One of the best I've seen in quite a while.

Rating: 10/10 (10 May 2008)

A whimsical, hilarious, tragic story about a forbidden love between a then-common playwright and a beautiful woman with her wealth forcing her to wed another man. It's one of the most sharply written films I've ever seen, that completely draws you in from the first moment where we see Hugh Fennyman (Tom Wilkinson) order his men to chop off Philip Henslowe's (Geoffrey Rush) nose and ear to the very end as Viola De Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow) walk up the beach.
The film centers around the young Will Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) who is desperately trying to sell his work in order to keep on living. As him and theater owner Henslowe are auditioning for the lead in his new play, he meets a young boy whom he thinks is perfect for the part. The boy runs away after realizing that it's Shakespeare, and Will follows him to his home where he meets Viola (who he later finds out was disguised as the young boy due to her love of theater). And thus begins this beautiful romance between two lovers who are torn apart by status and society.
This story has it's share of hilarious moments mixed with absolutely tragic ones, but never manages to drag or stop being one of the most compelling pictures I've ever seen. I also really love all of the subtle references to rumors regarding Shakespeare and the allusions to his other plays that occur throughout the film. The performances are all glorious and the technical aspects (the costume design, set decoration and score in particular) are easily among the best of the decade. Surely a masterpiece which more than deserved it's Best Picture win.