Imagine if Shakespeare were a fraud? A strand-in for someone who actually wrote some of the most world renowned plays but didn’t have the luxury of exposing himself to the Royal Court? This is the idea behind Roland Emmerich’s (2012) new film, Anonymous.
The film stars Rhys Ifans as Edward De Vere, the Earl of Oxford and the man responsible for all of the works Shakespeare had supposedly written. As a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I (Vanessa Redgrave), Edward had won her heart through his gifted storytelling and wonderful plays. But there were also people who were not so fond of the theater, the Queen’s advisors, father William Cecil (David Thewlis) and his hunchbacked son Robert Cecil (Edward Hogg). Wanting to see his plays come to life on a stage, Edward commissioned Ben Jonson (Sebastian Armesto) to get his plays shown in public, but what ended up happening was that William Shakespeare (Rafe Spall) took to the stage when he heard the crowds chanting for the playwright to take a bow. This is where everything goes wrong and the political thriller/drama turns from a simple story into a complex one of greed, a power struggle for the throne, and one man’s attempts to be heard through words, not brute force.
When I sat down to watch Anonymous I had no idea what I’d be getting myself into. I just knew that the movie claimed Shakespeare was a fraud and that was that. I never saw any footage and didn’t know that it would end up being a spider web story of elaborate lies, scandals and deception to boot. I very much enjoyed the concept of the film; as it isn’t often you get to see contradictory stories of famous figures played out on a screen. It makes me think of the upcoming Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter feature currently in the works.
I’ve mentioned a few times in past reviews that I’m a huge fan of Rhys Ifans. I thought he did a solid job in this film as he tried to explain his logic for his need to write plays even if it was against the law. It was his way of keeping his mind clear for the politics he had to deal with. Ifans came off as a very intelligent, clean cut guy which is a nice change from past performances in films like Mr. Nice and The Replacements. I enjoyed his presence in the film but he didn’t carry it all. David Thewlis and Edward Hogg seemed to steal every scene they were in and it wasn’t necessarily their good acting but rather how evil their characters were. It has been a long time since I literally hated film villains but these guys made me furious. All they wanted to do was make Edward’s life miserable and find a way to take the crown for someone else from Elizabeth when she passed. It was so frustrating to watch their manipulative ways but it’s what made the movie so much better and a little better. By the end of the film it becomes clear that the film rests more on the performances of its cast than on the complex story itself.
There is a point where the movie starts to get very confusing which makes it difficult to follow the characters and their logic for why they behave the way they do? This, along with the 130 minute runtime and Ben Johnson’s inconsistent acting performance were probably the three aspects of the film that I didn’t enjoy.
Overall, Anonymous was a very average piece of “Shakespearean” work, if I may use that term here. It was a tragedy about a man who wrote some of the best tragedies ever which, in and of itself, is a great idea. While the story got a little muddled here and there with all the various side plots, you can still walk away understand the big picture without any problems. With some great acting, average storytelling and a fascinating idea to work with, Anonymous ends up being a film made for a very specific audience.
Rating: A average film for the literary conscious crowd (5.3/10)
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