Title: Shakespeare in Love
Year: 1998
Director: John Madden
Country: US
Language: English
In 1998 Steven Spielberg directed an incredible World War Two movie called Saving Private Ryan. The opening D-Day scene was so shocking that people still talk about it today. That movie won 5 Oscars, but it did not win Best Picture. Shakespeare in Love did. Time has not been kind to Shakespeare in Love.
William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) , is young, out of ideas and short of cash, but meets his ideal woman (Gwyneth Paltrow) and is inspired to write one of his most famous plays.
Shakespeare in Love is a film that uses concepts & themes of the artists' work (doomed romance, swordfights, cross-dressing) to mold a s story about the artist. It does so without much historical context however; using our modern perception of the artist as a tortured, romantic individual rather than a person who is paid to write plays.
Shakespeare in Love will certainly make Historians & English Majors cringe, but I think the film did a good job at shaping our perception of Shakespeare by being Shakespearean. The film has good cinematography, set design, score, makeup, costume and makeup. The chemistry between Paltrow & Fiennes is quite moving.
Should Shakespeare in Love have won Best Picture? No, I still think Saving Private Ryan should have won. This film doesn't deserve the groans it gets though, as it is quite creative and feels fairly quick paced. It's worth viewing at least once.
No comments:
Post a Comment