Don’t spring John Madden’s Shakespeare in Love on any unsuspecting English majors unless they’ve got a sense of humor about the use of dramatic license or Elizabethan anachronisms when dealing with their beloved Bard of Avon. Shakespeare in Love fictionalizes and romanticizes a particular period in the early playwrighting career of the young poet. As a romance, the movie is awash in lovely people and graceful speeches, but, for those in the know about the few facts we actually have about the man of the title, the film’s considerable success really depends on our ignoring the known data about the writer for the sake of this entertainment.
Shakespeare in Love (Blu-ray)
Directed by John Madden
Studio: Miramax/Lions Gate
Year: 1998
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 1080p AVC codec
Running Time: 122 minutes
Rating: R
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English
Subtitles: SDH, Spanish
Region: A
MSRP: $ 14.99
Release Date: January 31, 2012
Review Date: February 5, 2012
The Film
4/5
One of the writers responsible for the screenplay in question is a great one, Tom Stoppard, who has already used Shakespeare’s work for a witty conceit on Hamlet in his justly celebrated Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. This piece is of a similar mold except that he purloins lines from the vastly familiar Romeo and Juliet and other renowned writings of the man and works them into this story of the young author estranged from his wife and family falling in love with a girl his own age for the first time. Since so little is actually known about Shakespeare the man, Stoppard is not running much of a risk in disturbing a general audience using these assorted real-life personages in his delightful conceit. However, facts that are known about Shakespeare’s career as a writer and the invention of Romeo and Juliet in particular are generally known and have been grossly ignored in favor of Stoppard’s (and co-writer Marc Norman’s) purposes. While general audiences may not tick off the vast number of inaccuracies and misinformation that whiz by during the film’s 122-minute running time, more informed viewers will have trouble from the opening date title – 1593, a year to year and a half before the play Romeo and Juliet was ever performed, one year after the death of Christopher Marlowe, and eight years before he wrote Twelfth Night, all of which get great attention during the course of the film. The list of changes and untruths is far too numerous to belabor, but they’re available in various references if anyone’s interested..
Leaving aside the facts which have been butchered (and that doesn’t seem to have bothered any of the participants in the movie), Shakespeare in Love is a lovely romantic comedy. Gwyneth Paltrow plays Viola De Lesseps, a young noblewoman with a burning love of poetry and the stage. She longs to perform in plays but knows it is against the law of the time for women to appear on stage. (The women’s parts were routinely played by young boys and men.) Disguising herself as a young actor, she wins the role of Romeo in Shakespeare’s forthcoming comedy Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate’s Daughter. Discovering her disguise and falling passionately in love with his new leading “man,” Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes), on the advice of established writer Christopher Marlowe (unbilled Rupert Everett), turns his slapstick comedy into a passionate love tragedy mirroring in many ways his own bid for Viola’s hand.
There are lots of subplots to keep things interesting, too. Viola’s family has matched her with the titled but poor Lord Wessex (Colin Firth), and she is slated to marry in less than a month when she falls for young William. Queen Elizabeth I (Judi Dench) has made a wager with Wessex who claims that no play can fully portray the depths of feeling that true love attains, so Shakespeare’s forthcoming play is of interest to her. Elizabeth’s sergeant-in-arms Tilney (Simon Callow) is scouring the countryside looking for worthless actors and for playhouses that are breaking the rules. And Will’s best friend Ned (Ben Affleck) signs on to act in the new play after being convinced that his part of Mercutio is indeed the leading role.
A star studded cast keeps everything ticking merrily along. In addition to Gwyneth Paltrow’s best ever performance (she does, in effect, play four roles during the course of the film), we have Joseph Fiennes doing a more passionate and less calculating star turn as Shakespeare than he did as Lord Robert Dudley in Elizabeth. Judi Dench is a treat as the aged but still feisty Queen Elizabeth while Ben Affleck gets a few choice moments as the egotistical Ned. Colin Firth is all pompous poseur as Wessex, and Geoffrey Rush is quite funny as the desperate stage producer who takes almost the length of the film to figure out that Will’s new play is not a comedy about pirates. Even though Christopher Marlowe was actually dead when the action of the film is supposedly taking place, it would have been nice to see Rupert Everett have more to do as the highly regarded and somewhat suspicious playwright.
Director John Madden keeps the intricacies of the script briskly moving along, and he uses his widescreen canvas well if never very imaginatively. He does manage to stage scenes from Romeo and Juliet very smoothly and beautifully illustrating how an audience can get wrapped up in a live theatrical performance and react emotionally to what they’re witnessing. Still, with all of the dramatic and comic license and the numerous examples of disregarding facts, Shakespeare in Love stakes its claim as one of the sweetest and most passionate intellectual love stories ever made.
Video Quality
4/5
The film’s theatrical 2.35:1 aspect ratio is faithfully retained in this 1080p transfer using the AVC codec. It appears as if some DNR has been applied to the image here as there is a smoothness about quite a few scenes that seems to imply its presence. It’s not enough to make complexions overly waxy and unreal, but it does seem to be present to a certain extent. Despite that, color saturation levels are excellent (the peacock gown that Queen Elizabeth wears comes through in stunning detail), and flesh tones, while a bit inconsistent, appear fairly natural if occasionally rosy throughout. Sharpness is good, and black levels are very good. The film has been divided into 31 chapters.
Audio Quality
4/5
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sound mix most especially favors Stephen Warbeck’s Oscar-winning music score given an impressive spread through the soundstage. Elsewhere, there isn’t as much surround activity as one might have had with the rowdy theater crowds and typical London street noises. Dialogue, a key component to the success of this venture, has been superbly recorded and has been placed firmly in the center channel.
Special Features
4/5
There are two audio commentaries and both are must listening for fans of the film. Director John Madden has the first one to himself discussing all aspects of the production from cast to crew and providing some interesting behind-the-scenes anecdotes. The second is a compilation of many members of the cast (Paltrow, Rush, Firth, Affleck, Dench) and crew (producers, both writers, production designer and costume designer, and even a few additional comments from director John Madden).
All of the video bonus features are presented in 480i
“Shakespeare in Love and on Film” is a 21 ¾-minute digital press kit featuring brief sound bite interviews with all of the film’s key personnel and also featuring some brief glimpses at other movie versions of some Shakespeare plays.
There is a brief 2 ½-minute interview with costume designer Sandy Powell who won an Oscar for her wardrobe designs for the movie. (Some of her comments here are also excerpted in the above commentary.)
There are six deleted/extended scenes which cannot be watched separately but are combined in one 10 ¾-minute montage.
The film’s theatrical trailer runs 2 minutes.
There is a 9 ¾-minute compilation of fifteen and thirty second TV spots which entertainingly follow the film’s progress from its initial release through its great critical acclaim to its six Golden Globe nominations and three wins to its inevitable thirteen Academy Award nominations and seven wins.
There are promo trailers for The English Patient, Good Will Hunting, Cold Mountain, and Serendipity.
In Conclusion
4/5 (not an average)
Winner of seven Academy Awards including the Best Picture of 1998, Shakespeare in Love is a fanciful and dreamy lark using a blend of real life and fictional characters interacting in a memorable romantic drama with sprightly comic elements. While there are minor problems with the transfer, picture and sound are good and bonus features have been ported over from a previous DVD release. Recommended!
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC