Anonymous (B+ or 3/4 stars)
'Anonymous' (directed by Roland Emmerich, Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012) is a melodrama set in the political snake-pit of Elizabethan England. It follows the succession of Queen Elizabeth I, the Essex rebellion against her, & advances the Oxfordian Theory that it was Earl Edward de Vere who wrote Shakespeare's plays! Experts have debated & devoted themselves to protecting/debunking theories around the authorship of the most renowned works in English literature. Blasphemous, right? Well, not so fast. I want the truth to be that failed-actor-turned-writer William Shakespeare penned his classics. But if he didn't ... really, what does it matter? The works are great. The men are long dead. And the issue at hand is nearly 500 yrs. old. So, whether you're a fan of Shakespeare or not, it's best to just sit back, pay attention, & let the labyrinthine plot unfold.
The film opens in 2011 with narrator Derek Jacobi providing a little context for what we're about to witness. We are then transported back to the final yrs. of Queen Elizabeth's court. And a series of flashbacks (5 yrs. earlier, 40 yrs, earlier, etc.) ensue. Edward de Vere (Rhys Ifans), the 17th Earl of Oxford, is unable to publish plays under his name because such a diversion is unworthy of an Earl. And so, he has chosen playwright Ben Jonson (Sebastian Armesto) to be his stand-in. However, when Jonson balks, one of his actors, William Shakespeare (Rafe Spall), steps in to the limelight. Meanwhile, as Elizabeth (Vanessa Redgrave) approaches death, various candidates for the next king of England come into discussion. They include the King of Scotland, & one of Elizabeth's illegitimate sons, the Earl of Essex. This film's narrative descends into a tragedy with Shakespearean overtones. Cloak & dagger intrigue, political power machinations, illicit trysts in the Royal Court, skullduggery, incest, beheadings ... you NAME it, it's in this film - all thanks to the Oxfordian Theory of who wrote Shakespeare's classics.
I love how 'Anonymous' takes 2 main characters & flips our impressions of them around into something totally different. 1) Shakespeare, normally thought of as smart, is portrayed as a schemer who was in the right place at the right time & is nothing more than a poor, alcoholic, illiterate simpleton. Actor Rafe Spall hams it up as Shakespeare. And 2) Elizabeth, often thought of as virginal, is a hot-blooded nymphomaniac; having borne a host of illegitimate sons & harboring a dark secret concerning one in particular. Vanessa Redgrave is intoxicating as the increasingly mentally ill Elizabeth. And Vanessa's real life daughter, Joely Richardson, plays her as the younger Elizabeth - when she's sleeping around with any guy who enters the room.
One of the film's most stunning aspects is the overall look (production design, digital cinematography, ornate costumes, make-up, visual effects). It's all superb. The art direction in particular (re-creations of The Globe & The Rose theaters, evocations of 16th c. London, the decadent palaces, the muddy, poverty-stricken streets, etc.). I also enjoyed how the screenplay inserts some of Shakespeare's greatest hits into various scenes. i.e., the witches in MacBeth, 'Et tu, Brute' in Julius Caesar, or the 'To be or not to be' soliloquy from Hamlet. They were fun wink, wink additions.
Rhys Ifans, most known as Hugh Grant's slovenly flat mate in Notting Hill, is fantastic as Edward de Vere. Ifans brings a stately, world-weariness to Edward - a man who (if the theory is true) may want recognition for his brilliance, but also knows that said recognition would reap HEAVY consequences for many people. And as mentioned, Vanessa Redgrave is brilliant as the fading queen. Quiet, yet authoritative; and then irreparably nutty. Every actor in the film hams it up & the screenplay stuffs nearly every scene with something juicy for the actors to chew on.
Now, I highly enjoyed 'Anonymous'. That's not to say that I loved everything. For the first 45 min. or so, the film bounces from flashback to flashback. And with most of the similar-looking male characters named Edward, Robert, or William, I found my brain working hard to keep track of who was who. Characters are talking at breakneck speed. They're ducking in & out of dark rooms; dropping near-indecipherable plot revelations as they go. So, as I tried to soak in every plot development ... so, too, was I trying to keep the characters straight. Also, the less you know about Shakespeare, the better. John Orloff's original script is complex & clever. But everything in the film is speculation, far-fetched, & hammered into us like a proverbial jackhammer. Authenticity is always in question.
All that said, 'Anonymous' is outrageous in a good way; offering spectacle, scene-chewing performances, skulking villains, lust, jealousy, et al. Even if I'm not convinced of the alternate history that this movie offers, the filmmakers make it sound plausible enough. No one can be sure that Edward de Vere wrote the plays. Who knows if Queen Elizabeth really was as slutty as depicted here (though it sure was a hell of a lot of fun to watch)? And even if the fall-out from Edward de Vere's assumed involvement with the plays felt a bit overcooked (secrets, political intrigue, the Rebellion, murders) ... it's fun to watch unfold. You can't walk away from this film and think that the Edward de Vere/Shakespeare theories are anything less than compelling.
The film opens in 2011 with narrator Derek Jacobi providing a little context for what we're about to witness. We are then transported back to the final yrs. of Queen Elizabeth's court. And a series of flashbacks (5 yrs. earlier, 40 yrs, earlier, etc.) ensue. Edward de Vere (Rhys Ifans), the 17th Earl of Oxford, is unable to publish plays under his name because such a diversion is unworthy of an Earl. And so, he has chosen playwright Ben Jonson (Sebastian Armesto) to be his stand-in. However, when Jonson balks, one of his actors, William Shakespeare (Rafe Spall), steps in to the limelight. Meanwhile, as Elizabeth (Vanessa Redgrave) approaches death, various candidates for the next king of England come into discussion. They include the King of Scotland, & one of Elizabeth's illegitimate sons, the Earl of Essex. This film's narrative descends into a tragedy with Shakespearean overtones. Cloak & dagger intrigue, political power machinations, illicit trysts in the Royal Court, skullduggery, incest, beheadings ... you NAME it, it's in this film - all thanks to the Oxfordian Theory of who wrote Shakespeare's classics.
I love how 'Anonymous' takes 2 main characters & flips our impressions of them around into something totally different. 1) Shakespeare, normally thought of as smart, is portrayed as a schemer who was in the right place at the right time & is nothing more than a poor, alcoholic, illiterate simpleton. Actor Rafe Spall hams it up as Shakespeare. And 2) Elizabeth, often thought of as virginal, is a hot-blooded nymphomaniac; having borne a host of illegitimate sons & harboring a dark secret concerning one in particular. Vanessa Redgrave is intoxicating as the increasingly mentally ill Elizabeth. And Vanessa's real life daughter, Joely Richardson, plays her as the younger Elizabeth - when she's sleeping around with any guy who enters the room.
One of the film's most stunning aspects is the overall look (production design, digital cinematography, ornate costumes, make-up, visual effects). It's all superb. The art direction in particular (re-creations of The Globe & The Rose theaters, evocations of 16th c. London, the decadent palaces, the muddy, poverty-stricken streets, etc.). I also enjoyed how the screenplay inserts some of Shakespeare's greatest hits into various scenes. i.e., the witches in MacBeth, 'Et tu, Brute' in Julius Caesar, or the 'To be or not to be' soliloquy from Hamlet. They were fun wink, wink additions.
Rhys Ifans, most known as Hugh Grant's slovenly flat mate in Notting Hill, is fantastic as Edward de Vere. Ifans brings a stately, world-weariness to Edward - a man who (if the theory is true) may want recognition for his brilliance, but also knows that said recognition would reap HEAVY consequences for many people. And as mentioned, Vanessa Redgrave is brilliant as the fading queen. Quiet, yet authoritative; and then irreparably nutty. Every actor in the film hams it up & the screenplay stuffs nearly every scene with something juicy for the actors to chew on.
Now, I highly enjoyed 'Anonymous'. That's not to say that I loved everything. For the first 45 min. or so, the film bounces from flashback to flashback. And with most of the similar-looking male characters named Edward, Robert, or William, I found my brain working hard to keep track of who was who. Characters are talking at breakneck speed. They're ducking in & out of dark rooms; dropping near-indecipherable plot revelations as they go. So, as I tried to soak in every plot development ... so, too, was I trying to keep the characters straight. Also, the less you know about Shakespeare, the better. John Orloff's original script is complex & clever. But everything in the film is speculation, far-fetched, & hammered into us like a proverbial jackhammer. Authenticity is always in question.
All that said, 'Anonymous' is outrageous in a good way; offering spectacle, scene-chewing performances, skulking villains, lust, jealousy, et al. Even if I'm not convinced of the alternate history that this movie offers, the filmmakers make it sound plausible enough. No one can be sure that Edward de Vere wrote the plays. Who knows if Queen Elizabeth really was as slutty as depicted here (though it sure was a hell of a lot of fun to watch)? And even if the fall-out from Edward de Vere's assumed involvement with the plays felt a bit overcooked (secrets, political intrigue, the Rebellion, murders) ... it's fun to watch unfold. You can't walk away from this film and think that the Edward de Vere/Shakespeare theories are anything less than compelling.