Movie Review: ‘Anonymous

As the Tudor dynasty slows to a halt, England swelters in political turmoil. Queen Elizabeth I is on her deathbed and King James VI of Scotland is set to succeed her.

But the ultimate transcriber of absolute beauty in the English language is shaping the Essex Rebellion against the throne.

A chic Anglican with an earring and ink-stained thumbs, Edward de Verre, the Duke of Oxford (Rhys Ifans), is the film’s purported owner of Shakespeare’s oeuvre.

“All art is political,” he unabashedly proclaims.

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And so his plays, the plays the audience thought belonged to a William Shakespeare, are transformed into an apparatus aimed at propelling a political revolution.

As for the playwright himself, William Shakespeare (Rafe Spall), the man with his name on the plays, is an actor in the film’s universe, not a writer. Not a writer at all. Instead, Shakespeare is illiterate and a drunken buffoon who happens to intercept Edward’s plays and pass them off as his own.

An interaction between Edward and Shakespeare produces an almost, albeit unintentional, comedic foray by Shakespeare on the Duke’s abode, as Shakespeare embodies a pyramid-scheme yuppie as he gripes and demands more money from the Duke.

Begrudgingly the Duke pays, as he knows that in order for the Essex Rebellion to go over smoothly, the seeds of mistrust must be set forth.

Directed by Roland Emmerich, he welds an empathetic tale of a writer on the fringe of two worlds in a detour from his usual disaster films.

The film’s dark coffee cinematography and costuming are splendid, as we see the ole English in their typical frothy collars.

With Queen Elizabeth (the younger one played by Joely Richardson and the elder played by Vanessa Redgrave) as his muse, young Edward de Verre delights in love’s fruits, filling his head full of the prose and poetry that will later occupy the Globe Theatre’s stage. Their fervent love affair blossoms, but due to an accidental murder, Edward is bound to a marital contract, and finds himself restrained from seeing Elizabeth.

At the center of the film is the Duke of Oxford’s predicament. Unable to follow his passion, or be with the woman he loves, he is forbidden from ever attaching his name to his creative works.

In its most piteous moments, “Anonymous” is sympathetic as Edward’s plight resounds beyond the Globe.

But the destruction of Shakespeare’s image at the hands of a mediocre political ploy degrades the film’s story, and the real life Stratford-upon-Avon resident.

Grade:C+

Posted by Nick Widener on Nov 17 2011. Filed under Features, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.