Thoroughly enjoyable take on Shakespeare and the London theatre of his age.

Rating: 10/10 (30 November 2010)

Watching this again after some years I find it gets even better. It's very funny, very good to look at, and has a plot which while quite over the top historically in fact tells you a lot about the greatest dramatist of all time & his age, about artistic inspiration, about love. There are so many good character actors in it, all deftly bringing their characters to life. The principals are all superb - Fiennes, Paltrow, Firth, Dench, Callow, Wilkinson, Sher, Staunton, Affleck and the rest. The death of Marlowe is moving - all the more for being off stage - and the whole theme of hopeless love is treated in a bittersweet way which is quite moving. At the end, though, it's the humour which stays with me; the sly references to our present preoccupations especially. Tom Stoppard blazed a trail years ago in "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" to the possibilities of using Shakespeare as a jumping off point; in this respect this film's a worthy successor years later.