Where do you stand on Shakespeare in Love? People who aren’t in the mood for a romance just aren’t gonna be swayed at this point. It’s got Shakespeare, it’s got love, there’s sweet poetry-in-bed scenes, there’s fancy dress balls, you get multiple versions of the Romeo and Juliet balcony scene, and the ending isn’t ‘happily ever after’ a la Disney either.For all my dark, bitter exterior, I’m a romantic at heart (deep, deep at heart, underneath a really cold, crusty layer), so this flick speaks to me.
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If you want a date movie for history nerds, this does what it says on the label. Pro: Romance! Poetry! C’mon, have a heart! But for historical fiction, this is the way to do it (I’m looking at you, Phillipa Gregory). Well, sure, it’s not traditional Shakespeare, and the story is almost total fiction other than some of the characters names and the basic setting. It’s clever and feels fun, instead of just being a straight-up Shakespeare play. C’mon, it’s a big-budget Hollywood movie from 1998, you can’t expect too much boundary pushing.Īs the resident English literature geek here, I adore how Tom Stoppard wove actual Shakespearean text from different plays and a few poems throughout the film, either direct words or references. The scenes play with all the crosswise romance, but the only “real” approved OK love is between the heteronormative leads. Cute, no?Ĭon: It’s pretty cis-gender, hetero after all And then Paltrow’s character is talking over the boy-in-drag to an actual male, Fiennes, who she’s in love with.
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Of course, at the time, boys played female roles, so a male actor is playing Juliet during the many rehearsal scenes in the movie. The major conceit of the film is that Gwyneth Paltrow’s character cross-dresses as a boy to play the male lead, Romeo, in Shakespeare’s new play. But other people complain about Geoffrey Rush, some dislike Paltrow. I dunno, Ben Affleck? Is that the best they could do? I read they had to cast him, and he’s not the worst, but he always sticks out a little as super-modern to me. And note how Paltrow’s boy clothes are complete down to the under-doublet.
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Jim Carter (Downton Abbey) has a small role, cross-dressing as Juliet’s nurse. There are a range of characters, from scummy lower-class actors and ruffians to middling-class bankers to Queen Elizabeth’s court, and everybody wears garb appropriate to their station and that helps tell the story and build a world within the film. The silhouettes are great, and in various dressing and undressing scenes, we see late 16th-century stays, smocks, farthingales, and such.
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The look is generally accurate to the 1590s setting with a few exceptions (we’ll get to it, promise). She justifiably won the Best Costume Academy Award for this movie. Hello, Sandy Powell! She knows her stuff, and we loves her. Or is it something else? Let’s go through the pros and cons of Shakespeare in Love, and I bet we’ll realize in the end that this is a fine film, well worth your reconsideration. Is it simply because this is a romantic comedy? Well, hello, most of Jane Austen’s oeuvre is romantic comedy, but ya’ll go nuts for her. Despite the fact that the costumes by the great Sandy Powell are quite high quality, this romantic comedy gets written off by a lot of folks, including the rest of our Frock Flicks staff here.
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For some reason, Shakespeare in Love (1998) doesn’t get a lot of love in among fans of historical costume movies.