Don’t get me wrong. I love ANONYMOUS as a movie because of the remarkable ensemble acting and the astonishing recreation of Elizabethan London. I found the basic premise that Edward De Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford wrote Shakespeare’s plays quite compelling. I didn’t mind the blatant historical inaccuracies as that is usually the case with most historical dramas. In fact they only serve to underscore that ANONYMOUS is a work of historical fiction just like Cate Blanchett’s two ELIZABETH movies or SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE. What I do mind is that ANONYMOUS, like the play and movie of AMADEUS, gives an unduly distorted picture of a real life historical person that most people will assume to be true.
The idea of turning Shakespeare into a randy, illiterate actor does a disservice not only to him but to the Earl of Oxford as well. It would have been dramatically more satisfying if Shakespeare had been an ambitious opportunist who could read the plays thus knowing their true artistic worth. He would then take credit for them knowing that the Earl could and would do nothing about it. The other problem with ANONYMOUS is its complicated flashback structure that makes the story very hard to follow even if you know the history involved. While the storyline needn’t be linear, it shouldn’t have to take more than one viewing to figure it out. This is an example of the screenwriters being too clever for their own good.
Despite these handicaps, ANONYMOUS tells a compelling story that is given added depth by the strength of several performances. Holding the film together is Rhys Ifans as the proud and powerful yet pathetic Edward De Vere. Next up is Vanessa Redgrave as the old Elizabeth. At 73 she was only 4 years older than the Queen was at her death. Then there are a quartet of portrayals beginning with Sebastian Armesto as a conflicted Ben Jonson. David Thewlis as William Cecil ages magnificently while Edward Hogg as his son Robert does his acting with his eyes. Finally there is Rafe Spall (son of Timothy) as a most unlikely Shakespeare.
I highly recommend that after watching the movie, you watch it again with the commentary track from writer John Orloff and director Roland Emmerich. It clarifies what they were trying to do in the film and it highlights the incredible amount of CGI used throughout the movie which makes the actors’ performances even more impressive as most of the time they were performing in front of a green screen. There is also a short featurette…”Who is the Real William Shakespeare?”. In the final analysis. it doesn’t matter who wrote the plays and sonnets. It’s enough that we have them. As Derek Jacobi notes at the end…”They shall be remembered as long as words are made of breath and breath of life”.
The Capsule Critic 