Shakespeare in Love ***** (1998, Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush) – Classic Movie Review 291

Written by Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman, and directed by John Madden, the delightful, carefree 1998 fantasy romantic comedy Shakespeare in Love is jam packed with amusing puns and clever play-on-words.

It is spun around the theatrical and romantic life of William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes), who soon falls for the lovely boyish Viola de Lesseps (the 26-year-old Gwyneth Paltrow), masquerading as an actress to be one of his actors, only to discover that she is in fact a woman after all.

Shakespeare at the start has writer’s block and is broke. He’s struggling with his new, still uncompleted comedy, which is to be called Romeo and Ethel, The Pirate’s Daughter. As the production under patron Philip Henslowe (Geoffrey Rush) and loan shark Hugh Fennyman (Tom Wilkinson) gets under way, a boy named Thomas Kent is cast as Romeo.

Viola de Lesseps loves the theatre but is forbidden to perform on stage, as by law only men can be actors. Dressing as a man, she auditions for a part in Shakespeare’s next play under the name of Thomas Kent. He/she proves ideal of course and is hired. But Shakespeare eventually rumbles her disguise and they fall for each other.

Shakespeare’s work emerges as Romeo and Juliet, and the play, performed in front of Her Majesty Elizabeth I (Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner Judi Dench), is eventually a triumph.

Unfortunately, Shakespeare is already married and Viola has been promised to the dour Lord Wessex (Colin Firth).

Finally, Shakespeare immortalises Viola by making the main character of his new play, Twelfth Night, a strong young woman named Viola who also disguises herself as a boy. So all’s well that ends well.

There is no doubt that this delicious movie is quite obviously a bit – well a lot, actually – on the luvvie side. It is an actors’ dream film and it has the right players. Anthony Sher, Martin Clunes, Simon Callow, Rupert Everett, Imelda Staunton, Jim Carter and Ben Affleck are also in the marvellous cast, all giving incomparable support performances.

But, best of all, it is breathlessly funny, endlessly sweet and charming, and full of the courage of its own convictions.

Paltrow, who won the Best Actress Oscar after being hot favourite, said in 1998: ‘As a kid I never did the “thank-you” thing in front the mirror, and it’s certainly not a goal. If it was, I would be in need of some serious therapy!’

Her next job was opposite Matt Damon in the long-awaited thriller The Talented Mr Ripley and there were already five more films in the pipeline. No wonder she said: ‘At a certain point I’ll probably work less. I’d like to take some time off and do normal things. But I probably won’t have to worry about it. They’ll probably kick me out of movies before I’m ready to go.’

Why did the Academy voters overlook Fiennes’s fine star-making performance as Will Shakespeare, without whom Gwyneth Paltrow could hardly be in love in the first place? He is really excellent but was not even nominated. Why was Rupert Everett unbilled in his fun turn as advice-giving friendly rival playwright Christopher Marlowe?

Shakespeare in Love was nominated for a breath-taking 13 Oscar nominations and was the winner of seven, including Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Martin Childs, Jill Quertier, Best Costume Design (Sandy Powell, Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score (Stephen Warbeck).

2014 brings a hit theatre adaptation to the London West End stage.

Dame Judi Dench celebrated her 84th birthday on 9 December 2018. She is a Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner for Shakespeare in Love (1998), with six other nominations: Mrs Brown (1997), Chocolat (2000), Iris (2001), Mrs Henderson Presents (2005), Notes on a Scandal (2006) and Philomena (2013).

© Derek Winnert 2013 Classic Movie Review 291

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com/