Shakespeare in Love
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (12)
D: John Madden
Miramax/Universal/Bedford Falls (David Parfitt, Donna
Gigliotti, Harvey Weinstein, Edward Zwick & Mark Norman)
UK/US 1998
113 mins
Romance/Comedy
W: Marc Norman & Tom Stoppard
DP: Richard Greatrex
Ed: David Gamble
Mus: Stephen Warbeck
PD: Martin Childs
Cos: Sandy Powell
Joseph Fiennes (William Shakespeare), Gwyneth
Paltrow(Viola de Lesseps), Geoffrey Rush(Philip Henslowe), Colin Firth (Lord Wessex), Ben Affleck (Ned Alleyn), Judi Dench (Queen Elizabeth I), Simon Callow
(Edmund Tilney)
Suffering from writer's block while writing what is to
become Romeo & Juliet, a young and broke William Shakespeare falls in love with a heiress who inspires him to complete his iconic work, whilst she resorts to cross-dressing in order to
appear in it.
Though the work is original fiction, Tom Stoppard &
Marc Norman's witty screenplay draws on other Shakespearean references, various theatrical conventions and modern day English culture, but is practically a rejig of the plot of Romeo &
Juliet.
It's a film in love with love, but also in love with the
power of theatre, with solid performances from its cast and a period design that transports the audience directly into the heart of 16th Century Elizabethan London.
All the performances are good, though Gwyneth Paltrow is
more convincing at playing highborn Viola de Lessops rather than the boy Thomas Kent and the film is practically stolen away by Judi Dench, despite only having a few minutes on-screen as
Queen Elizabeth I.
7/10
