Shakespeare in love

Shakespeare in Love (Shakespeare in love, in Spain; Shakespeare in love, in Latin America) is a 1998 American film directed by British John Madden and starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes. It tells of the love affair between Viola de Lesseps and a young William Shakespeare during the time the playwright was writing Romeo and Juliet. Although the characters are based on real people, what is told in the film is largely fictional.

The feature film achieved great critical and public success, and received, among others, seven Oscar Awards, three Golden Globes and four BAFTA Awards. It was the film with the most Oscar nominations of 1998, as it had a total of thirteen nominations.

Synopsis

William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) is a poor playwright for Philip Henslowe (Geoffrey Rush), owner of The Rose Theatre, in London, in 1593. After learning his muse was cheating on him, Shakespeare burns his new comedy, Romeo and Ethel, Daughter of the Pirate and rewrites it as the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Suffering from writer's block, he is unable to complete the play, and begins auditions for Romeo. A young man named Thomas Kent gets the role after impressing Shakespeare with his acting and his love for Shakespeare's previous work. Kent is actually Viola de Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow), the daughter of a wealthy ennobled merchant who wishes to perform, but since women are banned from the stage, she must disguise herself.

After Shakespeare discovers his star's true identity, he and Viola begin a passionate secret romance. Inspired by her, Shakespeare writes rapidly, benefiting from the advice of playwright and friendly rival Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (Rupert Everett). Shakespeare and Viola know, however, that their romance is lost. He is married, albeit widely separated from his wife, while Viola's parents have arranged her betrothal to Lord Wessex (Colin Firth), a bankrupt aristocrat who will earn a very respectable dowry by marrying Viola while bringing influence and privileges to his wife. the DeLesseps family. When Viola is summoned to the court of Queen Elizabeth I of England (Judi Dench), Shakespeare dons a woman's disguise to accompany her as her cousin. In court, he persuades Wessex to bet £50 that a play cannot capture the nature of true love. If Romeo and Juliet is a success, Shakespeare as playwright is going to make the money. The queen, who enjoys Shakespeare's plays, agrees to witness the bet.

Shakespeare finds out that Marlowe was murdered and since he posed as his friendly rival to get rid of Wessex, he believes that he has killed him, while Wessex discovers Will's true identity and after a duel with Espada it is clarified everything: Marlowe was killed in a bar fight in which Wessex had nothing to do; Edmund Tilney, the Master of Ceremonies, the Queen's officer in charge of the theaters and whom Will discovered with Rosaline, learns that there is a woman in the theater company at Rose's Theatre, and orders the theater closed for violating the law. morality and law. Now without a leading man or a theater, it seems the Romeo and Juliet project must end before it can even begin, until Richard Burbage (Martin Clunes), the owner of a competing theater, The Curtain who had already been beaten and ripped off. for Shakespeare and his people, he willingly offers his theater to Henslowe and his people. Shakespeare assumes the lead role of Romeo, with a male actor playing Juliet. Viola realizes that the play will take place on her wedding day, and after the ceremony she sneaks out to the theater. Shortly before the play begins, the young man who plays Juliet begins to experience a voice change due to puberty. Viola replaces him and plays Shakespeare's Juliet and Romeo. Her passionate portrayal of her two lovers inspires the entire audience, including a puritanical pastor who initially preached against the alleged immorality of the theater.

Tilney arrives at the theater with Wessex, who has guessed the location of his new girlfriend. Tilney plans to have the audience and cast arrested for indecency, but the Queen is present. Although she recognizes Viola, the Queen does not unmask him, and instead declares that the role of Juliet is being done very well by Thomas Kent. However, even a queen does not have the power to end a legal marriage, so she asks "Kent" that she go in search of Viola so that she can sail with Wessex to the colony of Virginia. The Queen also claims that Romeo and Juliet has accurately portrayed true love, so Wessex must pay Shakespeare the £50, the exact amount Shakespeare requires to buy a share in the Lord Chamberlain's men.. The queen then demands that "Kent" that she asks Shakespeare to write something "a little more cheerful next time, for Twelfth Night."

Shakespeare and Viola say goodbye and she leaves resigned to her fate. The film closes as Shakespeare begins to write Twelfth Night, or The Twelfth Night imagining his love landing in a strange land after a shipwreck and meditating: 'For she will be my heroine of all time, and her name will be... Viola', a strong young castaway who disguises herself as a young man.

Cast

Reception

Janet Maslin rated the film as a Critics' Pick for The New York Times, calling it "quite a charm. According to Maslin, Gwyneth Paltrow, in her first great and completely satisfying performance, creates a heroine so amazing that she looks entirely plausible as the playwright's muse.

Roger Ebert, who gave the film a 4/4 star rating, wrote: "Contemporary sense of humor makes the film a contest between Masterpiece Theater and the style of actor Mel Brooks. Then the movie goes between a sweet love story, controversial court intrigues, politics and some romantic moments taken from Romeo and Juliet. Is this a movie or an anthology? I don't mind. I was hooked by the wit, energy and surprising sweetness of this film."

Rotten Tomatoes yielded 92% positive reviews out of a total of 125 and an average rating of 8.3/10. The review summary reads as follows: "Endlessly inventive, visually compelling, and sweetly romantic. Shakespeare in Love is a dazzling romantic comedy that hits all levels."

The Sunday Telegraph hails that the film led to a revival of the Title of "Earl of Wessex". Prince Edward was originally going to be made "Duke of Cambridge" after he married Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1999 (the year after the film was released). However, after seeing the tape, it was reported that the Prince was attracted to the Title of the character represented by Colin Firth, to the point of going to Queen Elizabeth II to have said Title granted to him, that of " Earl of Wessex" instead of "Duke of Cambridge".

Awards

Oscars

Golden Globe Awards

BAFTA Awards

Screen Actors Guild Awards