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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Viewer Rating: (29 ratings)

Detailed Rating: "The Script" See All

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  • DVD Release Date: 12/07/1999
  • Original Release: 1998
  • Rating: Rated R
  • Sales Rank: 502
 
  • 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 Shakespearian Rompby dragonzwisard

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December 05, 2008: 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!

I Also Recommend: Twelfth Night, Lion In Winter, Much Ado About Nothing, Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy, Romeo & Juliet.

Story within a storyby Anonymous

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February 02, 2006: Some people seem to have very strong reactions against this movie but I think its multifaceted story takes time to sink in. Imagine trying to take one of the greatest pieces of English literature - Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet - and inventing an entire backstory to explain how and why it was written. Writer Stoppard (a playwright himself who certainly understands the ups and downs of writing a successful play) takes many memorable lines from the play and creatively inserts scenes, big and small, that provide "inspiration" for them. It is also refreshing to see historical England in a more light-hearted context. Hollywood tends to make most historical movies about grand events - political intrigue, war, violence - but this movie is both funny and touching, investing in a more intimate and intellectual history instead.


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