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.
