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*[[Gwyneth Paltrow]]: Viola De Lesseps
*[[Gwyneth Paltrow]]: Viola De Lesseps
*[[Geoffrey Rush]]: [[Philip Henslowe]]
*[[Geoffrey Rush]]: [[Philip Henslowe]]
*[[Tom Wilkinson]]: Hugh Fennyman
*[[Tom Wilkinson]]: [[Hugh Fennyman]]
*[[Judi Dench]]: [[Queen Elizabeth I]]
*[[Judi Dench]]: [[Queen Elizabeth I]]
*[[Colin Firth]]: Lord Wessex
*[[Colin Firth]]: [[Lord Wessex]]
*[[Martin Clunes]]: [[Richard Burbage]]
*[[Martin Clunes]]: [[Richard Burbage]]
*[[Simon Callow]]: [[Edmund Tylney|Sir Edmund Tilney]], [[Master of the Revels]]
*[[Simon Callow]]: [[Edmund Tylney|Sir Edmund Tilney]], [[Master of the Revels]]

Revision as of 02:04, 3 August 2006

Shakespeare in Love
File:Shakes-in-love-mov-poster.jpg
Directed byJohn Madden
Written byMarc Norman
Tom Stoppard
Produced byDavid Parfitt
Donna Gigliotti
Harvey Weinstein
Edward Zwick
Marc Norman
StarringGwyneth Paltrow
Joseph Fiennes
Geoffrey Rush
Colin Firth
Ben Affleck
Judi Dench
CinematographyRichard Greatrex
Edited byDavid Gamble
Music byStephen Warbeck
Distributed byMiramax Films (USA)
Universal Studios (non-USA)
Release dates
December 3, 1998
Running time
137 min.
LanguageEnglish

Shakespeare in Love is a 1998 motion picture. In this dramatic comedy/romance, William Shakespeare is portrayed as a young, struggling playwright, plagued by money shortages, problems with women, and writer's block. Some of the characters and their lines are references to lines and characters in real Shakespeare plays -- implying that these inspire the film's Shakespeare later in life. Most of the film's major plot devices are also taken from Shakespeare.

The film is largely fictional, although it is based around several actual historical characters. It won a number of Academy Awards in 1998, including Best Picture and Best Actress.


Cast

Plot

Template:Spoiler

Young William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) is cursed with writer's block, a theatre whose owner is deep in debt to moneylenders, a jealous rivalry with Christopher Marlowe (Rupert Everett) and the discovery that his mistress, Rosaline, is cheating on him. Philip Henslowe (Geoffrey Rush), manager of The Rose theatre, has promised his angry moneylender, Hugh Fennyman (Tom Wilkinson) that he can repay all debts by making him a partner in the production of a new play by Shakespeare. At an audition for a play—"Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter"—that he actually has not yet written (but for which both Richard Burbage (Martin Clunes), manager of the Curtain theatre, and Henslowe have already paid him), Shakespeare admires the talent of a new actor, Thomas Kent, who quickly runs away. Shakespeare meets Viola de Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow), who lives in the same house as Kent, by sneaking into a party held in honor of Viola's suitor Lord Wessex (Colin Firth). He promptly falls in love with her during a dance, inspiring him to begin writing his play again, but is threatened by Wessex to never touch his property; in fear, he tells Wessex that he is Christopher Marlowe. By the time Will realizes that Viola and Thomas are the same person, she is promised in a marriage to Wessex approved of by Queen Elizabeth I herself (Judi Dench). Regardless of the engagement, the couple find themselves unable to avoid a clandestine affair during which Shakespeare writes his new play, inspired by the events surrounding him and Viola and now retitled Romeo and Juliet at the suggestion of Ned Alleyn (Ben Affleck).

Shakespeare and Viola continue their romance as the play is written and rehearsed day by day. Fennyman, originally antagonistic, eventually falls in love with the theatre and becomes a more passionate defender of their artistic integrity than Henslowe. Burbage eventually discovers that Shakespeare was having an affair with his own mistress, Rosaline, and the two men come to blows. Their brawl is stopped when the news arrives that Marlowe has been stabbed to death. Shakespeare is overcome with guilt, thinking that Wessex has killed Marlowe in place of him. Viola, who was angry at Shakespeare after discovering that he has a wife in Stratford-upon-Avon, is told by Wessex that her "playwright" is dead, thinks it is Shakespeare, and is also overcome by grief. Both attend Marlowe's funeral, causing Wessex to run away screaming in fear, thinking he is seeing a ghost. The couple reunites.

The play continues rehearsal, risking the wrath of the law against women being on stage by having Viola play the part of Romeo. Wessex figures out that Shakespeare lied to him about his name; the two duel, and Shakespeare defeats him, telling the company that Wessex is Marlowe's murderer. Alleyn informs him that he is not, and that Marlowe was killed in a fight over a bill, relieving Shakespeare's guilt. It is eventually discovered that "Thomas Kent" is Viola when John Webster (Joe Roberts), angry he is denied a part, tells Edmund Tylney (Simon Callow) that he spied Shakespeare and Viola making love, and the theatre is closed for immorality. Viola is forced out of the play and married to Wessex. Burbage and Shakespeare settle their differences, and Burbage allows Shakespeare's company to perform the play at his own theatre, with Shakespeare replacing Viola on stage in the lead role of Romeo.

Immediately after her wedding, Viola runs off to the theatre to watch the debut of the play, but is forced on stage when the actor playing Juliet's voice changes. Immediately after the wildly successful performance, the authorities arrive to arrest them all for allowing a woman on stage, but in a deus ex machina it is revealed that Elizabeth I is in the audience. Knowing the truth and intuiting Viola's relationship with Shakespeare, she plays along with the fiction that it is Thomas Kent playing the role of Juliet, saving them from arrest, but insists that Kent go inside to fetch Viola, as even she could not overrule a marriage consecrated by God. She also orders Wessex to pay Shakespeare off on a bet made earlier over whether the truth of love could ever be expressed in a play, allowing Shakespeare to purchase a share in Burbage's theatre company and begin his ascent through the social ranks to gentleman.

Viola and Wessex depart for America after a tearful farewell with Shakespeare, but Viola's fate is somewhat ambiguous. Shakespeare, in voiceover, describes a shipwreck and a new beginning for the heroine of his next play, Twelfth Night, who will be named Viola in honor of his love. The on-screen action shows Viola de Lesseps walking out of the ocean onto a beach after a shipwreck.

On release, the film was compared with the 1941 novel No Bed for Bacon, by Caryl Brahms and S J Simon, which also features Shakespeare writing his plays.

Plot devices

Many of the plot devices used in the film are frequently associated with Shakespeare, although many were common among other writers of Elizabethan drama. These include:

  • both high and low comedy
  • much dialogue spoken in iambic pentameter
  • anachronisms (psychotherapy, "Follow that boat!", Henslowe: "The show must...you know..." Shakespeare: "Go on!", creative accounting - promising the actors a share of the profits in lieu of pay)
  • royal figures playing key characters
  • cross-dressing as disguise
  • mistaken identities
  • a dog figuring in a comic scene (a device referred to within the movie)
  • the appearance of a ghost
  • the "play within the play" (Romeo and Juliet's performance within the film).

Awards

Winnings

Nominations

Wikiquote has quotations related to Shakespeare in Love.

Shakespeare in Love at IMDb

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