Will and Viola

Rating: 8/10 (15 May 2005)

There's more than one way to look at this film, but when you first watch it, I guess you'd fall in love quickly with Shakespeare, Viola, Henslowe, Ned and the other characters in the tiny village that London seems to be in this setting. The way Shakespeare's original Romeo and Juliet lines are used in the dialogs outside the "rehearsals" are inspiring because they make you curious about the original play (I would definitely advise anyone to get to see Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet too, if that didn't happen yet). I didn't always like the way Gwyneth Paltrow played Thomas Kent who played Romeo, I was wondering if that was part of the serious (romantic) side of the film or if it was ironic, showing the amateurism of the rehearsals. I loved the way she played Viola most of the time. The first scene where she appears, silently speaking along with the "Silvia" lines, is fantastic. You'd fall in love with her straight away. Joseph Fiennes is the perfect Shakespeare, too. Another good scene is where Ben Affleck first shows up, aggressively, immediately humiliating the guy who brings in the money. "Then you may remain, if you remain silent." What in fact happens in the film, everybody's transformed into a better person. It gets the best side out of almost everyone. Why then don't Will and Viola get the chance to unite for good? The queen blames God, but that is nonsense. The end actually breaks your heart. You can't help thinking that Viola really is forced to sleep with Lord Wessex from now on. So you do hope the end is the thing that "really" happened: shipwreck, Viola the only survivor, and so on... In spite of the occasional "stickiness" that's in this film, it's a "mood changer" and I mean it lifts you up in amazement of how painful love can be. But maybe no one would want to miss than kind of pain? Try not to get your eyes humid while smiling!