Passionate Love Story Within Dreamlike Inspiration

Rating: 9/10 (2 August 2009)

Have you ever thought of a well known story in terms of some novelties? So to say, can the content of a movie still leave a contemporary viewer breathless? Indeed, in our age of consumption and shallow effects, it seems that true commitment to the essence of what art is supposed to be is faded. We rarely encounter any freshness in such themes like love and romance, the themes well known in cinema but frequently considered as 'prefabricated,' and, consequently, distorted, deprived of their essential vitality. A very justifiable question arises: are there still films that can really move us? If there are some, is "Shakespeare in Love" one of them?
At first, it seems that the content of this movie is rather common and predictable. It shows, in a fictitious manner, the inspiration that Shakespeare might have had during writing one of his timeless love dramas. The suggestion goes on logically as the movie calls our attention to the creative experience of love that touches the mind and heart of the playwright to write one of the most beautiful love stories, "Romeo and Juliet". That is the crucial link between this movie and the great masterpiece since Shakespeare is showed as the one who goes through similar love that Romeo did go through. But is this movie only a romance, a love story that raises a hero and a heroine to the very heights of blissful feelings?
The movie by John Madden is, foremost, a tribute to the artistic inspiration that brings back the very essence of a story on screen. It is filled with profound experience of images, scenery, music and performances. Therefore, firstly, it is a lovely movie with all its merits as a manifestation of art, and, secondly, an innovative representation of love, similarly to Shakespeare's drama that occurs to win the people, both Queen Elizabeth and her faithful subjects, as new and touching.
Romeo and Juliet...their dramatic, short but blissful lives are now Will (Joseph Fiennes) and Viola's (Gwyneth Paltrow) short, blissful experiences. The two give sublime performances. They are (...and it is significant to mention that here) romantically subtle and erotically sensual. Their love appears to combine the two depictions of love, or more specifically, the two aspects of love focused on: the one of Shakespeare's works and the one of modern cinema. Therefore, what we get here is a harmony between sweet youthful feeling and strong erotic desire. One cannot go without the other in order not to limit the whole merely to 'characters in bliss' or 'characters in lust.' That would, of course, condense the whole picture to mere sentimentalism or sheer eroticism. The both aspects must complement each other in order to be genuine and satisfy the ambitious movie buffs. Moreover, reference is the building block of inspiration: Juliet's balcony appears to be Viola's balcony, the proud Capulets appears to be upright Lord Wessex (Colin Firth), death appears to be a conventional separation. Yet all the differences are united by the very feeling of love beautifully depicted by Ms Paltrow and Mr Fiennes.
Except for the main characters, we have a wide range of different people, different personalities: the proud, the rich, the noble, the poor, the curious, the wretched; finally, the gentle and creative. Witty scenes with curious and over-caring Nurse (Imelda Staunton) who sits at the door the whole night outside the room where Will and Viola are making love are hilarious. The character of proud and rich Lord Wessex is memorably portrayed by Colin Firth who stresses one of the key poisons of human pride: selfishness. The character of John Webster (Joe Roberts) is interesting, too: it calls our attention to the young boy, partly lost in the world's glamor, who finds his entire interest and enthusiasm in brutality... Can a person totally deprived of feelings ever understand what love is? The supporting cast are also very good and in no way shadowed. They rather add their own parts into the complex realities and diverse paths of life in which a true feeling is born. Shakespeare had to have audience, contemporary people who are memorably showed here.
Yes, "Shakespeare in Love" may be considered one of the movies that still move us. I don't hesitate to claim that this film is as powerful as "Romeo and Juliet" must have been for its first audience since what may be more inspiring, more touching, more creative than honest feeling that illumines the lives of a young couple? What matters is not its fiction, its play but its powerful enthusiasm inspired by honest Love that will never age, nor fade, nor die.