Shakespeare in Love

Shakespeare in Love is a 1998 motion picture. In this dramatic comedy/romance, William Shakespeare is portrayed as a young, struggling playwright, plagued by money shortages, problems with women, and writer's block. Some of the characters and their lines are references to lines and characters in real Shakespeare plays -- implying that these inspire the film's Shakespeare later in life. Most of the film's major plot devices are also taken from Shakespeare.

Synopsis

At a fake audition for a play—"Romeo and Ethel, the Sea Pirate's Daughter"—that he actually has not yet written a word of, young William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) admires the talent of a new actor, Thomas Kent, who promptly runs away. Shakespeare meets Viola de Lesseps (played by Gwyneth Paltrow), who lives in the same house as Kent, and promptly falls in love with her, inspiring him to begin writing his play again. By the time Will realizes that Viola and Thomas are the same person, she is promised in a marriage to Lord Wessex (Colin Firth) approved of by Queen Elizabeth herself (Judi Dench). But the couple find themselves unable to avoid a clandestine affair, and even risk the wrath of the law against women being on stage by having Viola play Juliet in Shakespeare's play, by now renamed Romeo and Juliet. At the conclusion of the play, the Queen applauds the abilities of both writer and "actor," but orders that Viola rejoin her husband, who is about to move to America.

Related Topics:
Joseph Fiennes - Gwyneth Paltrow - Colin Firth - Queen Elizabeth - Judi Dench

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On release, the film was compared with the 1941 novel No Bed for Bacon, which also features Shakespeare writing his plays.

Related Topics:
1941 - Novel

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