and Juliet (1968). (56/100)
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