Shakespeare in Love

Plot synopsis:
The film centres around the forbidden love of William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) and a noble woman, Viola de Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow).As the film begins, Shakepeare's patron Philip Henslowe (Geoffrey Rush) finds himself in debt to loan shark Hugh Fennyman (Tom Wilkinson). Henslowe offers Fennyman a partnership in the upcoming production of Shakespeare's newest comedy, Romeo and Ethel, The Pirate's Daughter promising that it will be a hit. This play will later be renamed Romeo and Juliet and be reworked into a tragedy (but with some comical undertones with a few characters, like the Nurse).Will Shakespeare is suffering from writer's block and has not completed the play, but begins auditions for Romeo. A boy named Thomas Kent is cast in the role after impressing Shakespeare with his performance and his love of Shakespeare's previous work. Unbeknownst to Shakespeare and the rest of the theater company, Kent is young noblewoman Viola de Lesseps. Viola de Lesseps's dream is to act, but as women were barred from the stage, she must disguise herself as a young man in order to fulfill her dream.After Shakespeare discovers his star's true identity, he and Viola begin a passionate secret affair. There are strong parallels between the pair's romance and the romance in Romeo and Juliet, including the ballroom scene from act 2 and the balcony scene immediately following it. The element of forbidden love forms the basis of Shakespeare's inspiration, and many of their conversations later show up as some of the most famous quotes in the play.Inspired by Viola, Shakespeare begins writing feverishly. His work in progress also benefits from the off-hand advice of playwright and friendly rival Christopher Marlowe (Rupert Everett). Yet Shakespeare and de Lesseps know that their romance is doomed. Shakespeare is married, albeit long separated from his wife, and Viola is a noblewoman whose parents would never permit her to marry a commoner such as Shakespeare. In fact, Viola's father has privately arranged a betrothal for her to Lord Wessex (Colin Firth).Viola is called to the court of Queen Elizabeth I (Judi Dench), and Shakespeare dons a woman's disguise to accompany her. At court, Shakespeare manages to goad Wessex into betting the grand sum of fifty pounds that a play cannot capture the nature of true love. If Romeo and Juliet is a success, Shakespeare as playwright will win the money. The Queen, who enjoys Shakespeare's plays, agrees to be a witness to the wager. The true purpose of the meeting is revealed when Wessex announces his intent to marry Viola.The Lord of Revels, an official of the Queen, learns that there is a woman in the theater company at the Rose playhouse. He orders the theater closed for this violation of morality and the law. Left without a stage or lead actor, it seems that Romeo and Juliet must close before it even opened. Shakespeare is offered one last chance by the owner of a competing theater, the Curtain, who offers his own theater to Shakespeare. Shakespeare will take the role of Romeo himself, with a boy actor playing Juliet.Viola learns that the play will be performed on the very day of her wedding. After the ceremony, Viola's loyal nurse (Imelda Staunton) helps her slip away to the theater. In one final twist, mere moments before the play begins, the boy playing Juliet starts experiencing the voice change of puberty. Viola takes the stage to replace him and plays Juliet to Shakespeare's Romeo. Their passionate portrayal of two lovers inspires the entire audience.The Lord of Revels arrives at the theater with Wessex, who has deduced his new bride's whereabouts. The Lord invokes the name of the Queen to arrest all there for indecency. Suddenly, Elizabeth I's voice rings out from the back of the theater: "Have a care with my name - you will wear it out!" The Queen had decided to attend the play, and says that she will handle this matter herself. Although she recognizes Viola in her guise as Thomas Kent, the Queen does not unmask Viola, instead declaring that the role of Juliet is being performed by the boy Thomas Kent.However, even a Queen is powerless to break an official marriage of the Church. Queen Elizabeth orders "Thomas Kent" to fetch Viola so that she may sail to America. She also states that Romeo and Juliet has accurately portrayed true love and Wessex is forced to pay Shakespeare the fifty pounds. This is enough to allow Shakespeare become a shareholder in a new theater. The Queen then commissions Shakespeare to write something "a little more cheerful next time." Viola and Shakespeare part, never to meet again. She must accompany Wessex to a colonial settlement in Virginia. Shakespeare immortalizes her by making the main character of his new play, Twelfth Night, a strong young woman named Viola who also disguises herself as a boy.

Tags: dramatic, romantic, satire

Review:
Shakespeare in Love, the best picture winner of 1998, I know this film receives a lot of bashing due to that win.
Everything about this film was perfect and I think that's why it received so many Oscar nods and wins, I mean, the costumes, the acting, the sets, the story was absolutely terrific and wonderful to watch.
Gwyneth Paltrow won best actress for this film and she did a terrific job portraying Viola, she was so elegant and touching.
But the plot thickens and Viola knows that she must go back to her life of an unwanted love and marriage.Shakespeare in Love is without a doubt a fine film and should have a higher rating in my book.
They make mistakes at times, but Shakespeare in Love is a great movie and I enjoyed watching it.10/10.
It is a romantic comedy obsessed with nothing more than making references in storyline and plot to the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, and those references are made so seamlessly it could almost be assumed that what we see on the screen actually happened to the man.In fact the overall story we are presented with is not new.
Anyone who had read or seen `Romeo and Juliet' will have a pretty shrewd idea of the path the narrative takes - the twist is that in the film, Shakespeare writes the play `Romeo and Juliet' in parallel to, and based on, his `real life' relationship with Lady Viola.The opening sees Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) desperately trying to write the masterpiece `Romeo and Ethel, the Pirates Daughter', a comedy he hopes will rival anything by Christopher Marlow (Rupert Everett).
Words fail him until his muse appears in the shape of Lady Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow), a noblewoman whose love for the work of Shakespeare's leads her to dress as a boy (since at the time women were not allowed on stage) and attend an audition in disguise (mistaken identity and women dressing as men are devices Shakespeare often used in his comedies).
She is given the role of Romeo and begins a forbidden relationship with Shakespeare, the only one who knows her real identity, in spite of the fact that she is betrothed to the villainous Lord Wessex (Colin Firth) at Queen Elizabeth's (Judi Dench) command.Fiennes portrays Shakespeare wonderfully and not as the infallible master of rhetoric.
Much of the credit, though, must go to Michelle Guish for the wonderful supporting cast including:  Judi Dench, Simon Callow, Imelda Staunton, Jim Carter, Martin Clunes and Geoffrey Rush, to name but a few.John Madden directs hypnotically and constantly keeps the camera on the move but most credit for the film must go to Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard for their cunning and often self-parodying script.
Applying many of the same conventions favored by Shakespeare in his own work (including primarily the confusion over mistaken identity and gender) the screenwriters begin with the "what if" premise and run with it, speculating with wicked delight on the Bard's rivalry with Christopher Marlowe, his use of overheard phrases finding their way into his plays, and best of all, the possible sources of his inspiration.
Will's muse is Violet, played wonderfully by Gwyneth Paltrow, who shows off in this film her finest acting to date and credibly pulls off the tricky task of being both an object of poetic inspiration and a genuine, down-to-earth human being..
The conceit is that an ill-fated romance--the one great true love of this life--with a beautiful, smart woman is what inspires him to write his first immortal play: Romeo and Juliet.In this era of world-exploding actioners and cookie-cutter Adam Sandler movies, it's rare to see such a specific, ingenious, and inspired story for a film.The best part about this movie is its sense of humor.
It plays with history, takes a great man abut whom we know alomost nothing, and creates a fantasy about his life that is totally outrageous, funny and real.Also, the movie is really romantic.
Overall I think I have gained a better understanding of Romeo and Juliet by watching "Shakespeare in Love"..
In the movie Shakespeare in Love, a  young and promising William Shakespeare is finding it difficult to write a new play.
This film is a wonderful combination of romance, comedy, and drama that attempts a new perspective of the classic Romeo and Juliet story.
The material would have been enough for a 20 minutes Monty Python sketch (with oh-so-more hilarious results), not for a full length feature film.If you want to see a witty film of Shakesperean ambience, go rent the delicious Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, by Tom Stoppard.Joseph Fiennes wears the same expression for the whole movie, and almost manages to make you think that Roger Moore was not so bad after all.
We all know the Oscars are simply about Hollywood patting themselves on the back, and nowhere is this more evident with the 13 nominations received by Shakespeare in Love.' Very little originality, horrible casting for a lead part and a well-planned ruse to pass this studio pic as an art film are simply some of the factors against this movie.The story (if we can call it that) is no more than a simple collection of lines from the Bard's plays, blended together into a weak two-hour script.
While the movie has no basis in reality, even as a work of fiction it fails miserably.Gwyneth Paltrow gives an unimpressing and incredibly boring performance, looking like a Cate Blanchet wannabe, pretending to sound like Emma Thompson or Kate Winslet in her role as Viola, and like Kenneth Branagh when impersonating Thomas Kent.
Joseph Fiennes and Geoffrey Rush give amazing performances given the weak script they had to work with, dashing the movie with a dose of comedy and great acting that carries the story at times, but not for 2 hours.Shakespeare in Love' is okay as a mass-market date movie, a pic for those that have no idea what Shakespeare's plays are all about, a pic for the Teeny-Bopper crowd, but not as an Oscar Nominated Film.
After "Shakespeare in Love" won almost every nomination, and beat "Saving Private Ryan" for Best Picture, I decided I had to see it.
As much to my shock as was my disappointment, it wasn't."Shakespeare in Love" is not a bad film, and there are some things I liked about it.
In my opinion, it is neither terribly romantic nor terribly funny suffering as it does from sitcom style performances from its two leads; Joseph Finnes (looking very much like a Japanese animation character) and Gwyneth Paltrow (one of the most uninteresting actresses in Hollywood).The one joke (a sophmoric conceit from Tom Stoppard) is to apply all the modern theater's cliche's (greedy theater producers, conceited actors, etc.) to Shakespeare's time.
The "romance" (Shakespeare finds his "muse" and the love of his life as he struggles to complete "Romeo and Juliet") is on a par with most paperback romance novels and consists mostly of Finnes and Paltrow gazing idiotically at one another.
It's difficult to believe this absurdity won an Academy Award for Best Picture.This film concocts a purely fictional story wherein Shakespeare experiences writer's block while working on his new play 'Romeo and Ethel the Pirate's Daughter'.
Thus begins a romance between the Bard and Viola, who is his inspiration for the immortal play we now know as Romeo and Juliet.First of all, it's not exactly an original concept, the poor oppressed woman who's downtrodden because of her gender and not free to assume her desired profession, in this case acting.
Instead of wasting time on this foolish movie, it might be better spent reading or viewing one of Shakespeare's plays on stage, or watching Franco Zeffirelli's beautiful 1968 film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.My son (now a college freshman) was shown this silly Shakespeare in Love during an enriched high school English class a couple of years ago.
Shakespeare in Love shouldve really won the "worse movie of the year" award.
As a costume piece, it's very forgettable because the performances are so exaggerated you never really care about any of the characters.And the worst thing about the movie is probably Gwyneth Paltrow, who people think can act well because she can talk in a posh English accent.
I've never seen someone so cold and heartless in a romantic film.Like most people have notices the 7 Oscars were ridiculous, it may be an ok movie for a sunday afternoon if you absolutely have nothing better to do, but the film is best avoided, a terrible bore.
Joseph Fiennes embodies a young and passionate Shakespeare and Gwyneth Paltrow expresses Lady Violet's love for poetry very vivid and believable.
Even people who are not very interested in Shakespeare or his plays could like this film.
Dressed like a man, because women were not allowed to act on stage by order of Queen Elizabeth I, Lady Viola impresses Shakespeare so much, that he decides to follow her, as she escapes the theatre and flees from him.
Shakespeare, on the other hand, is married to Anne Hathaway.As a result, the constellation turns the former love story into a tragedy, between William and Viola as well as between Romeo and Julia.
For her brilliant acting, Judi Dench achieved the Oscar in the category `Best actress in a supporting role'.The scenery of the film appears very authentic.
I most liked the last part of the film, the change between Viola and William, loving each other in a physical way on the one hand, and verbal on stage as Romeo and Julia on the other hand.
Lots of people don't like John Madden's "Shakespeare in Love," I think, mostly because it beat out Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan" for the Best Picture Oscar.
And, of course, there is also Ben Affleck and Geoffrey Rush, among others, whose work here sparkles with originality and vitality.But lets get to the real core of what makes "Shakespeare in Love" a great film.
"Shakespeare in Love" is delightful, wonderfully acted, witty, beautifully filmed.
I was looking forward to a comedic Shakespeare film and found a dramatic romance film with great set designs and a good performance by Gwyneth Paltrow but not much more.
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE played to me like Romeo and Juliet put through a food processor.
There was quite a bit of understandable controversy over the Best Picture Oscar for 1998, because Shakespeare in Love and Saving Private Ryan were both tremendously good films, and the audience was very divided between the two.
There is a definite popular influence on the workings of the Academy Awards (no matter how good a film is, it will never win a Best Picture Oscar unless it is hugely popular like Private Ryan and Shakespeare in Love.
This is exactly why Memento never won a Best Picture Oscar), but in this case, I think that the quality of the historical element was one of the things that caused the Academy to sway more toward Shakespeare in Love than Saving Private Ryan.
In my opinion, the Oscar was given to Shakespeare in Love because of the enormous effort that was put into the film's story.
One of the main problems with movies these days is that people think that just because you get two great names together (like Spielberg and Hanks), then you have what should automatically be the Best Picture winner for that year.
True, we can't assume that such a great man as Shakespeare didn't have a temper (there are already enough rumors about him, such as the one that when he was writing his plays, he `never blotted a word.'), but quick to anger is not the kind of thing that is generally associated with him.It is rather unfortunate that Shakespeare in Love and Saving Private Ryan came up against each other in the Academy Awards for 1998, because they are both worth a Best Picture Oscar, but since only one can be given out, I think that Shakespeare in Love has the edge on Private Ryan.
I stand by the Academy's decision, and I hope that, from what I have said about Shakespeare in Love, those rather misled people who think that Best Director and Best Picture automatically go together will begin to understand why that is not at all true..
Gwyneth Paltrow turns out an amazing performance especially since she is using an accent, speaking in verse, and playing four parts (Viola, Thomas, Romeo, and Juliet).
Or there's the fights (yes, there are fights in a Shakespearean film), which are hilarious, tense, and full of suspense.So, if I've been able to laugh at every joke all fourteen (yes, you read it correctly, 14) times that I've seen 'Shakespeare in Love,' I think you'll enjoy it at least once..
Gwynneth Paltrow does her best to make the film as boring as possible which is quite tricky with actors like Geoffrey Rush and Martin Clunes on screen.
When I heard that Shakespeare in Love recieved the Oscar for Best Picture, I couldn't believe it.
In spite of having a good premise; a love story that fuses the central themes of Romeo and Juliet with events from the famous author's life, the film simply falls flat.
Joseph Fiennes doesn't have enough charisma to take on a meaty role such as Shakespeare himself, and Gwyneth Paltrow simply looks out of place among the rest of the cast.
High on love, Shakespeare begins on a quest of writing Romeo & Juliet, interweaving his passion with Viola into the play.
A shrewd and charming romantic comedy about the well-known playright William Shakespeare (Joesph Fiennes), who's fighting a severe case of writer's block and the cure comes in the form of Lady Viola de Lessops (Gwyneth Paltrow).
Paltrow and Dench both won Oscars for their memorable performances and I'm happy that the film won "Best Picture" instead of "SAVING PRIVATE RYAN".
What especially impressed me was the way in which the love story between Will and Viola is played out using many of the actual lines from Romeo and Juliet and with John Madden, the director, seamlessly transitioning the scenes from the bedroom to the stage and back again.
I avoided it for a year but since it was in the new 7 day releases I finally bit the bullet and tried to watch it.I can't understand why this movie won best picture instead of Saving Private Ryan.
The parallels they create between Shakespeare and Viola and Romeo and Juliet are priceless and wonderful.Also, I have to say, the performances of Romeo and Juliet in this movie are the best I have ever seen.
Sure, there are aspects of the historical time that didn't jive, but this film was meant to entertain, not to give us a history lesson.I have read the many works of Shakespeare, and in particular I have read and re-read and re-read Romeo and Juliet.
Equally hilarious and romantic, Shakespeare in Love boasts almost everything a movie can: great acting across the board- especially Gwyneth Paltrow, Judi Dench and Joseph Fiennes (who was completely snubbed by the Academy), a brilliant screenplay, good direction, wonderful production (art direction, editing, cinematography, costumes, etc) humor, romance, emotion, drama and glamour!
"Shakespeare in Love" was an interesting movie, but in a year when we had "Beloved" and "The Truman Show" ("Saving Private Ryan" was also good, but there were more things that it could have shown), did this one really deserve Best Picture?
No matter; I did like the original name that they suggested for "Romeo and Juliet".It's still weird to think that this came out around the same time as "Elizabeth", and also portrayed Queen Elizabeth - not to mention that both movies starred Joseph Fiennes and Geoffrey Rush..
Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow) wanted nothing more than to perform on stage.The Lovely Viola, is set to marry Lord Wessex, but her desire to become an actress, leads her to dress as a man and she successfully auditions for a part in Shakespeare's Romeo and Ethel the pirate's daughter.
Inspired by a forbidden love for Viola, Shakespeare's writers block is lifted and his play blossoms into Romeo and Juliet.This is a heart warming tale of forbidden love between an unlikely couple, and is delivered in a charming way, with subtle comedy undertones throughout.A Beautiful Film 8/10.
Viola is the heart and soul of the movie, she is the reason for Romeo and Juliet's existence and Paltrow truly makes us believe in romance.The supporting cast is all terrific.
It took imagination and talent to make the fictional events in "Shakespeare in Love" (though BASED on truth) into something so moving and so real.I respect a movie a lot more when it MAKES me belive, rather than ALLOWING me to believe.
It took imagination and talent to make the fictional events in "Shakespeare in Love" (though BASED on truth) into something so moving and so real.I respect a movie a lot more when it MAKES me belive, rather than ALLOWING me to believe.
Wonderful performance by Joseph Fiennes as Shakespeare with writer's block looking for inspiration and love in Gwynneth Paltrow.
If I actually identified everything I found unappealing in this film, I would exceed the 1,000-word limit, so I will only point out a few things.The overly sentimental outpouring of love between Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes ruined this movie for me.
Excellent Movie with great performances by Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow.
But beyond that there constant Elizabethan in-jokes, pitched so that even those with the barest acquaintance with the life of times of Shakespeare will get some, while others are rewards for deeper study.Many people who do not like the film ask how could it have won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1998.
When film critics look back 20 years from now they'll say to themselves "Shakespeare in Love"!?
Fictional story takes place in 1593 England, with writer William Shakespeare stuck in a creative drought, eventually inspired to write "Romeo and Juliet" while having a passionate love affair with a Lady of the Court.