Shakespeare in Love

Shakespeare in Love
File:Shakes-in-love-mov-poster.jpg
Directed by	John Madden
Written by	Marc Norman Tom Stoppard
Produced by	David Parfitt Donna Gigliotti Harvey Weinstein Edward Zwick Marc Norman
Starring	Joseph Fiennes Gwyneth Paltrow Geoffrey Rush Colin Firth Ben Affleck Judi Dench
Cinematography	Richard Greatrex
Edited by	David Gamble Christopher Greenbury
Music by	Stephen Warbeck
Distributed by	Miramax Films (USA) Alliance Atlantis (Canada) Universal Studios (non-USA/Canada)
Release dates	December 3, 1998 (premiere) 11 December, 1998 (limited) 25 December, 1998 8 January, 1999 29 January, 1999 11 February, 1999 25 February, 1999
Running time	137 min.
Language	English

Shakespeare in Love is an award-winning 1998 romantic comedy film. The film was directed by John Madden and co-written by playwright Tom Stoppard, whose first major success was with the Shakespeare-influenced play Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead.

The film is largely fictional, although several of the characters are based on real people. In addition, some of the characters, lines, and plot devices are references to Shakespeare's plays.

Shakespeare in Love won a number of Academy Awards in 1999, including Best Picture and Best Actress (for Gwyneth Paltrow). It was the first comedy to win the Best Picture award since Annie Hall (1977).

Historical accuracy

The film makes no pretense at historical accuracy and features many comic anachronisms (such as a psychotherapist, a mug marked "A present from Stratford-on-Avon", Shakespeare leaping into a ferry and saying "Follow that boat!", and Henslowe anticipating the phrase "The show must go on!"). Yet it must be remembered that this has been transferred into modern language for us to understand to suit our year of discourse making this film more worthwhile for the modern day audience.

Synopsis

The film opens with the following information onscreen: "London 1593. In the glory days of the Elizabethan theatre, two playhouses were fighting it out for for writers and audiences. North of the city was the Curtain Theatre, home to England's most famous actor, Richard Burbage. Across the river was the competition, built by Philip Henslowe, a businessman with a cash flow problem: The Rose ..."

To settle his debt to businessman Hugh Fennyman, Henslowe offers Fennyman a partnership in the upcoming production of Shakespeares's newest comedy, Romeo and Ethel The Pirate's Daughter which is, according to Henslowe's current understanding, "a crowd tickler; mistaken identities, shipwreck, pirate king, a bit with a dog and love triumphant" and is, he insists, almost finished.

Shakespeare, however, has writer's block. His allegiances are torn between Henslowe, who owes him money, and Burbage, who is offering to let him invest in his troupe, The Chamberlain's Men, which would signal the end of Shakespeare's days as a hired player. Backstage of a performance of The Two Gentlemen of Verona for Queen Elizabeth I at Whitehall Palace, Shakespeare tells Burbage that he is writing a new play for Henslowe, for which he has already received ten pounds. Burbage knows he is lying, and gives him two sovereigns for rights to the unwritten play. Shakespeare is partly helped out of his writer's block by the more successful playwright Christopher Marlowe, who gives him the plot and character names of Romeo and Juliet.

Meanwhile, Viola De Lesseps, an aristocratic lady, is entranced by The Two Gentlemen of Verona's speeches about love. She is, however, angered by the casting: she tells her nurse that the stage cannot capture true love while the law requires women's parts to be played by "pipsqueak boys in petticoats." Viola dresses as a young man called "Thomas Kent" and auditions at the Rose for Romeo and Ethel the Pirate's Daughter.

Shakespeare is so astonished by "Thomas"'s performance that he follows "him" home to a palatial mansion on the banks of the Thames. He persuades a servant - Viola's nurse - to give a note (a description of the character of Romeo) to "Thomas". Viola vows to continue with her charade while her parents are away. Shakespeare pretends to be a musician and attends a party at the De Lesseps mansion. At the party Lord Wessex negotiates with Viola's father for her hand. Shakespeare meets Viola (in her normal clothes), is immediately taken with her, and dances with her, not realizing that she is the same person as Thomas. When the furious Wessex accosts Shakespeare for "coveting my property", Shakespeare gives his name as "Christopher Marlowe." Leaving, Shakespeare sees Viola on her balcony, and they excitedly reveal their nascent feelings for one another.

Inspired, Shakespeare begins writing feverishly, producing a play more serious than Henslowe and the actors had expected. "Thomas Kent" is introduced to the troupe. Shakespeare, still thinking Thomas is Viola's servant, writes a love sonnet to Viola and asks Thomas to give it to her. Backstage, Viola reads the sonnet with great satisfaction.

Back home, however, Viola is informed by Wessex that they are to wed in two weeks, pending the Queen's permission, and will immediately leave for his plantation in Virginia. Viola is horrified but vows to do her duty. She writes a note to Shakespeare telling him this, and imploring him to forget her and delivers the note as "Thomas" the next day in a boat. Shakespeare is crushed and "Thomas" gives a surprised Shakespeare a lingering kiss. Shakespeare is stunned at being kissed by a man, but the oarsman informs him that "Thomas" is obviously Viola in disguise. Shakespeare chases her, and in her bedroom, they make love for the first time.

Rehearsals for the play go successfully, but as the days pass, Viola's wedding looms. One day, Shakespeare tells her that the conclusion of the story has come to him in his sleep, and it will be a tragedy. As Wessex takes Viola to Greenwich to seek the Queen's blessing of their union, Shakespeare accompanies them disguised as a servant woman. Suspicious of Viola, Wessex asks "her" whether Christopher Marlowe has been seen at the De Lesseps home. Shakespeare answers that he has.

Queen Elizabeth recognizes Viola from the theatre audience at Whitehall and dismisses plays. Viola admits that she loves theater, and, above all, poetry. The Queen says that playwrights teach us nothing about love, "they make it pretty, they make it comical,or they make it lust. They cannot make it true." Viola disagrees, believing that there is one that can. Wessex makes a bet with the still disquised Shakespeare as to whether a play can show the truth and nature of love. The Queen says she will be the judge ofthe wager as the occasion arises. In an aside with Wessex, she tells him that Viola has lost her virginity since the Queen saw her last, and not to Wessex. Wessex has the final word of the scene: "Marlowe!"

Christopher Marlowe finishes "The Massacre at Paris" and negotiates with Burbage to sell it to him. Burbage tells Marlowe that he doesn't really need Marlowe's play, since he has bought one from Shakespeare. Marlowe informs him that Shakespeare has given that play to Henslowe. Burbage is furious, and, with his troupe, marches to The Rose, where a fight ensues, with the Rose troupe victorious.

After the fight, the players retire to a tavern that is also house of ill repute, "but with a good reputation." Shakespeare offers Fennyman a small but vital role in his play, the part of the apothecary. Henslowe is still confused and asks what the story is. "Let us have pirates and clowns and a happy ending or we shall send you back to Stratford with your wife." Viola is shocked at this. She leaves angry and hurt. A moment later, a messenger enters the tavern, and announces that Marlowe is dead, stabbed in a tavern. Shakespeare believes that his lies to Wessex are the cause of Marlowe's death.

Next morning Wessex is riding his horse and singing a happy tune when he meets Viola on the road. He informs Viola that there has been a fight in a tavern, resulting in a great loss to playwriting and to dancing. Viola, of course, believes that Shakespeare has died. They ride off to church together to say a prayer for his soul.

At the church, Wessex spies the distraught Shakespeare in the apse of the church. Wessex believes it is a ghost and runs out of the church screaming. Shakespeare and Viola make eye contact, but he turns away from her. She catches up, and they embrace. She says she thought he was dead. Shakespeare says it is worse than that, he has killed a man.

On the bank of the Thames, Shakespeare and Viola sit and talk. Shakespeare allows as how great Marlowe was, and how Marlowe's work was often the basis for his own. Shakespeare says that he would trade all his plays to come, for all of Marlowes that will never come. Viola calls him a liar, and says that he lies on the river like he lied in her bed. Shakespeare counters that "my love is no lie, i have a wife, and I can't marry you but you didn't need a wife come from Stratford to tell you that, yet you let me come to your bed."

Back at rehearsal, Shakespeare hands out the final pages of the play, explaining how it is to end. The tragic ending of love denied is, of course, inspired by the denied love in his real life. Fennyman, almost tearful, describes it: "Sad. Wonderful".

In Viola's home, Shakespeare gives Viola a copy of the completed play, written by the clerk of Bridewell who has "a good fist for lettering." It includes the new scene, which they read to each other. It echoes their earlier exchange where they argue over what bird they have heard, the nightingale, or the lark, the herald of evening, or the herald of morn.

The scene switches to The Rose, where the lovers continue to speak the lines of the new scene. Shakespeare undresses Viola backstage in the empty theater. Unseen, John Webster observes them, and reports what he has seen to the Master of the Revels.

Wessex appears at The Rose in the middle of rehearsal and challenges Shakespeare to a duel. He does not recognize Viola who stands very near in the guise of Kent. The two men fight and it seems briefly that Shakespeare has won, when it is revealed that his sword is a stage sword without the strength to actual hurt Wessex. The tide of the fight changes, but Shakespeare prevails when he snaps Wessex's sword in half. Shakespeare is about to kill Wessex, announcing to all that Wessex is the murderer of Marlowe. Alleyn interrupts to tell Shakespeare that Marlowe was not murdered, but died by his own clumsy hand in a fight over a bar bill. Shakespeare, surprised and relieved, releases Wessex. The Master of the Revels enters, and Wessex leaves angrily, ordering the Master of the Revels to take The Rose apart stone by stone. The Master of the Revels reveals his knowledge that there is a woman on the stage. He initially believes that Sam is the woman John Webster reported to him, but soon discovers his error. John Webster drops a mouse down Viola's back, causing her to scream and thrash, and to lose her boy's wig. Viola is exposed, and tries to take all the blame, saying that nobody knew. John Webster says that Shakespeare knew, because he (Shakespeare) was playing with her "bubbies." The Master of the Revels closes The Rose for sedition and indecency. On Viola's way out, Mr. Wabash stops her to say that she was wonderful.

In the tavern, The Rose players are mourning their lost play when Burbage enters. Fennyman casually instructs one of his henchmen to kill Burbage, but Burbage stays him. He says to the group that the Master of the Revels has no respect for any of them, in spite of the fact that his father, James Burbage had the first license from the Queen to start a company of players, and that "he drew from poets the literature of the age." Together they must show the Master of the Revels that they are "men of parts." He concludes, "Will shakespeare has a play. I have a theater. The Curtain is yours."

Flyers are posted announcing the production. Some are blown away by the wind. It seems to be a parody of modern film credits, reading

By Permission

of

Mr. Burbage

a

Hugh Fennyman Production

of

Mr Henslowe's Presentation

of

The Admiral's Men in performance

of

The excellent and Lamentable Tragedie

of

ROMEO and JULIET

With Mr. Fennyman as the Apothecary.

at Three of the Clocks in th' Afternoon.

Quick vignettes follow. Henslowe reminds Shakespeare that they now need a Romeo. Viola dresses for her wedding. Robert De Lesseps pays off Wessex. Shakespeare is nearly run over by Wessex's carriage. Viola and Wessex exit church, obviously having just been married. A flyer announcing the play hits Wessex in the face; he takes it off and hands it to Viola who reads it and hands it to her nurse. The two share a conspiratorial look. Viola gets into the waiting carriage while Wessex makes a final farewell to the assembled crowd, and then is briefly assailed by the nurse. He gets into his carriage only to find that he is alone. Viola has fled to the theater.

Backstage, Sam approaches Shakespeare who suddenly realizes that Sam's voice has dropped an octave and is no longer suitable as Juliet. Henslowe goes into the audience and approaches Burbage and tells Burbage that they have no Juliet. Viola, now seated nearby overhears and volunteers to play Juliet. Henslow and Viola hurry backstage, and just as Sam is about to walk onstage as Juliet, Henslow pulls him off and Viola walks on in the Juliet character, much to the shock of the other players. Wessex shows up at the theater.

The play concludes, and after a brief pause of awe for the play, the theatre erupts in thunderous applause. The Master of the Revels bursts upon the stage and declares that the company are arrested in the name of the Queen for violating his order. Burbage argues that the Master of the Revels closed The Rose, not The Curtain. The Master of the Revels responds by pointing at Viola and yelling, "that woman is a woman!" He is closing the Curtain for public lewdness in the name of the Queen.

Queen Elizabeth (who we did not know was in the audience), calls loudly to Mr. Tilney, whom she informs that "the Queen of England does not attend exhibitions of public lewdness, so something is out of joint." She bids "Master Kent" to come close. Viola comes as bidden, and after a beat, realizes that the Queen is offering her (and her company of players) a way out of trouble, and bows to her as a man would. The Queen examines "Kent" and announces that the illusion is remarkable and that Mr. Tilney can be forgiven his error. The Queen judges that Lord Wessex has lost his wager as to whether a play could reveal the very truth and nature of love.

Wessex asks the Queen how this story is to end. The Queen answers, "as stories must when love's denied. With tears and a journey." She tells Wessex to give the 50 pounds he lost to Mr. Kent, who will see it rightfully home. She instructs "Kent" to go into the theater, make his farewells, and send out Wessex's wife. She also tells Kent to tell Shakespeare to do something more cheerful next time for twelfth night.

Viola approaches Shakespeare backstage. She gives him his winnings and says, "a hired player no longer," referring to the fact that he can now invest in Burbage's troupe.

In their grief they begin to talk about the outline of the comedy that the Queen has commanded. Much of what they speak of is their own story. They speak of a duke, of a heroine sold into marriage and already halfway to America, of the heroine on a vast and empty shore, disguised as a boy.

Shakespeare begins to write Twelfth Night. Shakespeare narrates some scenes from Twelfth Night, and concludes with, "She will be my heroine for all time, and her name shall be Viola."

Casting

• Just weeks before filming Julia Roberts was cast alongside Daniel-Day Lewis but both dropped out a few weeks before filming because Lewis felt the film wouldn't be right for him and Roberts was very anxious to work with him.

• Meg Ryan, Jodie Foster, and Winona Ryder were all considered for the part. Kate Winslet was then cast, but she also dropped out just a few days shy of filming, allowing the runner-up, Gwyneth Paltrow to win the part.

References to Shakespeare's work

The main source for much of the action in the film is Romeo and Juliet, which the events in the film ultimately inspire Will to write. Will and Viola play out the famous balcony and bedroom scenes; like Juliet, Viola has a witty nurse, and is separated from Will by a gulf of duty (although not the family enmity of the play—the "two households" of Romeo and Juliet are supposedly inspired by the two rival playhouses). In addition, the two lovers are equally 'star-crossed' — they are not ultimately destined to be together (since Viola is of nobility promised to marry Earl of Wessex and Shakespeare himself is already married).

Many other plot devices used in the film are common in various Shakespearean comedies and in the works of the other playwrights of the Elizabethan era: the Queen disguised as a commoner, the cross-dressing disguises, mistaken identities, the swordfight, the suspicion of adultery (or, at least, cheating), the appearance of a 'ghost', and the 'play within a play'.

The film also features numerous sequences in which Shakespeare and the other characters utter words that will later appear in his plays:

• On the street, Shakespeare hears a Puritan preaching against the two London stages: "The Rose smells thusly rank, by any name! I say, a plague on both their houses!" Two references in one, both to Romeo and Juliet; first, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" (Act II, scene ii, lines 1 and 2); second, "a plague on both their houses" (Act III, scene i, line 94).
• Backstage of a performance of The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Shakespeare sees William Kempe in full make-up, silently contemplating a skull (a reference to Hamlet).
• Shakespeare utters the lines "Doubt thou the stars are fire, / Doubt that the sun doth move" (from Hamlet) to Philip Henslowe.
• As Shakespeare's writer's block is introduced, he is seen crumpling balls of paper and throwing them around his room. They land near props which represent scenes in his several plays: a skull (Hamlet), and an open chest (The Merchant of Venice).
• At the end of the film, Shakespeare imagines a shipwreck overtaking Viola on her way to America, inspiring the opening scene of his next play, Twelfth Night.
• Shakespeare writes a sonnet to Viola which begins: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" (from Sonnet 18).

Christopher Marlowe appears in the film as the master playwright whom everyone in the film considers the greatest English dramatist — this is humorous, since everyone in the audience knows what will eventually happen to Shakespeare. He gives Shakespeare a plot for his next play, "Romeo and Ethel the Pirate's Daughter" ("Romeo is Italian...always in and out of love...until he meets...Ethel. The daughter of his enemy! His best friend is killed in a duel by Ethel's brother or something. His name is Mercutio.") Marlowe's Doctor Faustus is quoted ad nauseam: "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships/ And burned the topless towers of Ilium?"

The child John Webster who plays with mice is a reference to the leading figure in the Jacobean generation of playwrights. His plays (The Duchess of Malfi, The White Devil) are known for their blood and gore, which is why he says that he enjoys Titus Andronicus, and why he says of Romeo and Juliet when asked by The Queen "I liked it when she stabbed herself."

When the clown Will Kempe says to Shakespeare that he would like to play in a drama, he is told that "they would laugh at Seneca if you played it," a reference to the Roman tragedian renowned for his sombre and bloody plotlines which were a major influence on the development of English tragedy.

Will is shown signing a paper repeatedly, with six relatively illegible signatures visible. This is a reference to the fact that several versions of Shakespeare's signature exist — no two alike.

Controversy

After the film's release, publications including Private Eye noted strong similarities between the film and the 1941 novel No Bed for Bacon, by Caryl Brahms and S J Simon, which also features Shakespeare falling in love and finding inspiration for his later plays.

In a foreword to a subsequent edition of No Bed for Bacon (which traded on the association by declaring itself "A Story of Shakespeare and Lady Viola in Love"), Ned Sherrin mentioned that he had lent a copy of the novel to Stoppard after he joined the writing team, but that the basic plot of the film had been independently developed by Marc Norman, who was unaware of the novel.

Additionally, the writers of Shakespeare in Love were sued in 1999 by Faye Kellerman, author of the book The Quality of Mercy (book). Ms. Kellerman claimed that the story was lifted from her book.[1]

Awards

Wins

• Academy Award for Best Picture
• Academy Award for Best Actress — Gwyneth Paltrow
• Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress — Judi Dench
• Academy Award for Best Art Direction — Martin Childs & Jill Quertier
• Academy Award for Costume Design — Sandy Powell
• Academy Award for Original Music Score — Stephen Warbeck
• Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay — Marc Norman & Tom Stoppard
• BAFTA Award for Best Film
• BAFTA Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role — Judi Dench
• BAFTA Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role — Geoffrey Rush
• BAFTA Award for Best Editing — David Gamble
• Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
• Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy — Gwyneth Paltrow
• Golden Globe Award Best Screenplay - Comedy/Musical Film - Marc Norman & Tom Stoppard
• Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay — Marc Norman & Tom Stoppard

Nominations

• Academy Award for Directing — John Madden
• Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor — Geoffrey Rush
• Academy Award for Best Cinematography — Richard Greatrex
• Academy Award for Film Editing — David Gamble
• Academy Award for Makeup — Lisa Westcott & Veronica Brebner
• Academy Award for Sound — Robin O'Donoghue, Dominic Lester, Peter Glossop
• BAFTA David Lean Award for Direction — John Madden
• BAFTA Award for Best Actress — Gwyneth Paltrow
• BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role - Joseph Fiennes
• BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role — Tom Wilkinson
• BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography — Richard Greatrex
• BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay — Marc Norman & Tom Stoppard
• BAFTA Award for Best Make Up/Hair — Lisa Westcott
• BAFTA Award for Best Sound — Robin O'Donoghue, Dominic Lester, Peter Glossop, John Downer
• BAFTA Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music — Stephen Warbeck
• BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design — Sandy Powell
• BAFTA Award for Best Production Design — Martin Childs
• Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures — John Madden
• Golden Globe Award for Best Director - Motion Picture — John Madden
• Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture — Geoffrey Rush
• Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture — Judi Dench

Cultural influence

'Shakespeare in Love' has since been used as material in the VCE (Victorian Certificate of Education) in Australia.

External links

Shakespeare in Love at IMDb

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