Shakespeare in Love with Joseph Fiennes: DVD Cover
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Shakespeare in Love Director: John Madden Cast: Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Geoffrey Rush, Judi Dench

DVD - Wide Screen / Dolby 5.1 / Stereo Learn more

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  • DVD Release Date: 12/07/1999
  • Original Release: 1998
  • Rating: Rated R
  • Sales Rank: 3,291

Viewer Rating: (34 ratings)

Detailed Rating: "Visuals" See All

 
  • Overview
  • Editorial Reviews
  • Scenes
  • Customer Reviews
  • Cast & Crew
  • Full Product Details

Features

Shakespeare in Love and on Film; Television spots; 1998 Academy Award-winning costumes; John Madden commentary track; Commentary track with cast & crew; Deleted scenes; Shakespeare facts; Theatrical trailer ; French-language track

Full Product Details

Scene Index

Side #1 --
0. Chapter Selection
1. Program Start [:16]
2. Henslowe's Dilemma [:25]
3. Will [3:23]
4. Writer's Block [2:53]
5. The Chamberlain's Men [2:34]
6. Poetry, Adventure and Love [3:29]
7. It's a Mystery [:53]
8. Titles [2:08]
9. The De Lesseps House [2:32]
10. At First Sight [4:40]
11. Inspiration [3:37]
12. Arrangements [3:41]
13. How Do You Love Her [3:26]
14. Better Than a Play [3:39]
15. Reading Lines [4:20]
16. Good Title [3:40]
17. Her Majesty [5:27]
18. Writers' Quarrel [4:41]
19. Bad News [4:38]
20. To Church [3:51]
21. How Much I Loved You... [4:18]
22. The Final Draft [3:11]
23. Confrontation [3:16]
24. The Proposition [3:32]
25. Opening Night [2:38]
26. Juliet [5:36]
27. Star-Crossed Lovers [5:06]
28. Public Lewdness [4:13]
29. Lady Wessex [2:42]
30. Twelfth Night [6:57]
31. End Credits [:12]

Scene Index

Editorial Reviews

William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) is on a cold streak. Not only is he writing for Philip Henslowe (Geoffrey Rush), owner of "The Rose," a theatre whose doors are about to be closed by sadistic creditors, but he's got a nasty case of writer's block. Shakespeare hasn't written a hit in years. In fact, he hasn't written much of anything recently. Thus, the Bard finds himself in quite a bind when Henslowe, desperate to stave off another round of hot-coals-to-feet application, stakes The Rose's solvency on Shakespeare's new comedy, "Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter." The problem is, "Romeo" is safely "locked away" in Shakespeare's head, which is to say that not a word of it is written. Meanwhile, the lovely Lady Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow) is an ardent theatre-goer -- scandalous for a woman of her breeding -- who especially admires Shakespeare's plays and, not incidentally, Bill himself. Alas, she's about to be sold as property into a loveless marriage by her mercenary father and shipped off to a Virginia tobacco plantation. But not before dressing up as a young man and winning the part of Romeo in the embryonic play. Shakespeare soon discovers the deception and goes along with it, using the blossoming love affair to ignite his muse. As William and Viola's romance grows in intensity and spirals towards its inevitable culmination, so, too, does the farcical comedy about Romeo and pirates transform into the timeless tragedy that is Romeo and Juliet. Merle Bertrand, All Movie Guide

Customer Reviews

A Merrie Rompby dragonsscape

Reader Rating:
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November 24, 2009: Twelfth Night Revisited ~~ Queen Elizabeth I once asked Shakespeare to write a play showing Falstaff in love. This play, "The Merrie Wives of Windsor" was performed at Christmas in London's Temple Church. Imagine ~ what if Queen Elizabeth had asked for a play showing Shakespeare in love? How would it have turned out? Would Will have been the buffoon that Falstaff is in "Merrie Wives"? Or would he have been a dashing romantic? Unfortunately {for history} we will never know. But, in "Shakespeare In Love" we finally see how irresistibly foolish, daring & resourceful Will would/might have been! The cast is superb and the "fantasy" is a witty & captivating, if whimsically irrevernt, peek into Shakespeare's world ~ in short, a play that could have been written by the Bard himself with Shakespeare's "Love" providing the inspiration for his greatest romance "Romeo and Juliet". Now, that is a play Queen Elizabeth I would have regally enjoyed in Temple Church!

A fantasy come to lifeby bookluvinprof

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August 22, 2009: This charming film fulfills the fantasy of innumerable writers, directors, actors, and English professors. What do all of these people have in common? They all love Shakespeare! And wouldn't it be great to be there at the source, and witness the true inspiration for Romeo and Juliet and be present at the very first performance, before everybody already knew what the ending was? Wow! In my opinion, Gwyneth Paltrow actually deserved the Oscar she won as Shakespeare's fictional love interest, Viola de Lesseps. She is great in both her male and female aspects of her role. What I really love about this movie, though, is that Tom Stoppard script is so fantastic--witty, intelligent, and confident--and it's wonderful to see all these amazing actors enjoying themselves so much. The opening scene, showing an impoverished Elizabethan theater owner (Geoffrey Rush) being shaken down by a loan shark (Tom Wilkinson), is unexpectedly hilarious, and the movie frolics on from there. And, even though Judi Dench is only on the screen for about 20 minutes, she owns the screen as Elizabeth I.

I Also Recommend: Twelfth Night, Twelfth Night, Henry V, Lion In Winter, Much Ado About Nothing.


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