by Chris Marshall:
Poor Colin Firth. Shakespeare
in Love marked the second time in three years that one of the Brothers
Fiennes stole his wife (or fiancée) away in a Best Picture winner. In The English Patient, he played Geoffrey
Clifton, and his wife had an affair with Count Laszlo, played by Ralph Fiennes.
Here, his fiancée Viola, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, falls in love with the
Bard, who is played by Ralph’s younger brother Joseph.
It was a rough couple of years for Colin, but he’ll bounce
back in a big way in a little over a decade when he gets to be a king. Being a
king is cool, even if you do have a stuttering problem.
Joseph has not achieved the same level of fame that his
older brother has, but he’s still got a very solid list of acting credits. Most
impressive is that Shakespeare in Love
was only his second screen credit—not a bad start to his career[1].
Paltrow, who I normally don’t like at all, even came across as very likeable
here. I worried that my feelings about her in general would cloud my judgment
about her performance, but I thought she was quite good.
This is a charming film, if a bit light on substance. It’s
essentially a romantic comedy, albeit with a sadder ending than one normally
finds in the genre. Shakespeare is attempting to write a play, one that starts
out with the working title Romeo and
Ethel the Pirate’s Daughter. He’s just waiting for his muse so he can
finish it. I would really, really like to see that version of the play.
In the meantime, however, he meets Viola, who desperately
loves theatre and poetry and dreams of being an actor herself, even though
having women on stage was expressly forbidden at the time. When she finds out
that Shakespeare is putting on a new production, she dresses as a man (shades
of Twelfth Night) and auditions. She’s
great, and it’s not like the Bard has a ton of talent to work with anyway, so
she is cast immediately.
He doesn’t immediately realize that “Thomas Kent” is Viola,
and one night he confesses his love for Viola to “Kent.” After discovering they
are one and the same, they begin a secret relationship, which turns out to be
the inspiration for the last acts of the play.
 |
| He looks like somebody. I just can't figure out who. |
It’s an interesting story, and it is generally well
executed. Geoffrey Rush, Tom Wilkinson, and Ben Affleck all turn in quality
performances in supporting roles, and Judi Dench, despite having only 10 or 15
minutes of screen time, collected the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her
role as Queen Elizabeth.
Although the 71st Academy Awards belonged to Shakespeare in Love, which had the most
nominations and wins, in retrospect it’s a little hard for me to understand why
Saving Private Ryan didn’t take home
the top prize. The film, directed by John Madden[2],
became one of the fairly rare movies to win Best Picture but not Best Director;
that prize went to Steven Spielberg. Both are Oscar-type movies, so I have to
wonder if Spielberg’s win five years earlier for another World War II film hurt
his chances to take this one home as well.
Considering its historical context, watching Shakespeare in Love was a refreshing
change of pace. Forrest Gump was
pretty fun for the most part, but it was still kind of depressing in parts. But
there’s been some pretty dark, depressing stuff this decade, so even a
quasi-comedy is pretty nice to see.
Tomorrow, I close out the 1990s, after which I’ll head into
the final full decade of The Oscar Project. For all my dedicated readers whose
lives would fall into shambles without my posts, fear not; lots more exciting
movie blogging is coming your way after this is done. Stay tuned!
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