The film Anonymous raises the interesting question regarding the authorship of plays attributed to William Shakespeare. There is a minority opinion among scholars that Shakespeare is not the true author of the works attributed to him. If not William Shakespeare, then whom? That is the question that Anonymous begs to answer.
I enjoyed viewing a film about Shakespeare from a new perspective. The story was actually a tale of politics and conspiracies with the focus on Shakespeare's work almost an afterthought. But I enjoyed the way the film brought together many factual elements to propose an alternate theory. While I have never been much of a conspiracy theorist, I must admit that this film intrigued me. My perspective is probably a minority opinion. The film was widely panned at the time it was released.
To answer my own question. If Shakespeare (Rafe Spall) did not write the many plays, sonnets and poems attributed to him, then who did? Anonymous answers that question by examining the politics of the day. Queen Elizabeth (Vanessa Redgrave) was on the throne. The Puritan, William Cecil (David Thewlis), as her most trusted adviser, carefully monitored the mood and temperament of their day. With an aging Queen on the throne, and no male heir to rightfully claim succession, opposing forces desired to fill that role. King James of Scotland seemed most viable as the son of Queen Mary. But Mary and Elizabeth did not quite see eye-to-eye.
In an effort to oppose the forces that would bring King James to the throne, the Earl of Oxford, Edward De Vere (Rhys Ifans) put pen to paper to shape public opinion about members of the monarchy and their staff. The characters were designed as caricatures of actual leaders, meant to inspire the people and sway their allegiances. This type of dalliance presented obvious political consequences that required Oxford to distance himself from his work. For this task, he hired Ben Johnson (Sebastian Armesto), a playwright who did not shy away from this type of work. However, Johnson's pride kept him from claiming Oxford's work, leaving a vacuum that a brash young actor boldly stepped into. Hence, William Shakespeare. While maintaining his distance, there was little doubt among the monarchy who actually penned the political satire.
What I enjoyed aboutAnonymous was the thread of truth that was woven through the film. While unlikely, the film allows the theory to be plausible. Taking actual figures from the era and casting them in roles that remain mostly true to what we know about them, writer John Orloff creates an alternate reality that almost seems possible. The relationships between Cecil, Southampton (Xavier Samuel), Essex (Sam Reid), Elizabeth and De Vere are all factual. However, Orloff does take incredible liberty with the facts, casting Cecil as a pious Puritan, which I believe may be somewhat inaccurate. But not nearly as much so as Queen Elizabeth's hidden indiscretions and numerous bastard children. In fact, Elizabeth may have been infertile. In this film, not only is she fertile, but she manages to have a child with Cecil at a very young age, only to have sex with that same child, not knowing him to be her own offspring. That was a twisted, sick, convoluted plot contrivance that even the most generous mind cannot forgive. It was trying to be Greek comedy, but did not succeed in doing that aspect well.
The writing was mostly good, with strong characters, although many were a bit flat at times. The contrivances were the worst part for me. The story fit as it was told, so the entire monologue of Robert Cecil (Edward Hogg) was unnecessary. It cast the entire concept of the movie into the realm of inconceivable. I was also shocked at the portrayal of Shakespeare, who was cast as a complete buffoon. I guess if you are going to defecate on Shakespeare's grave, why pull punches? But the treatment of Shakespeare further eroded the film's credibility, mostly because the character was so flat and exaggerated.
From a cinematography standpoint, Anonymous was brilliant. The film bounced between three eras (the present day, the period surrounding the rise of Shakespeare and the historical background surrounding Oxford's upbringing). The film moved between eras with adequate markers to keep the audience from getting confused, although the numerous characters and contexts did make that aspect a challenge. The costumes were brilliant and the setting realistic. The visual aspects of the film were exceptional. I enjoyed the look and feel of the film, which was the first to use the Arri Alexa camera.
While a few of the characters seemed a bit overdone to me, the performances were exceptional. I enjoyed all of the performances, with the exception of Shakespeare himself, but not because of the acting. The portrayal was horrid and I really just couldn't get past that fact to give the actor any recognition. An issue that was not Spall's fault. I thought Vanessa Redgrave was brilliant as Queen Elizabeth. She even captured the indecision that is often attributed to her. I especially enjoyed Ifans as Oxford. His performance brought a degree of credibility to a film that otherwise stretched the imagination. A strong cast elevated this film to a level that almost made the script worthwhile.
My biggest issue with Anonymous was the use of conflated ideas that really didn't add anything to the plot. This film ended up being more about political intrigue and succession battles than the origins of Shakespeare's plays. I like period pieces and found that this work relied heavily on known historical facts to paint an interesting and plausible alternate reality to the man every literature class quotes. By stretching what we know as far as this film did was stupid. It wasted a lot of research and effort that otherwise supported the theory. The treatment of Shakespeare's character also shocked me. They could still have made Shakespeare lovable within this theory. Instead, it ended up jading me a bit. Overall, I enjoyed the film by putting reason aside and allowing for an alternate sense of reality to tell a unique story. A story that was just a tad bit over embellished. 7/10.
Photos and trailer subject to copyright by Columbia Pictures
