Shakepeare in Love

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Recommended: Fashion during elizabethan era major part of clothing

The players include screenplays Mark Norman and Tom Stoppard, director John Madden, actors, Joseph Fiennes as Shakespeare, Gweneth Paltrow as Princess Viola De Lesseps, Judi Dench as Queen Elizabeth, Ben Afleck as Ned Allen and produced by Miramax. The movie was entitled Shakespeare in Love.

Young Will Shakespeare is about to start his new play, "Romeo and Ethel the Pirate's Daughter." However, Shakespeare has writer's block and according to his 16th century "shrink," only love can break this mighty block and give him back his "muse." While holding auditions for the play, he meets Thomas Kent, an incredible actor, who is really a princess in disguise. He later falls in love with her, and allows her continue in the play despite women not being allowed to act. Shakespeare has finally found his muse but the princess is to marry Lord Wessex. It is their forbidden affair that provides the inspiration for the tragic play he begins writing, which turned out to be "Romeo and Juliet," his most famous love story.

Lead characters Gweneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes were impeccably fitting for their roles and did a great job. While supporting actor Ben Affleck, has an unforgettable ego and although Afleck too, did a good job, I was a bit disappointed that his accent was so shabby, if you will. Colin Firth played the obnoxious and arrogant suitor, Earl of Wessex and in a very admirable performance Judi Dench as Queen Elizabeth. It is my opinion that the cast was fantastically chosen. Miramax and the casting manager, Michelle Guish does an incredible job and hits the nail on the head with the matching actors for the dynamic roles.

The costumes that the actors wore enhanced the film. Costume designer, Deborah Scott drew ideas from the sixteenth century's elaborately dressed upper class. Elizabethan upper class men and women dressed more for display than for comfort and like today's women, even their undergarments were designed to contribute to their appearance.

The costumes, like Elizabethan clothing, were very intricate and probably took more time than that of modern fashions. Everything appears to be tied up or pinned together and to a modern onlooker it could appear as overdone and overdressed. In the movie, actresses Gweneth Paltrow and Judi Dench reveals that the feminine garments normally consisted of at least two parts: bodice and skirt, along with the undergarments.

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