Anonymous (film)
Encyclopedia
Anonymous is a political thriller
and historical drama which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival
on September 11, 2011. Directed by Roland Emmerich
and written by John Orloff
, the movie is a fictionalized version of the life of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford
, an Elizabethan courtier, playwright, poet and patron of the arts. Starring Rhys Ifans
(de Vere) and Vanessa Redgrave
(Queen Elizabeth), Anonymous utilizes emerging VFX CG technology to recreate exterior period backgrounds in and around old London, circa 1550-1604.
Set within the political atmosphere of the Elizabethan
court, the film presents Lord Oxford as the true author of Shakespeare's plays
, and dramatizes events leading to the succession of Queen Elizabeth
and the Essex Rebellion against her. De Vere is depicted as a literary prodigy and the Queen's sometime lover, with whom he sires a son, Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton
. De Vere eventually sees his suppressed plays performed through a frontman (Shakespeare), using his production of Richard III
to support a rebellion led by his son and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
. The insurrection fails, and as a condition for sparing the life of their son, the Queen declares that de Vere will never be known as the author of his plays and poems.
Produced by Centropolis Entertainment
and Studio Babelsberg and distributed by Columbia Pictures
, Anonymous was released on October 28, 2011 in 265 theatres in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, expanding to movie theatres around the world, in the following weeks. Critical comment has been mixed, praising its performances and visual achievements, but criticizing the film's time-jumping format, and the filmmaker's promotion of the Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship
.
delivered by noted Shakespearean actor Derek Jacobi
, the film opens with Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury
, ordering a desperate search for William Shakespeare
's trove of manuscripts, as the Globe theatre
itself is torched. Successive flashbacks cast us back five and then forty years, as the film evokes the reputed life of Edward de Vere from childhood through to his entanglement in an insurrection, and later on to his death.
The main action takes place towards the end of the Elizabethan era
where political intrigue flourishes between the Tudors
and the Cecils (father William
and son Robert
), over the succession to Queen Elizabeth I
. In flashbacks, de Vere is portrayed as a prodigious genius, writing at eight or nine years of age (1558/1559) A Midsummer Night's Dream
, de Vere acting the role of Puck
before the young queen Elizabeth. He is then forced to live in the repressive, puritanical
house of William Cecil where, years later, he kills a spying servant lurking behind an arras, much like Polonius
in Hamlet
. William Cecil uses this murder to blackmail de Vere into a loveless marriage with his daughter, Anne Cecil
, compelling him also to renounce literature. He later becomes the Queen's lover, and sires - unknown to de Vere - an illegimate son; the son is adopted out becoming Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton
, but his true parentage is hidden from all but the Cecils.
De Vere must struggle against a taboo
that would forbid him to write - against his wife's impatience with his literary work as a dishonour to her family, and against the Queen's counsellors. Foremost among these is his father-in-law William Cecil, who is convinced that theatres are sinful, and poetry and plays the works of the devil. Cecil's plan to have James
, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots crowned king is also threatened by the presence of de Vere's and the Queen's child, who would be an alternative contender for the throne, and also of pure Tudor lineage.
Almost four decades after his private première
, de Vere visits a public theatre and is deeply impressed by the way spectators can be swayed. Much taken by the propagandistic power of art, considering that "all art is political ... otherwise it is just decoration," de Vere decides to employ his secretly written plays for the promotion of the Earl of Essex's cause (Essex being another of the Queen's illegitimate sons) over the candidate preferred by the Cecils, writing Henry V
and, later, Richard III
as propaganda potboilers designed to foment revolution. He contacts Ben Jonson
(Sebastian Armesto
), who had recently been confined in the Tower of London
on charges of sedition
until de Vere uses his influence to free him, in order to have his play Henry V staged under Jonson's name. The plan however backfires when an unscrupulous young actor, William Shakespeare, steps up on stage and claims authorship, as Jonson shrinks from passing himself off as the author after a riot on the play's opening night. It is this "drunken oaf" who takes on the role as de Vere's front man, while Jonson becomes de Vere's only confidant in the truth.
Shakespeare however, having discovered the real author's identity, extorts money from de Vere to build the Globe theatre, and wangles £400 per year for posturing as a front. After Christopher Marlowe
stumbles on the truth that Shakespeare's inexplicable talents masquerade the genius of a hidden hand, he is found with his throat slit. Jonson later confronts Shakespeare and accuses him of the murder.
At the climax, de Vere uses the play Richard III as a thinly veiled attack on Robert Cecil, and to generate an incited mob to march on Cecil to oust him from his position of influence in the Court, and thus weaken Cecil's attempt to promote the Scottish James as Elizabeth's heir. At the same time, Essex is to march with the Earl of Southampton and with the mob to the Palace, to promote his own claim to the succession. However the plan fails, as a jealous Jonson betrays the plot to Cecil, who blocks the mob and stops it from joining Essex. The Queen, swayed by Cecil, thinks that Essex is trying to depose of her violently, and easily captures Essex and Southampton, and orders their execution.
Robert Cecil then tells a broken de Vere that Elizabeth had other bastard sons - one of which was de Vere himself. If true, it would mean that de Vere committed unintended incest with his mother begetting a son, later to become the Earl of Southampton. In order to save his son from being beheaded, de Vere pleads with the Queen and agrees to remain anonymous as the true author of 'Shakespeare's' works.
After the Queen's death, Cecil's plan to have James succeed Elizabeth comes to fruition, though his hopes of a more puritanical regime are shattered when James expresses his hopes to see more of Shakespeare's work now he is in London. Shakespeare retires on his ill-gotten gains to Stratford, to become a businessman, and de Vere dies in 1604, having commended his manuscripts to the care of a repentant Ben Jonson. Cecil however still wants the manuscripts destroyed, and, returning to the opening of the film, believes them burnt in the ashes of the Globe; however Jonson later discovers they have survived. But the 'truth' is lost to the world that Edward de Vere, not the nearly illiterate actor from Stratford, is the real author of the Shakespearean canon
.
(Band of Brothers, A Mighty Heart
) became interested in the authorship debate after watching a 1988 Frontline programme about the controversy. Penning his first draft in the late 1990s, commercial interest waned after Shakespeare in Love
was released in 1998. It was almost greenlit as The Soul of the Age for a 2005 release, with a budget of $30 to $35 million. However, financing proved to be "a risky undertaking," according to director Roland Emmerich. In October 2009, Emmerich stated, "It's very hard to get a movie like this made, and I want to make it in a certain way. I've actually had this project for eight years." At a press conference at Studio Babelsberg on April 29, 2010, Emmerich noted that the success of his more commercial films made this one possible, and that he got the cast he wanted without the pressure to come up with "at least two A-list American actors."
Emmerich noted he knew little of either Elizabethan history or the authorship question
until he came across John Orloff
's script, after which he 'steeped' himself in the various theories. Wary of similarities with Amadeus
, Emmerich decided to recast it as a film on the politics of succession
and the monarchy, a tragedy about kings, queens and princes, with broad plot lines including murder, illegitimacy and incest - "all the elements of a Shakespeare play."
In a November 2009 interview, Emmerich said the heart of the movie is in the original title, The Soul of the Age, and revolved around three main characters: Ben Jonson
, William Shakespeare, and the Earl of Oxford. In a subsequent announcement in 2010, Emmerich detailed the finalized plot line:
camera, with most of the period backgrounds created and enhanced via new CGI
technology. In addition, Elizabethan London was recreated for the film with more than 70 painstakingly hand-built sets at Germany's Studio Babelsberg. These include a full-scale replica of London’s imposing The Rose
theatre.
-style opening, but was rescheduled for restricted release on 28 October 2011 in 265 theatres in the United States, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, expanding to 513 screens in its second week. Pre-release surveys had predicted a weak opening weekend (under $5 million) leading Sony to stagger release dates and depend on word-of-mouth to support a more gradual release strategy (as they did with Company Town). According to Brendan Bettinger, "Anonymous came out of Toronto with surprisingly positive early reviews for a Roland Emmerich picture." Sony distribution president Rory Bruer noted “We love the picture and think it’s going to get great word of mouth. We’re committed to expanding it until it plays wide.”
reports that 46% of 151 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 5.4 out of 10. Metacritic
, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 50 based on 40 reviews. The film grossed almost $6.7 million in its first three weeks. Audiences gave it an A- rating in its first weekend of limited release.
Rex Reed
regards Anonymous as "one of the most exciting on-screen literary rows since Norman Mailer
was beaten with a hammer," and well worth the stamina required to sit out what is an otherwise exhausting film. Not only Shakespeare's identity, but also that of Queen Elizabeth, the 'Virgin Queen' is challenged by Orloff's script, which has her as " a randy piece of work who had many lovers and bore several children." Visually, the film gives us a "dazzling panorama of Tudor history" which will not bore viewers. It boasts a cast of pure gold, and its "recreation of the Old Globe, the fame that brought ruin and dishonor to both Oxford and the money-grubbing Shakespeare, and the sacrifice of Oxford's own property and family fortune to write plays he believed in against a background of danger and violence make for a bloody good yarn, masterfully told, lushly appointed, slavishly researched and brilliantly acted." He adds the caveats that it does play "hopscotch with history", has a bewildering and confusing cast of characters and is jumpy in its timeframes.
Michael Phillips
for the Chicago Tribune
writes that the film is ridiculous but not dull. Displaying a "rollicking belief in its own nutty bombast" as "history is simultaneously being made up and rewritten," its best scenes are those of the candle-lit interiors caught by the Alexa digital camera on a lovely copper-and-honey-toned palette. After a week, what remains in Phillips' memory is not the de Vere/Shakespeare conspiracy theory but "the way Redgrave gazes out a window, her reign near the end, her eyes full of regret but also of fiery defiance of the balderdash lapping at her feet."
Roger Ebert
finds Orloff's screenplay "ingenious," Emmerich's direction "precise", and the cast "memorable". Though "profoundly mistaken", Anonymous is "a marvellous historical film," giving viewers "a splendid experience: the dialogue, the acting, the depiction of London, the lust, jealousy and intrigue." That said, he rounds off, he must "tiresomely insist that Edward de Vere did not write Shakespeare's plays."
Kirk Honeycutt ranked it as Emmerich's best film, with a superb cast of British actors, and a stunning digitally-enhanced recreation of London in Elizabethan times. The film is "glorious fun as it grows increasingly implausible", for the plot "is all historical rubbish," Damon Wise, reviewing the film for the Guardian
, appraises Emmerich's 'meticulously crafted' and 'stunningly designed takedown of the Bard,' as shocking only in that it is rather good. Emmerich's problem, he argues, is that he was so intent on proving his credentials as a serious director that the film ended up 'drowned in exposition.' Orloff's screenplay heavily confuses plotlines; the politics are retrofitted to suit the theory. The lead roles are 'unengaging' but special mention is given to Edward Hogg's performance as Robert Cecil, and Vanessa Redgrave's role as Elizabeth.
Robert Koehler
, writing for Variety
, reads the film as an 'illustrated argument' of an 'aggressively promoted and more frequently debunked' theory, and finds it less interesting than the actors who play a role in, or endorse, it. Narrative cogency is strained by the constant switches in time signature, and the imbroglio of Shakespeare and Jonson squabbling publicly over claims to authorship is both tiresome and 'veers close to comedy'; indeed it is superfluous given Ifans's commanding and convincing acting as the 'real' Shakespeare. The supporting cast of actors is praised for fine performances, except for Spall's Shakespeare, who is 'often so ridiculous that the "Stratfordians" will feel doubly insulted.' Sebastian Krawinkel's 'ambitious and gorgeous production design' comes in for special mention, as does Anna J. Foerster's elegant widescreen lensing. The score however fails their standards.
Kristopher Tapley champions the film, finding that Orloff has spun 'a fascinating yarn'. Ifans gives a stunning performance, and Spall's Shakespeare provides delightful comic relief. The film is 'gorgeous' and Tapley agrees with a colleague's judgement that "people will likely look back to Anonymous as the tipping point of what you can really do with digital in a next-level kind of way".'
David Denby
, reviewing for the New Yorker
, writes of Emmerich's "preposterous fantasia", where confusion reigns as to which of the virgin queen's illegitimate children is Essex and which Southampton, and where it is not clear what the connection is between the plot to hide the authorship of the plays and the struggle to find a successor to the officially childless Elizabeth. He concludes that, "The Oxford theory is ridiculous, yet the filmmakers go all the way with it, producing endless scenes of indecipherable court intrigue in dark, smoky rooms, and a fashion show of ruffs
, farthingale
s, and halberd
s. The more far-fetched the idea, it seems, the more strenuous the effort to pass it off as authentic."
James Lileks
, in the Star Tribune
review, noting favourable responses, including one where a critic wondered if Emmerich had anything to do with it, says the devious message must be that a shlock-merchant like Emmerich wasn't involved, but, like the film plot itself, must conceal the hand of some more experienced filmmaker
, whose identity will be much debated for centuries to come. Reviewing for Associated Press
, Christy Lemire
commends Rhys Ifans' performance as "flamboyant, funny, sexy" in an otherwise heavy-handed and clumsy film, whose script "jumps back and forth in time so quickly and without rhyme or reason, it convolutes the narrative." A "flow chart" is perhaps needed to keep track of all of the sons, and sons of sons. The "blubbering" about the brilliance of Shakespeare's works is repetitive, and upstages the initial whiff of scandal, giving the impression that the film is "much ado about nothing.".
For A.O. Scott, writing for the New York Times, Anonymous is "a vulgar prank on the English literary tradition, a travesty of British history and a brutal insult to the human imagination". Yet, a fine cast manages to "burnish even meretricious nonsense with craft and conviction," and one is "tempted to suspend disbelief, even if Mr. Emmerich finally makes it impossible.
." Lou Lumenick
, writing for the New York Post, writes that the movie "is a thoroughly entertaining load of eye candy with solid performances, even if John Orloff’s exposition-heavy script practically requires a concordance
to follow at times." For the Globe and Mail's Liam Lacey, "the less you know about Shakespeare, the more you’re likely to enjoy Anonymous." Ingenuity is wasted on an "unintelligent enterprise", that of arguing that people of humble origins cannot outwrite blue-bloods. Emmerich's CGI effects are well-done, but it is amazing just to watch an "actor on a bare wooden stage, using nothing but a sequence of words that make your scalp prickle."
Andrea Chase in Killer Movie Reviews rates Anonymous as "superb", dwelling on Orloff's rich script, which has "done an excellent job of fitting the known facts to the thesis on offer", on Emmerich's dramatic flair and the wonderful supporting cast. It is somewhat spoiled by Ifans's leaden presence, which betrays nothing of "the ribald temper to be found in the plays." By contrast, Spall's Shakespeare, "preening with the narcissist's elan of a confirmed ham, lights up the screen."
Louise Keller for Urban Cinefile admires the "thought-provoking scenario" of Orloff's "marvellous conspiracy story" , though its "twists and turns" are headspinning: "anyone who can follow the first 30 minutes of the plot, must have been polishing the grey matter with advanced Sudoku
: it's an unholy mess of complicated situations and jumps in time frame." Despite the exemplary cast, exquisite production design and extraordinary look, Emmerich has lost an opportunity to make more of it, "on account of the jumbled, convoluted storyline that had me confused, frustrated and mentally scrambling to keep abreast of every detail," though everything falls together in the final 45 minutes.
launched a programme to debunk conspiracy theories about Shakespeare, mounting an Internet video in which 60 scholars and writers reply to common queries and doubts about Shakespeare's identity for one minute each. In Shakespeare's home county of Warwickshire, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
promoted a protest against the film by temporarily covering or crossing out Shakespeare's image or name on pub signs and road signs.
Columbia University
's James Shapiro
, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal noted that according to an article in the same journal in 2009, three Supreme Court Justices
now lent support to the Oxfordian theory
whereas in a moot court
judgment in 1987 Justices John Paul Stevens
, Harry Blackmun
and William Brennan
had "ruled unanimously in favor of Shakespeare and against the Earl of Oxford." "The attraction of these ideas owes something to the Internet, where conspiracy theories proliferate," he argued, adding that "Emmerich's film is one more sign that conspiracy theories about the authorship of Shakespeare's plays have gone mainstream". Scriptwriter John Orloff replied that Shapiro oversimplified the facts since Justice Stevens later affirmed that he had had "lingering concerns" and "gnawing doubts" in 1987 that Shakespeare might have been someone else, and that if the author was not the man from Stratford, there was a high probability he was Edward de Vere."
Emmerich complains of what he sees as the "arrogance of the literary establishment" to say: 'We know it, we teach it, so shut the fuck up.'" He has singled out the Shakespearean scholar, James S. Shapiro, an expert on these theories, as a liar:
wrote that, as the Internet is the natural home of conspiracy theories, the Oxford case, "a conspiracy theory in doublet and hose with a vengeance," means that Anonymous, irrespective of its merits or lack of them, will usher in an "open season for every denomination of literary fanatic."
Screenwriter John Orloff believes that the film will reshape the way we read Shakespeare. Derek Jacobi
allows that making the film was "a very risky thing to do", and imagines that "the orthodox Stratfordians are going to be apoplectic
with rage."
Bert Fields, a lawyer who recently wrote a book about the authorship issue, thinks scholars may be missing the larger benefit that Anonymous provides - widespread appreciation of the Bard’s work. “Why do these academics feel threatened by this? It isn’t threatening anybody,” Fields commented. “The movie does things that I don’t necessarily agree with. But if anything, it makes the work more important. It focuses attention on the most important body of work in the English language.”
Director Emmerich, when given examples of details that do not correspond to the facts, is reported as being more concerned with the mood of the film. He agreed that there were many historical mistakes in his film, but said movies have a right to do this, citing Amadeus
. Emmerich also notes that Shakespeare himself was not concerned with historical accuracy, and considers that the inner truth was his objective.
Crace, raising the issue of Emmerich as 'literary detective' comments that the director "has never knowingly let the facts get in the way of a good story." Historian Simon Schama
calling the film 'inadvertently comic' said of its thesis that the real problem was not so much the "idiotic misunderstanding of history and the world of the theater" but rather the "fatal lack of imagination on the subject of the imagination." James Shapiro
wrote that it is a film for our time, "in which claims based on conviction are as valid as those based on hard evidence," which ingeniously circumvents objections that there is not a scrap of documentary evidence for de Vere's authorship by assuming a conspiracy to suppress the truth. The result is that "the very absence of surviving evidence proves the case."
Tiffany Stern, professor of early modern drama at Oxford University, says that the film is fictional, and should be enjoyed as such. Gordon McMullan, professor of English at King's College
, says Shakespeare wrote the plays, and the idea he didn't is related to a conspiracy theory that coincides with the emergence of the detective genre. For Orloff, criticisms by scholars that call the film fictional rather than factual are kneejerk reactions to the "academic subversion of normality".
Orloff also described the attention given to creating a "real London", noting that the effects crew "took 30,000 pictures in England, of every Tudor building they could find, and then they scanned them all into the computer and built real London in 1600"
According to Holger Syme, Stephen Marche and James Shapiro, the film does contain a number of historical inaccuracies. These include standard theatrical techniques such as time compression and the conflating of supporting characters and locations, as well as larger deviations from recorded history.
Political thriller
A political thriller is a thriller that is set against the backdrop of a political power struggle. They usually involve various extra-legal plots, designed to give political power to someone, while his opponents try to stop him. They can involve national or international political scenarios....
and historical drama which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
on September 11, 2011. Directed by Roland Emmerich
Roland Emmerich
Roland Emmerich is a German film director, screenwriter, and producer.His films, most of which are Hollywood productions filmed in English, have grossed more than $3 billion worldwide, more than those of any other European director...
and written by John Orloff
John Orloff
John Orloff is an American screenwriter who currently lives in Chatham, New York.-Life and career:Orloff studied screenwriting at the University of California, Los Angeles Film School, and on graduation, went to work in the advertising business...
, the movie is a fictionalized version of the life of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford
Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford
Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford was an Elizabethan courtier, playwright, lyric poet, sportsman and patron of the arts, and is currently the most popular alternative candidate proposed for the authorship of Shakespeare's works....
, an Elizabethan courtier, playwright, poet and patron of the arts. Starring Rhys Ifans
Rhys Ifans
Rhys Ifans is a Welsh actor and musician. He is known for his portrayal of characters such as Spike in Notting Hill and Jed Parry in Enduring Love and as a member of the Welsh rock groups Super Furry Animals and The Peth. Ifans also appeared as Xenophilius Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Deathly...
(de Vere) and Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
(Queen Elizabeth), Anonymous utilizes emerging VFX CG technology to recreate exterior period backgrounds in and around old London, circa 1550-1604.
Set within the political atmosphere of the Elizabethan
Elizabethan era
The Elizabethan era was the epoch in English history of Queen Elizabeth I's reign . Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history...
court, the film presents Lord Oxford as the true author of Shakespeare's plays
Shakespeare authorship question
Image:ShakespeareCandidates1.jpg|thumb|alt=Portraits of Shakespeare and four proposed alternative authors.|Oxford, Bacon, Derby, and Marlowe have each been proposed as the true author...
, and dramatizes events leading to the succession of Queen Elizabeth
Queen Elizabeth
-Queens regnant:* Elizabeth I of England , last Tudor monarch over England, reigned 1558–1603* Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth Realms, reigned since 1952-Queens consort, dowager and mother:...
and the Essex Rebellion against her. De Vere is depicted as a literary prodigy and the Queen's sometime lover, with whom he sires a son, Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton
Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton
Henry Wriothesley , 3rd Earl of Southampton , was the second son of Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton, and his wife Mary Browne, Countess of Southampton, daughter of the 1st Viscount Montagu...
. De Vere eventually sees his suppressed plays performed through a frontman (Shakespeare), using his production of Richard III
Richard III (play)
Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified...
to support a rebellion led by his son and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, KG was an English nobleman and a favourite of Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during the Nine Years' War in 1599...
. The insurrection fails, and as a condition for sparing the life of their son, the Queen declares that de Vere will never be known as the author of his plays and poems.
Produced by Centropolis Entertainment
Centropolis Entertainment
Centropolis Entertainment is a film production company founded in 1985 as Centropolis Film Productions by German film director Roland Emmerich.-Films:-TV Series:...
and Studio Babelsberg and distributed by Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
, Anonymous was released on October 28, 2011 in 265 theatres in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, expanding to movie theatres around the world, in the following weeks. Critical comment has been mixed, praising its performances and visual achievements, but criticizing the film's time-jumping format, and the filmmaker's promotion of the Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship
Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship
The Oxfordian theory of Shakespearean authorship proposes that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford , wrote the plays and poems traditionally attributed to William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon. While a large majority of scholars reject all alternative candidates for authorship, popular...
.
Plot
After a theatrical prologuePrologue
A prologue is an opening to a story that establishes the setting and gives background details, often some earlier story that ties into the main one, and other miscellaneous information. The Greek prologos included the modern meaning of prologue, but was of wider significance...
delivered by noted Shakespearean actor Derek Jacobi
Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...
, the film opens with Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, KG, PC was an English administrator and politician.-Life:He was the son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley and Mildred Cooke...
, ordering a desperate search for William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's trove of manuscripts, as the Globe theatre
Globe Theatre
The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613...
itself is torched. Successive flashbacks cast us back five and then forty years, as the film evokes the reputed life of Edward de Vere from childhood through to his entanglement in an insurrection, and later on to his death.
The main action takes place towards the end of the Elizabethan era
Elizabethan era
The Elizabethan era was the epoch in English history of Queen Elizabeth I's reign . Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history...
where political intrigue flourishes between the Tudors
Tudor dynasty
The Tudor dynasty or House of Tudor was a European royal house of Welsh origin that ruled the Kingdom of England and its realms, including the Lordship of Ireland, later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1485 until 1603. Its first monarch was Henry Tudor, a descendant through his mother of a legitimised...
and the Cecils (father William
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley , KG was an English statesman, the chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer from 1572...
and son Robert
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, KG, PC was an English administrator and politician.-Life:He was the son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley and Mildred Cooke...
), over the succession to Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
. In flashbacks, de Vere is portrayed as a prodigious genius, writing at eight or nine years of age (1558/1559) A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
, de Vere acting the role of Puck
Puck (Shakespeare)
Puck, also known as Robin Goodfellow, is a character in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream that was based on the ancient figure in English mythology, also called Puck. Puck is a clever and mischievous elf and personifies the trickster or the wise knave...
before the young queen Elizabeth. He is then forced to live in the repressive, puritanical
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
house of William Cecil where, years later, he kills a spying servant lurking behind an arras, much like Polonius
Polonius
Polonius is a character in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. He is King Claudius's chief counsellor, and the father of Ophelia and Laertes. Polonius connives with Claudius to spy on Hamlet...
in Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
. William Cecil uses this murder to blackmail de Vere into a loveless marriage with his daughter, Anne Cecil
Anne Cecil
Anne Cecil, Countess of Oxford was the daughter of statesman William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, the chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I of England, and the translator Mildred Cooke. In 1571, she became the first wife of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford...
, compelling him also to renounce literature. He later becomes the Queen's lover, and sires - unknown to de Vere - an illegimate son; the son is adopted out becoming Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton
Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton
Henry Wriothesley , 3rd Earl of Southampton , was the second son of Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton, and his wife Mary Browne, Countess of Southampton, daughter of the 1st Viscount Montagu...
, but his true parentage is hidden from all but the Cecils.
De Vere must struggle against a taboo
Stigma of print
The stigma of print is the concept that an informal social convention restricted the literary works of aristocrats in the Tudor and Jacobean age to private and courtly audiences — as opposed to commercial endeavors — at the risk of social disgrace if violated, and which obliged the author to...
that would forbid him to write - against his wife's impatience with his literary work as a dishonour to her family, and against the Queen's counsellors. Foremost among these is his father-in-law William Cecil, who is convinced that theatres are sinful, and poetry and plays the works of the devil. Cecil's plan to have James
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots crowned king is also threatened by the presence of de Vere's and the Queen's child, who would be an alternative contender for the throne, and also of pure Tudor lineage.
Almost four decades after his private première
Premiere
A premiere is generally "a first performance". This can refer to plays, films, television programs, operas, symphonies, ballets and so on. Premieres for theatrical, musical and other cultural presentations can become extravagant affairs, attracting large numbers of socialites and much media...
, de Vere visits a public theatre and is deeply impressed by the way spectators can be swayed. Much taken by the propagandistic power of art, considering that "all art is political ... otherwise it is just decoration," de Vere decides to employ his secretly written plays for the promotion of the Earl of Essex's cause (Essex being another of the Queen's illegitimate sons) over the candidate preferred by the Cecils, writing Henry V
Henry V (play)
Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to be written in approximately 1599. Its full titles are The Cronicle History of Henry the Fifth and The Life of Henry the Fifth...
and, later, Richard III
Richard III (play)
Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified...
as propaganda potboilers designed to foment revolution. He contacts Ben Jonson
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
(Sebastian Armesto
Sebastian Armesto
-Television and film:Armesto played Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in the series The Tudors. He also starred alongside Jane Asher in the 2008 ITV drama series The Palace as the King's carefree younger brother Prince George. He then played the character of Edmund Sparkler in the 2008 BBC version of...
), who had recently been confined in the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
on charges of sedition
Sedition
In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...
until de Vere uses his influence to free him, in order to have his play Henry V staged under Jonson's name. The plan however backfires when an unscrupulous young actor, William Shakespeare, steps up on stage and claims authorship, as Jonson shrinks from passing himself off as the author after a riot on the play's opening night. It is this "drunken oaf" who takes on the role as de Vere's front man, while Jonson becomes de Vere's only confidant in the truth.
Shakespeare however, having discovered the real author's identity, extorts money from de Vere to build the Globe theatre, and wangles £400 per year for posturing as a front. After Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian, next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his mysterious death.A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May...
stumbles on the truth that Shakespeare's inexplicable talents masquerade the genius of a hidden hand, he is found with his throat slit. Jonson later confronts Shakespeare and accuses him of the murder.
At the climax, de Vere uses the play Richard III as a thinly veiled attack on Robert Cecil, and to generate an incited mob to march on Cecil to oust him from his position of influence in the Court, and thus weaken Cecil's attempt to promote the Scottish James as Elizabeth's heir. At the same time, Essex is to march with the Earl of Southampton and with the mob to the Palace, to promote his own claim to the succession. However the plan fails, as a jealous Jonson betrays the plot to Cecil, who blocks the mob and stops it from joining Essex. The Queen, swayed by Cecil, thinks that Essex is trying to depose of her violently, and easily captures Essex and Southampton, and orders their execution.
Robert Cecil then tells a broken de Vere that Elizabeth had other bastard sons - one of which was de Vere himself. If true, it would mean that de Vere committed unintended incest with his mother begetting a son, later to become the Earl of Southampton. In order to save his son from being beheaded, de Vere pleads with the Queen and agrees to remain anonymous as the true author of 'Shakespeare's' works.
After the Queen's death, Cecil's plan to have James succeed Elizabeth comes to fruition, though his hopes of a more puritanical regime are shattered when James expresses his hopes to see more of Shakespeare's work now he is in London. Shakespeare retires on his ill-gotten gains to Stratford, to become a businessman, and de Vere dies in 1604, having commended his manuscripts to the care of a repentant Ben Jonson. Cecil however still wants the manuscripts destroyed, and, returning to the opening of the film, believes them burnt in the ashes of the Globe; however Jonson later discovers they have survived. But the 'truth' is lost to the world that Edward de Vere, not the nearly illiterate actor from Stratford, is the real author of the Shakespearean canon
Western canon
The term Western canon denotes a canon of books and, more broadly, music and art that have been the most important and influential in shaping Western culture. As such, it includes the "greatest works of artistic merit." Such a canon is important to the theory of educational perennialism and the...
.
Cast
- Rhys IfansRhys IfansRhys Ifans is a Welsh actor and musician. He is known for his portrayal of characters such as Spike in Notting Hill and Jed Parry in Enduring Love and as a member of the Welsh rock groups Super Furry Animals and The Peth. Ifans also appeared as Xenophilius Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Deathly...
as Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of OxfordEdward de Vere, 17th Earl of OxfordEdward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford was an Elizabethan courtier, playwright, lyric poet, sportsman and patron of the arts, and is currently the most popular alternative candidate proposed for the authorship of Shakespeare's works....
/ "William Shakespeare" - Vanessa RedgraveVanessa RedgraveVanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
as Elizabeth I of EnglandElizabeth I of EnglandElizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
. Redgrave commented that "It’s very interesting, the fractures, in this extraordinary creature.... I only hope that I've been able to respond to Roland in this script sufficiently to be able to just give a little glimpse of this fracturing, this black hole, with shafts of brief sunlight." - Joely RichardsonJoely RichardsonJoely Kim Richardson is an English actress, most known recently for her role as Queen Catherine Parr in the Showtime television show The Tudors and Julia McNamara in the television drama Nip/Tuck...
as young Queen Elizabeth. - David ThewlisDavid ThewlisDavid Thewlis is an English actor of stage and screen. His most commercially successful role to date has been that of Remus Lupin, in the Harry Potter film series...
as William Cecil, 1st Baron BurghleyWilliam Cecil, 1st Baron BurghleyWilliam Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley , KG was an English statesman, the chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer from 1572...
, longtime adviser to Queen Elizabeth. De Vere came to live in his household as a ward of the Queen at age 12 and became Burghley's son-in-law at age 21. Burghley is thought to have inspired the character Polonius. - Xavier SamuelXavier SamuelXavier Samuel is an Australian actor. He has appeared in leading roles in the feature films September, Further We Search, and Newcastle, and played Riley Biers in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, the third movie in Stephenie Meyer's The Twilight Saga film series.-Early life and education:Samuel was...
as Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of SouthamptonHenry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of SouthamptonHenry Wriothesley , 3rd Earl of Southampton , was the second son of Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton, and his wife Mary Browne, Countess of Southampton, daughter of the 1st Viscount Montagu...
, Shakespeare dedicatee and the focus of his sonnets; prospective suitor to Cecil's granddaughter Elizabeth de Vere - Sebastian ArmestoSebastian Armesto-Television and film:Armesto played Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in the series The Tudors. He also starred alongside Jane Asher in the 2008 ITV drama series The Palace as the King's carefree younger brother Prince George. He then played the character of Edmund Sparkler in the 2008 BBC version of...
as Ben JonsonBen JonsonBenjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
, poet, First FolioFirst FolioMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. is the 1623 published collection of William Shakespeare's plays. Modern scholars commonly refer to it as the First Folio....
editor, and friend of Susan de VereSusan de Vere, Countess of MontgomerySusan de Vere, Countess of Montgomery was an English noblewoman and the youngest daughter of Elizabethan courtier, poet, and playwright Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford.-Family and early years:... - Rafe SpallRafe SpallRafe Joseph Spall is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in the Edgar Wright films Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz , alongside Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. He had previously appeared alongside Pegg and Frost in a 2001 episode of Spaced...
as William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"... - Edward HoggEdward HoggEdward Hogg is an English actor, known for portraying Jesco White in White Lightnin and Stephen Turnbull in Bunny and the Bull.-Background:...
as Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of SalisburyRobert Cecil, 1st Earl of SalisburyRobert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, KG, PC was an English administrator and politician.-Life:He was the son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley and Mildred Cooke...
, William Cecil's son and successor - Helen BaxendaleHelen BaxendaleHelen Victoria Baxendale is an English actress of stage and television, possibly best-known for her roles in Cold Feet, Friends and Cardiac Arrest.-Early life:...
as Anne de Vere - Jamie Campbell BowerJamie Campbell BowerJames "Jamie" Campbell M. Bower is an English actor, singer and former model. Bower is best known for his role as Anthony Hope in Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, his role of Caius in The Twilight Saga: New Moon and his role of King Arthur in the Starz original series...
as young Oxford - Antje Thiele as Lady de Vere
- Robert EmmsRobert Emms-Career:Emms studied at The BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology from 2002-2004, and is a graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art ....
as Thomas Dekker, dramatist - Tony WayTony WayTony Way is an English actor, comedian, and writer, who is best known for playing various characters, in the hit BBC sketch comedy TV series Tittybangbang and playing the character Dave in the hit comedy movie, Ali G Indahouse....
as Thomas NasheThomas NasheThomas Nashe was an English Elizabethan pamphleteer, playwright, poet and satirist. He was the son of the minister William Nashe and his wife Margaret .-Early life:...
, poet and satirist - Trystan Gravelle as Christopher MarloweChristopher MarloweChristopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian, next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his mysterious death.A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May...
, poet and dramatist - Sebastian Reid as Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of EssexRobert Devereux, 2nd Earl of EssexRobert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, KG was an English nobleman and a favourite of Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during the Nine Years' War in 1599...
, executed for treason - John Keogh as Philip HenslowePhilip HenslowePhilip Henslowe was an Elizabethan theatrical entrepreneur and impresario. Henslowe's modern reputation rests on the survival of his diary, a primary source for information about the theatrical world of Renaissance London...
- Sir Derek JacobiDerek JacobiSir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...
as Narrator (Prologue) - Amy KwolekAmy KwolekAmy Kwolek is an English actress, who is best known for her role as Nadine in Girls in Love . Kwolek has also starred in Doctors and Casualty ....
as Young Anne de Vere
Background and development
Screenwriter John OrloffJohn Orloff
John Orloff is an American screenwriter who currently lives in Chatham, New York.-Life and career:Orloff studied screenwriting at the University of California, Los Angeles Film School, and on graduation, went to work in the advertising business...
(Band of Brothers, A Mighty Heart
A Mighty Heart (film)
A Mighty Heart is a 2007 drama film directed by Michael Winterbottom; It is an adaptation of Mariane Pearl's memoir, A Mighty Heart. Although initially a financial failure, A Mighty Heart was met with relatively positive reviews from both critics and viewers alike.The film was screened out of...
) became interested in the authorship debate after watching a 1988 Frontline programme about the controversy. Penning his first draft in the late 1990s, commercial interest waned after Shakespeare in Love
Shakespeare in Love
Shakespeare in Love is a 1998 British-American comedy film directed by John Madden and written by Marc Norman and playwright Tom Stoppard....
was released in 1998. It was almost greenlit as The Soul of the Age for a 2005 release, with a budget of $30 to $35 million. However, financing proved to be "a risky undertaking," according to director Roland Emmerich. In October 2009, Emmerich stated, "It's very hard to get a movie like this made, and I want to make it in a certain way. I've actually had this project for eight years." At a press conference at Studio Babelsberg on April 29, 2010, Emmerich noted that the success of his more commercial films made this one possible, and that he got the cast he wanted without the pressure to come up with "at least two A-list American actors."
Emmerich noted he knew little of either Elizabethan history or the authorship question
Shakespeare authorship question
Image:ShakespeareCandidates1.jpg|thumb|alt=Portraits of Shakespeare and four proposed alternative authors.|Oxford, Bacon, Derby, and Marlowe have each been proposed as the true author...
until he came across John Orloff
John Orloff
John Orloff is an American screenwriter who currently lives in Chatham, New York.-Life and career:Orloff studied screenwriting at the University of California, Los Angeles Film School, and on graduation, went to work in the advertising business...
's script, after which he 'steeped' himself in the various theories. Wary of similarities with Amadeus
Amadeus
Amadeus is a play by Peter Shaffer.It is based on the lives of the composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, highly fictionalized.Amadeus was first performed in 1979...
, Emmerich decided to recast it as a film on the politics of succession
Succession
Succession is the act or process of following in order or sequence. It may further refer to:*Order of succession, in politics, the ascension to power by one ruler, official, or monarch after the death, resignation, or removal from office of another, usually in a clearly defined order*Succession...
and the monarchy, a tragedy about kings, queens and princes, with broad plot lines including murder, illegitimacy and incest - "all the elements of a Shakespeare play."
In a November 2009 interview, Emmerich said the heart of the movie is in the original title, The Soul of the Age, and revolved around three main characters: Ben Jonson
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
, William Shakespeare, and the Earl of Oxford. In a subsequent announcement in 2010, Emmerich detailed the finalized plot line:
"It’s a mix of a lot of things: it’s an historical thriller because it’s about who will succeed Queen Elizabeth and the struggle of the people who want to have a hand in it. It’s the Tudors on one side and the Cecils on the other, and in between [the two] is the Queen. Through that story we tell how the plays written by the Earl of Oxford ended up labelled 'William Shakespeare'."
Filming
Anonymous was the first motion picture to be shot with Arriflex's new AlexaArriflex Alexa
The Arri Alexa is a film-style digital motion picture camera made by Arri first introduced in April 2010. The camera marks Arri's first major transition into digital cinematography after smaller previous efforts such as the Arriflex D-20 and D-21...
camera, with most of the period backgrounds created and enhanced via new CGI
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
technology. In addition, Elizabethan London was recreated for the film with more than 70 painstakingly hand-built sets at Germany's Studio Babelsberg. These include a full-scale replica of London’s imposing The Rose
The Rose (theatre)
The Rose was an Elizabethan theatre. It was the fourth of the public theatres to be built, after The Theatre , the Curtain , and the theatre at Newington Butts The Rose was an Elizabethan theatre. It was the fourth of the public theatres to be built, after The Theatre (1576), the Curtain (1577),...
theatre.
Release
Anonymous was originally slated for world-wide release in a Shakespeare in LoveShakespeare in Love
Shakespeare in Love is a 1998 British-American comedy film directed by John Madden and written by Marc Norman and playwright Tom Stoppard....
-style opening, but was rescheduled for restricted release on 28 October 2011 in 265 theatres in the United States, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, expanding to 513 screens in its second week. Pre-release surveys had predicted a weak opening weekend (under $5 million) leading Sony to stagger release dates and depend on word-of-mouth to support a more gradual release strategy (as they did with Company Town). According to Brendan Bettinger, "Anonymous came out of Toronto with surprisingly positive early reviews for a Roland Emmerich picture." Sony distribution president Rory Bruer noted “We love the picture and think it’s going to get great word of mouth. We’re committed to expanding it until it plays wide.”
Reception
The film received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reports that 46% of 151 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 5.4 out of 10. Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 50 based on 40 reviews. The film grossed almost $6.7 million in its first three weeks. Audiences gave it an A- rating in its first weekend of limited release.
Rex Reed
Rex Reed
Rex Taylor Reed is an American film critic and former co-host of the syndicated television show At the Movies. He currently writes the column "On the Town with Rex Reed" for The New York Observer.-Life and career:...
regards Anonymous as "one of the most exciting on-screen literary rows since Norman Mailer
Norman Mailer
Norman Kingsley Mailer was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and film director.Along with Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Hunter S...
was beaten with a hammer," and well worth the stamina required to sit out what is an otherwise exhausting film. Not only Shakespeare's identity, but also that of Queen Elizabeth, the 'Virgin Queen' is challenged by Orloff's script, which has her as " a randy piece of work who had many lovers and bore several children." Visually, the film gives us a "dazzling panorama of Tudor history" which will not bore viewers. It boasts a cast of pure gold, and its "recreation of the Old Globe, the fame that brought ruin and dishonor to both Oxford and the money-grubbing Shakespeare, and the sacrifice of Oxford's own property and family fortune to write plays he believed in against a background of danger and violence make for a bloody good yarn, masterfully told, lushly appointed, slavishly researched and brilliantly acted." He adds the caveats that it does play "hopscotch with history", has a bewildering and confusing cast of characters and is jumpy in its timeframes.
Michael Phillips
Michael Phillips (critic)
Michael Phillips is a film critic for the Chicago Tribune newspaper. Previously he was the drama critic of the Tribune; the Los Angeles Times; the St. Paul Pioneer Press; the San Diego Union-Tribune; and the Dallas Times Herald....
for the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
writes that the film is ridiculous but not dull. Displaying a "rollicking belief in its own nutty bombast" as "history is simultaneously being made up and rewritten," its best scenes are those of the candle-lit interiors caught by the Alexa digital camera on a lovely copper-and-honey-toned palette. After a week, what remains in Phillips' memory is not the de Vere/Shakespeare conspiracy theory but "the way Redgrave gazes out a window, her reign near the end, her eyes full of regret but also of fiery defiance of the balderdash lapping at her feet."
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
finds Orloff's screenplay "ingenious," Emmerich's direction "precise", and the cast "memorable". Though "profoundly mistaken", Anonymous is "a marvellous historical film," giving viewers "a splendid experience: the dialogue, the acting, the depiction of London, the lust, jealousy and intrigue." That said, he rounds off, he must "tiresomely insist that Edward de Vere did not write Shakespeare's plays."
Kirk Honeycutt ranked it as Emmerich's best film, with a superb cast of British actors, and a stunning digitally-enhanced recreation of London in Elizabethan times. The film is "glorious fun as it grows increasingly implausible", for the plot "is all historical rubbish," Damon Wise, reviewing the film for the Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, appraises Emmerich's 'meticulously crafted' and 'stunningly designed takedown of the Bard,' as shocking only in that it is rather good. Emmerich's problem, he argues, is that he was so intent on proving his credentials as a serious director that the film ended up 'drowned in exposition.' Orloff's screenplay heavily confuses plotlines; the politics are retrofitted to suit the theory. The lead roles are 'unengaging' but special mention is given to Edward Hogg's performance as Robert Cecil, and Vanessa Redgrave's role as Elizabeth.
Robert Koehler
Robert Koehler
Robert Koehler was a German-born painter and art teacher who spent most of his career in the United States of America.-Biography:...
, writing for Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, reads the film as an 'illustrated argument' of an 'aggressively promoted and more frequently debunked' theory, and finds it less interesting than the actors who play a role in, or endorse, it. Narrative cogency is strained by the constant switches in time signature, and the imbroglio of Shakespeare and Jonson squabbling publicly over claims to authorship is both tiresome and 'veers close to comedy'; indeed it is superfluous given Ifans's commanding and convincing acting as the 'real' Shakespeare. The supporting cast of actors is praised for fine performances, except for Spall's Shakespeare, who is 'often so ridiculous that the "Stratfordians" will feel doubly insulted.' Sebastian Krawinkel's 'ambitious and gorgeous production design' comes in for special mention, as does Anna J. Foerster's elegant widescreen lensing. The score however fails their standards.
Kristopher Tapley champions the film, finding that Orloff has spun 'a fascinating yarn'. Ifans gives a stunning performance, and Spall's Shakespeare provides delightful comic relief. The film is 'gorgeous' and Tapley agrees with a colleague's judgement that "people will likely look back to Anonymous as the tipping point of what you can really do with digital in a next-level kind of way".'
David Denby
David Denby (film critic)
David Denby is an American journalist, best known as a film critic for The New Yorker magazine.-Background and education:Denby grew up in New York City. He received a B.A...
, reviewing for the New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, writes of Emmerich's "preposterous fantasia", where confusion reigns as to which of the virgin queen's illegitimate children is Essex and which Southampton, and where it is not clear what the connection is between the plot to hide the authorship of the plays and the struggle to find a successor to the officially childless Elizabeth. He concludes that, "The Oxford theory is ridiculous, yet the filmmakers go all the way with it, producing endless scenes of indecipherable court intrigue in dark, smoky rooms, and a fashion show of ruffs
Ruff (clothing)
A ruff is an item of clothing worn in Western Europe from the mid-sixteenth century to the mid-seventeenth century.The ruff, which was worn by men, women and children, evolved from the small fabric ruffle at the drawstring neck of the shirt or chemise...
, farthingale
Farthingale
Farthingale is a term applied to any of several structures used under Western European women's clothing in the late 15th and 16th centuries to support the skirts into the desired shape. It originated in Spain.- Spanish farthingale :...
s, and halberd
Halberd
A halberd is a two-handed pole weapon that came to prominent use during the 14th and 15th centuries. Possibly the word halberd comes from the German words Halm , and Barte - in modern-day German, the weapon is called Hellebarde. The halberd consists of an axe blade topped with a spike mounted on...
s. The more far-fetched the idea, it seems, the more strenuous the effort to pass it off as authentic."
James Lileks
James Lileks
James Lileks is an American journalist, columnist, and blogger living in Minneapolis, Minnesota.- Career :Lileks has had a wide-ranging career as a columnist, radio personality, author, and prominent blogger....
, in the Star Tribune
Star Tribune
The Star Tribune is the largest newspaper in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is published seven days each week in an edition for the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area. A statewide version is also available across Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota. The...
review, noting favourable responses, including one where a critic wondered if Emmerich had anything to do with it, says the devious message must be that a shlock-merchant like Emmerich wasn't involved, but, like the film plot itself, must conceal the hand of some more experienced filmmaker
Alan Smithee
Alan Smithee was an official pseudonym used by film directors who wish to disown a project, coined in 1968. Until its use was formally discontinued in 2000, it was the sole pseudonym used by members of the Directors Guild of America when a director dissatisfied with the final product proved to...
, whose identity will be much debated for centuries to come. Reviewing for Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
, Christy Lemire
Christy Lemire
Christy Lemire is the film critic for The Associated Press and co-host of Ebert Presents at the Movies with Ignatiy Vishnevetsky. She also co-hosts the weekly online movie review show, What The Flick?!....
commends Rhys Ifans' performance as "flamboyant, funny, sexy" in an otherwise heavy-handed and clumsy film, whose script "jumps back and forth in time so quickly and without rhyme or reason, it convolutes the narrative." A "flow chart" is perhaps needed to keep track of all of the sons, and sons of sons. The "blubbering" about the brilliance of Shakespeare's works is repetitive, and upstages the initial whiff of scandal, giving the impression that the film is "much ado about nothing.".
For A.O. Scott, writing for the New York Times, Anonymous is "a vulgar prank on the English literary tradition, a travesty of British history and a brutal insult to the human imagination". Yet, a fine cast manages to "burnish even meretricious nonsense with craft and conviction," and one is "tempted to suspend disbelief, even if Mr. Emmerich finally makes it impossible.
." Lou Lumenick
Lou Lumenick
Louis J. "Lou" Lumenick is an American film critic. He is the chief film critic and a blogger for the New York Post and has reviewed films there since 1999.-Life and career:Lumenick was born and raised in Astoria, Queens...
, writing for the New York Post, writes that the movie "is a thoroughly entertaining load of eye candy with solid performances, even if John Orloff’s exposition-heavy script practically requires a concordance
Concordance
Concordance can mean:* Concordance , a list of words used in a body of work, with their immediate contexts* Concordance , the presence of the same trait in both members of a pair of twins...
to follow at times." For the Globe and Mail's Liam Lacey, "the less you know about Shakespeare, the more you’re likely to enjoy Anonymous." Ingenuity is wasted on an "unintelligent enterprise", that of arguing that people of humble origins cannot outwrite blue-bloods. Emmerich's CGI effects are well-done, but it is amazing just to watch an "actor on a bare wooden stage, using nothing but a sequence of words that make your scalp prickle."
Andrea Chase in Killer Movie Reviews rates Anonymous as "superb", dwelling on Orloff's rich script, which has "done an excellent job of fitting the known facts to the thesis on offer", on Emmerich's dramatic flair and the wonderful supporting cast. It is somewhat spoiled by Ifans's leaden presence, which betrays nothing of "the ribald temper to be found in the plays." By contrast, Spall's Shakespeare, "preening with the narcissist's elan of a confirmed ham, lights up the screen."
Louise Keller for Urban Cinefile admires the "thought-provoking scenario" of Orloff's "marvellous conspiracy story" , though its "twists and turns" are headspinning: "anyone who can follow the first 30 minutes of the plot, must have been polishing the grey matter with advanced Sudoku
Sudoku
is a logic-based, combinatorial number-placement puzzle. The objective is to fill a 9×9 grid with digits so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3×3 sub-grids that compose the grid contains all of the digits from 1 to 9...
: it's an unholy mess of complicated situations and jumps in time frame." Despite the exemplary cast, exquisite production design and extraordinary look, Emmerich has lost an opportunity to make more of it, "on account of the jumbled, convoluted storyline that had me confused, frustrated and mentally scrambling to keep abreast of every detail," though everything falls together in the final 45 minutes.
Pre-release arguments
In a trailer for the movie, Emmerich lists ten reasons why in his view Shakespeare of Stratford did not write the plays attributed to him. Postproduction plans envisage the release of a documentary about the Shakespeare authorship question, and providing materials for teachers. According to Sony Pictures, "The objective for our Anonymous program, as stated in the classroom literature, is ‘to encourage critical thinking by challenging students to examine the theories about the authorship of Shakespeare’s works and to formulate their own opinions.’ The study guide does not state that Edward de Vere is the writer of Shakespeare’s work, but it does pose the authorship question which has been debated by scholars for decades". In response, on 1 September 2011, the Shakespeare Birthplace TrustShakespeare Birthplace Trust
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is an independent registered educational charity based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, that came into existence in 1847 following the purchase of William Shakespeare's birthplace for preservation as a national memorial. It can also lay claim to be...
launched a programme to debunk conspiracy theories about Shakespeare, mounting an Internet video in which 60 scholars and writers reply to common queries and doubts about Shakespeare's identity for one minute each. In Shakespeare's home county of Warwickshire, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is an independent registered educational charity based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, that came into existence in 1847 following the purchase of William Shakespeare's birthplace for preservation as a national memorial. It can also lay claim to be...
promoted a protest against the film by temporarily covering or crossing out Shakespeare's image or name on pub signs and road signs.
Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
's James Shapiro
James S. Shapiro
James S. Shapiro is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University who specialises in Shakespeare and the Early Modern period...
, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal noted that according to an article in the same journal in 2009, three Supreme Court Justices
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
now lent support to the Oxfordian theory
Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship
The Oxfordian theory of Shakespearean authorship proposes that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford , wrote the plays and poems traditionally attributed to William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon. While a large majority of scholars reject all alternative candidates for authorship, popular...
whereas in a moot court
Moot court
A moot court is an extracurricular activity at many law schools in which participants take part in simulated court proceedings, usually to include drafting briefs and participating in oral argument. The term derives from Anglo Saxon times, when a moot was a gathering of prominent men in a...
judgment in 1987 Justices John Paul Stevens
John Paul Stevens
John Paul Stevens served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from December 19, 1975 until his retirement on June 29, 2010. At the time of his retirement, he was the oldest member of the Court and the third-longest serving justice in the Court's history...
, Harry Blackmun
Harry Blackmun
Harold Andrew Blackmun was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1970 until 1994. He is best known as the author of Roe v. Wade.- Early years and professional career :...
and William Brennan
William J. Brennan, Jr.
William Joseph Brennan, Jr. was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1956 to 1990...
had "ruled unanimously in favor of Shakespeare and against the Earl of Oxford." "The attraction of these ideas owes something to the Internet, where conspiracy theories proliferate," he argued, adding that "Emmerich's film is one more sign that conspiracy theories about the authorship of Shakespeare's plays have gone mainstream". Scriptwriter John Orloff replied that Shapiro oversimplified the facts since Justice Stevens later affirmed that he had had "lingering concerns" and "gnawing doubts" in 1987 that Shakespeare might have been someone else, and that if the author was not the man from Stratford, there was a high probability he was Edward de Vere."
Emmerich complains of what he sees as the "arrogance of the literary establishment" to say: 'We know it, we teach it, so shut the fuck up.'" He has singled out the Shakespearean scholar, James S. Shapiro, an expert on these theories, as a liar:
He . . sometimes claims certain things which then I then as a scholar cannot dispute, but later I check on it and find out he was totally lying. Just outright lying. It's bizarre. But they also have a lot to lose. He wrote a bestseller about William Shakespeare called "1599" which is one year in the life of this mine (sicSicSic—generally inside square brackets, [sic], and occasionally parentheses, —when added just after a quote or reprinted text, indicates the passage appears exactly as in the original source...
) which is incredible to read when you all of a sudden realize where did he get all of this stuff from?
Expectations
Emmerich is on record as believing that "everybody in the Stratfordian side is so pissed off because we've called them on their lies." Shapiro believes that while supporters of de Vere’s candidacy as the author of Shakespeare's plays have awaited this film with excitement, in his view, they may live to regret it. Robert McCrum in The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
wrote that, as the Internet is the natural home of conspiracy theories, the Oxford case, "a conspiracy theory in doublet and hose with a vengeance," means that Anonymous, irrespective of its merits or lack of them, will usher in an "open season for every denomination of literary fanatic."
Screenwriter John Orloff believes that the film will reshape the way we read Shakespeare. Derek Jacobi
Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...
allows that making the film was "a very risky thing to do", and imagines that "the orthodox Stratfordians are going to be apoplectic
Apoplexy
Apoplexy is a medical term, which can be used to describe 'bleeding' in a stroke . Without further specification, it is rather outdated in use. Today it is used only for specific conditions, such as pituitary apoplexy and ovarian apoplexy. In common speech, it is used non-medically to mean a state...
with rage."
Bert Fields, a lawyer who recently wrote a book about the authorship issue, thinks scholars may be missing the larger benefit that Anonymous provides - widespread appreciation of the Bard’s work. “Why do these academics feel threatened by this? It isn’t threatening anybody,” Fields commented. “The movie does things that I don’t necessarily agree with. But if anything, it makes the work more important. It focuses attention on the most important body of work in the English language.”
Fictional drama
In an interview with The Atlantic, scriptwriter John Orloff was asked "In crafting your characters and the narrative, how were you able to find the right balance between historical fact, fiction, and speculation?" Orloff responded:"Ultimately, Shakespeare himself was our guide. The Shakespeare histories are not really histories. They're dramas. He compresses time. He adds characters that have been dead by the time the events are occurring. He'll invent characters out of whole cloth, like [Sir John] Falstaff in the history plays. First and foremost it's a drama, and just like Shakespeare we're creating drama."Director Emmerich, when given examples of details that do not correspond to the facts, is reported as being more concerned with the mood of the film. He agreed that there were many historical mistakes in his film, but said movies have a right to do this, citing Amadeus
Amadeus (film)
Amadeus is a 1984 period drama film directed by Miloš Forman and written by Peter Shaffer. Adapted from Shaffer's stage play Amadeus, the story is based loosely on the lives of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, two composers who lived in Vienna, Austria, during the latter half of the...
. Emmerich also notes that Shakespeare himself was not concerned with historical accuracy, and considers that the inner truth was his objective.
Crace, raising the issue of Emmerich as 'literary detective' comments that the director "has never knowingly let the facts get in the way of a good story." Historian Simon Schama
Simon Schama
Simon Michael Schama, CBE is a British historian and art historian. He is a University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University. He is best known for writing and hosting the 15-part BBC documentary series A History of Britain...
calling the film 'inadvertently comic' said of its thesis that the real problem was not so much the "idiotic misunderstanding of history and the world of the theater" but rather the "fatal lack of imagination on the subject of the imagination." James Shapiro
James S. Shapiro
James S. Shapiro is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University who specialises in Shakespeare and the Early Modern period...
wrote that it is a film for our time, "in which claims based on conviction are as valid as those based on hard evidence," which ingeniously circumvents objections that there is not a scrap of documentary evidence for de Vere's authorship by assuming a conspiracy to suppress the truth. The result is that "the very absence of surviving evidence proves the case."
Tiffany Stern, professor of early modern drama at Oxford University, says that the film is fictional, and should be enjoyed as such. Gordon McMullan, professor of English at King's College
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
, says Shakespeare wrote the plays, and the idea he didn't is related to a conspiracy theory that coincides with the emergence of the detective genre. For Orloff, criticisms by scholars that call the film fictional rather than factual are kneejerk reactions to the "academic subversion of normality".
Historical accuracy
In a pre-release interview, scriptwriter Orloff said that, with the exception of whether Shakespeare wrote the plays or not, "The movie is unbelievably historically accurate... What I mean by that is that I, like Henry James, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, Derek Jacobi and John Gielgud, don’t think Shakespeare wrote the plays, but obviously a lot more people do think Shakespeare wrote the plays. Obviously, in my movie, he didn’t, so a lot of people will say that’s not historically accurate and they are totally welcome to that opinion. But, the world within the movie, that that story takes place in, is incredibly accurate, like the Essex Rebellion and the ages of the characters."Orloff also described the attention given to creating a "real London", noting that the effects crew "took 30,000 pictures in England, of every Tudor building they could find, and then they scanned them all into the computer and built real London in 1600"
According to Holger Syme, Stephen Marche and James Shapiro, the film does contain a number of historical inaccuracies. These include standard theatrical techniques such as time compression and the conflating of supporting characters and locations, as well as larger deviations from recorded history.
- Essex was King James of Scotland's most avid supporter in England during the closing years of Elizabeth's reign. The film presents James as the Cecils' candidate, and Essex as a threat to his succession. In fact William Cecil feared James, believing he bore a grudge against him for his role in the death of James' mother, Mary Queen of Scots. (Shapiro)
- Christopher MarloweChristopher MarloweChristopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian, next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his mysterious death.A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May...
is alive in 1598; he died in 1593.(Syme) - The slashing of Marlowe's throat occurs in SouthwarkSouthwarkSouthwark is a district of south London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Southwark. Situated east of Charing Cross, it forms one of the oldest parts of London and fronts the River Thames to the north...
, whereas Marlowe was killed by Ingram FrizerIngram FrizerIngram Frizer, died August 1627, was an English gentleman and businessman of the late 16th and early 17th centuries who is notable for killing playwright Christopher Marlowe in the home of Eleanor Bull on 30 May 1593...
with a knife stab above the left eye, in DeptfordDeptfordDeptford is a district of south London, England, located on the south bank of the River Thames. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne, and from the mid 16th century to the late 19th was home to Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Navy Dockyards.Deptford and the docks are...
.(Marche)(Syme) - Marlowe is shown mocking Dekker's Shoemaker's Holiday in 1598, although it wasn't written until the following year.(Syme)
- Marlowe dies on the same day Essex departs for Ireland. These events actually happened 6 years apart. (Marche)
- Thomas NasheThomas NasheThomas Nashe was an English Elizabethan pamphleteer, playwright, poet and satirist. He was the son of the minister William Nashe and his wife Margaret .-Early life:...
is shown alive after 1601, the traditional date of his death.(Syme) - The film shows The RoseThe Rose (theatre)The Rose was an Elizabethan theatre. It was the fourth of the public theatres to be built, after The Theatre , the Curtain , and the theatre at Newington Butts The Rose was an Elizabethan theatre. It was the fourth of the public theatres to be built, after The Theatre (1576), the Curtain (1577),...
burning down in 1603. The Rose was never recorded as having caught fire, whereas the real Globe Theatre burned down in 1613.(Syme) - Richard IIIRichard III (play)Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified...
is advertised as brand-new in 1601. It was printed four years earlier in 1597.(Syme) - Richard IIRichard II (play)King Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England and is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by some scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's...
was performed on the eve of Essex's uprising, not Richard III.(Syme) - The crowd watching Richard III swarms out of the theatre towards the court, but are gunned down on Cecil's orders. This event never occurred. (Shapiro)
- The poem Venus and AdonisVenus and Adonis (Shakespeare poem)Venus and Adonis is a poem by William Shakespeare, written in 1592–1593, with a plot based on passages from Ovid's Metamorphoses. It is a complex, kaleidoscopic work, using constantly shifting tone and perspective to present contrasting views of the nature of love.-Publication:Venus and Adonis was...
is presented by de Vere as a 'hot-off-the-press bestseller' written and printed especially for the aging Queen in 1601. It was published in 1593. - Oxford presents Jonson a hand-written copy of Romeo and JulietRomeo and JulietRomeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
in 1598. The play actually appeared in print in 1597.(Syme) - Jonson is amazed to learn that Romeo and Juliet, written in 1598, is apparently entirely in blank verseBlank verseBlank verse is poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the sixteenth century" and Paul Fussell has claimed that "about three-quarters of all English poetry is in blank verse."The first...
. GorboducGorboduc (play)Gorboduc, also titled Ferrex and Porrex, is an English play from 1561. It was performed before Queen Elizabeth I on 18 January 1562, by the Gentlemen of the Inner Temple...
precedes it as the first to employ the measure throughout the play by more than 35 years. By 1598 the form was standard in theatre. (Syme) (Marche) - The film portrays A Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
as composed by de Vere in his childhood, approximately 1560. It was written several decades later. (Marche) - Elizabeth's funeral takes place on the frozen Thames. The actual ceremony took place on land. The Thames did not freeze over that year.
- Oxford's wife, Anne Cecil, died in 1588, and he remarried in 1591. The film conflates his two wives into the character of Anne. (Emmerich)
See also
- Shakespeare authorship questionShakespeare authorship questionImage:ShakespeareCandidates1.jpg|thumb|alt=Portraits of Shakespeare and four proposed alternative authors.|Oxford, Bacon, Derby, and Marlowe have each been proposed as the true author...
- Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorshipOxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorshipThe Oxfordian theory of Shakespearean authorship proposes that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford , wrote the plays and poems traditionally attributed to William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon. While a large majority of scholars reject all alternative candidates for authorship, popular...
- Prince Tudor theoryPrince Tudor theoryThe Prince Tudor theory is a variant of the Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship, which asserts that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford was the true author of the works published under the name of William Shakespeare...
External links
- Anonymous trailer
- April 29, 2010 Press Conference at YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
(partial; see other linked clips) - Shakespeare's Lost Kingdom: The True History of Shakespeare and Elizabeth (book supported by the filmmakers)