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Shakespeare in Love

United States, United Kingdom

1998

123 Min
Color
2.35:1
English
  • Currently 2.9/5 Stars.
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DIR John Madden

PROD David Parfitt, Donna Gigliotti, Harvey Weinstein, Edward Zwick, Marc Norman

SCR Marc Norman, Tom Stoppard

DP Richard Greatrex

CAST Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth, Ben Affleck, Judi Dench, Imelda Staunton, Tom Wilkinson, Rupert Everett, Martin Clunes, Mark Williams, Simon Callow, Stephen O'Donnell, Tim McMullen, Steven Beard, Daniel Brocklebank, Nicholas Le Prevost

ED David Gamble, Christopher Greenbury

MUSIC Stephen Warbeck

Berlinale (Competition): Silver Bear for an outstanding single achievement

Synopsis

Will Shakespeare is a known but struggling poet, playwright and actor who not only has sold his next play to both Philip Henslow and Richard Burbidge but now faces a far more difficult problem: he is bereft of ideas and has yet to begin writing. He is in search of his muse, the woman who will inspire him but all attempts fail him until he meets the beautiful Viola de Lesseps. She loves the theatre and would like nothing more than to take to the stage but is forbidden from doing so as only men can be actors. She is also a great admirer of Shakespeare’s works. Dressing as a man and going by the name of Thomas Kent, she auditions and is ideal for a part in his next play. Shakespeare soon sees through her disguise and they begin a love affair, one they know cannot end happily for them as he is already married and she has been promised to the dour Lord Wessex. –IMDb

Director

Original

John Madden

John Philip Madden (born 8 April 1949) is an English director of theatre, film, television, and radio.

Madden was educated at Clifton College. He was in the same house as friend and fellow director Roger Michell.He began his career in British independent films, and graduated from the University of Cambridge (Sidney Sussex) in 1970 with a B.A. in English literature. He started work in television including directing Prime Suspect 4 and episodes of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ITV, 1984-1994) and Inspector Morse.

Perhaps his most notable achievement to date was directing Shakespeare in Love, which won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1998, and for which he was also nominated as Best Director; he lost to Steven Spielberg for Saving Private Ryan. The film also won the Silver Bear at the 49th Berlin International Film Festival.

Madden is also a Jury Member for the digital studio Filmaka, a platform for undiscovered filmmakers to show their work to industry professionals… read more

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AKFilmFan

2May13

Free from being historically accurate this whimsical film is a joy to watch (especially now with the Oscar backlash somewhat dying down) with a stellar cast and equal amounts of drama, romance, and comedy.

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bracko

2Jan13

despite (or maybe because of ) all the Oscars it won I still consider this brilliant film to be one of the most underrated films ever. this is my favorite romantic comedy, period film and biopic (if it can be called that since it's not based on facts but entirely fictional).

Zach Closs and Mário Coelho like this

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melancolia

29Nov12

it is a delectable film that lets you forget your troubles for a couple of hours. It is outrageous, it is fluff, like chocolate. And, darn, I love chocolate once in a while.

Zach Closs and DT like this

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locust furnace

31Oct12

gross

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Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.
W184

"Anonymous," the Bard and "Coriolanus"

By David Hudson on October 24, 2011

Besides reviews of the films by Roland Emmerich and Ralph Fiennes, this roundup gathers all things recently Shakespearean.

read article

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Reviews

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Untitled

By Jye Sherwel​l on November 5, 2009

Geoffrey Rush was nominated for his role and Gwyneth Paltrow won for hers yet the one performance that was one of the only really great things about this film didn’t even get a nomination!!! I’m speaking…  read review

Untitled

By Todd Kushige​machi on October 3, 2009

(Originally written January 25, 2008)

“Playwrights teach us nothing about love. They make it pretty, they make it comical, or they make it lust, but they cannot make it true.”

What stops…  read review

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