A Memo on [Shakespeare in Love]

Shakespeare in Love (1998)

 

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Comedy and Romance.
Rated R for sexuality.

Starring: Joseph Fiennes , Gwyneth Paltrow , Geoffrey Rush , Colin Firth , Ben Affleck .

Directed by John Madden and Richard Greatrex .
Produced by Donna Gigliotti , Harvey Weinstein , Edward Zwick , Marc Norman and David Parfitt .
Written by Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman .

Distributor: Miramax Films   More Credits

Release Date: December 25, 1998

Shakespeare in Love Homepage : http://www.miramax1998.com/shakespeareinlove/

The Film Script of Shakespeare in Love

Synopsis

In this well-conceived Elizabethan comedy, writers Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman ask the question: who was William Shakespeare's muse? The answer: Viola de Lesseps, a young noblewoman who dreams of acting on a man's stage. The screenwriters deliver a cleverly crafted scenario which beautifully illustrates both the early aspirations of the playwright, and a glimpse into the culture of Elizabethan theater. Colorful characters, like the Globe theater owner Henslow (played by Geoffrey Rush), the lead player in the troupe (Ben Affleck), and the Queen herself (Judi Dench), give the cast charm, wit, and feasibility. The young playwright who at the start of the film is experiencing writer's block bursts forth with a lyrical text inspired by the lovely and passionate Viola. Ultimately this film is about the making of a great play, but most importantly it is about the power of words.

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE

SYNOPSIS

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE is a romantic comedy for the 1990s set in the 1590s. It imaginatively unfolds the witty, sexy and timeless tale behind the creation of the greatest love story ever told.

It is the summer of 1593, and the rising young star of London's theater scene, Will Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes), faces a scourge like no other: a paralyzing bout of writer's block. While the great Elizabethan age of entertainment unfolds around him, Will is without inspiration or material. No matter how he tries, and despite pressure from financiers and theater owners, he just can't seem to work up any enthusiasm for his latest play, "Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter."

What Will needs is a muse - and in an extraordinary moment in which life imitates art, he finds and falls for a woman who draws him into his own dramatic adventure of star-crossed love.

It all begins when Lady Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow), desperate to become an actor at a time when women were forbidden from such depravity, disguises herself as a man to audition for Will's play. But the guise slips away as their passion ignites. Now Will's quill again begins to flow, this time turning love into words, as Viola becomes his real-life Juliet and Romeo finds his reason to exist.

Yet all is not well in Will's world. For even as the parchment begins to pile up, he is plagued by real-life twists of fate -including the unavoidable reality that Lady Viola must marry the insufferable Lord Wessex (Colin Firth) at the command of Queen Elizabeth (Judi Dench).

In a whirl of mistaken identities, mixed-up messages and misbegotten desires - between bawdy brawls, duels with jealous husbands and dangerous kisses -- Will Shakespeare searches for a resolution not only to his play but to his own undying passion.

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE is a funny, fast-moving romance from acclaimed director John Madden ("Mrs Brown"). The screenplay is by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard. Produced by David Parfitt, Donna Gigliotti, Harvey Weinstein, Edward Zwick, Marc Norman and executive produced by Bob Weinstein and Julie Goldstein. SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE also stars Academy Award winners Geoffrey Rush ("Shine") and Ben Affleck ("Good Will Hunting") in wonderfully comic roles.

ABOUT SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE

1590's London - amidst the great heyday of Elizabethan entertainment, two rival theaters, The Curtain owned by Richard Burbage and The Rose owned by Philip Henslowe, competed passionately for the same audience to fill their playhouses. Under pressure to satisfy the overwhelming demand for new works, a rising young writer by the name of Will Shakespeare penned his love inspired play "Romeo and Juliet." This twisting, turning, fiery romance both on stage and off will break the hearts and inspire the souls of lovers around the world for centuries to come..

But how, in a time of plagues and monarchs, did this often comical, upstart, struggling scribe come to express such timeless passion in such perfectly life-like story and words?

Could it have been that Shakespeare himself was madly in love?

Running away with this imaginative concept, screenwriters Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard have brought forth a delightfully romantic comedy about how one lone writer navigated his own heart's outrageous choice to generate the heights of romance.

Going beyond Shakespeare's notions of love and into his love-life, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE brings to life an Elizabethan world not unlike our own. Here is a world in which commercialism is threatening creativity, in which heads of state get involved in entertainment, in which bedroom romps affect what gets produced, in which egos rage out of control, in which artistic rivalries and feuds abound, in which children are titillated by violence and women never get any roles - and here, too, is a world in which love triumphs over all this and more.

Refreshingly contemporary, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE is ultimately the tale of a man and woman trying to make love work in the 90s -- the 1590s.

As director John Madden summarizes: "This is a story with humor, romance, sexiness and intelligence. The script takes perhaps the greatest iconic figure imaginable and deals with him in both an incredibly mischievous and yet truly respectful way. It is a tale at once playful, irreverent, modem and deeply romantic."

BACKGROUNDER

On the Development of "Shakespeare in Love"

The SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE screenplay was written by Marc Norman and playwright Tom Stoppard, although the original idea was rooted in a third creative mind - one of Norman's son's, Zachary. It was in 1989, while studying Elizabethan drama at Boston University, that the younger Norman phoned his father with a sudden brainstorm of a movie concept - the young William Shakespeare in the Elizabethan theater. The elder Norman agreed it was a terrific idea, but he hadn't a clue what to do with it. Two years later, with bits of time stolen from other projects, the notion had formed - what if Shakespeare had writer's block while writing his timeless classic, "Romeo and Juliet"? Norman phoned his neighbor, the celebrated director Edward Zwick, and ran the idea past him. Zwick loved the concept and helped Norman pitch the idea to Casey Silver, Chairman of Universal Pictures. Their efforts succeeded; now the time arrived for Norman to sit down and write the screenplay. Later, Tom Stoppard was brought on to add his own touch to the story's historical and theatrical flavor. When the screenplay was completed, the work was greeted with overwhelming enthusiasm. However, an initial attempt to film the screenplay in 1993, with Zwick directing, had to be aborted. But the project's believers, including Zwick, Norman and Stoppard, knew that, no matter what the length of time or set of circumstances, "Shakespeare in Love" would ultimately land on the big screen Oust as, in the story itself, Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" overcomes every obstacle and makes it to the stage.)

The turning point came in 1996, when Zwick was readying his acclaimed (and soon-to-be Academy Award winning) film "Legends of the Fall." Zwick called Miramax Films Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein and told him he had a terrific script called "Shakespeare in Love." Weinstein read the script and immediately wanted to bring the project to Miramax. If acquired, "Shakespeare in Love" would represent a milestone for the company, as Miramax would need to assume not only the cost of the script, but all previous pre-production costs incurred at Universal. At the time, this would represent a larger sum than the company had ever committed to a single project.

Weinstein shared the work with several key executives, including his brother Bob, Senior Vice President -Production Development (and eventual executive producer) Julie Goldstein and Executive Vice President (and eventual producer) Donna Gigliotti. All concurred that "Shakespeare" was one of the best scripts they had ever read, and began the process of acquiring the project from Universal.

Edward Zwick, however, was just beginning pre-production work on "The Siege" and was no longer available to direct (he did remain committed to the project as a producer, joined by David Parfitt, Donna Gigliotti, Harvey Weinstein and Marc Norman). Around this time, Weinstein had become captivated with director John Madden's work on "Mrs. Brown," a film dealing with similar themes of timeless romance and British history (which Miramax released in the U.S. to overwhelming acclaim and two Academy Award nominations.) Weinstein knew Madden was the ideal choice to direct "Shakespeare in Love," and offered him the project as a follow-up to his superior work on "Mrs. Brown."

The next step was bringing together an international cast to take on Norman and Stoppard's diverse gallery of characters. To cast "Shakespeare in Love," Madden and the Miramax team headed by Co-President of Production Meryl Poster called on their renowned list of international contacts, ultimately assembling a group of actors that includes celebrated leading lady Gwyneth Paltrow, acclaimed British actor Joseph Fiennes, Academy Award winners Geoffrey Rush and Ben Affleck, "English Patient" star Colin Firth and Academy Award nominee (and "Mrs. Brown" veteran) Judi Dench.

Paltrow, already one of Hollywood's leading actresses for her star turn as the heroine of "Emma," was always the first choice to play Viola. The selection of an actor to step into the shoes of Will Shakespeare proved more challenging. After an extensive search of actors of all stature and nationality, the filmmakers finally found their Shakespeare in Joseph Fiennes, who had already built an impressive career on the London stage.

On the eve of production, Universal opted to partner with Miramax to co-produce the film. As the two companies joined in partnership, Universal played an incredibly supportive role as Miramax continued running the film's production and post-production operations.

The Life and Loves of Will Shakespeare: A Quick Primer

Although he wrote some of the world's most renown romances and comedies, William Shakespeare's personal life remains a great mystery. Little is known about the writer and what is thought to be known is hotly debated by scholars. Conspiracy theories and suggestions of hoaxes and false identities abound, but have resisted proof for centuries.

What is known about Shakespeare is that whatever his identity, his works provide insight into human nature and the nature of love. His 38 plays, as well as his many sonnets, capture themes and emotions in story-telling that continue to be the most entertaining concepts of today.

The most widely agreed upon story of Shakespeare's life suggests that he was born in Stratfordupon-Avon in 1554 to a prosperous glovemaker. In 1582, when just a lad of 18, he married Anne Hathaway and had three children, including a son who died at the age of 11.

No documentation of Shakespeare's life between 1585 and 1592 exists, lending these "lost years" to great conjecture and controversy. He re-emerged as a public figure in 1592, working in London as an actor and playwright. Though he was not yet the writer he would become, already the playwright Robert Greene referred enviously to Shakespeare in 1592 as "the upstart crow" of the London theater. He was quickly drawing the attentions of hungry theater-owners in the burgeoning Bankside district and the jealousies of bitter rivals. He began spending his summers in London, returning to his family in Stratford every winter when the public theaters were closed due to fear of spreading plague.

Throughout 1593, Shakespeare published several of his most erotic sonnets, but it was in 1594 that he really made his career breakthrough, coming to the fore with his great work of romance, "Romeo and Juliet." He joined the Chamberlain's Men, a theatrical troupe which enjoyed the patronage of the royal court and which later built the famous Globe Theater.

What accounted for this sudden turn-around in Shakespeare's creative life? Did he have a real-life muse in his hidden history that unlocked the secrets of the human heart? Several theories have been advanced by Shakespearean scholars and biographers, many involving a mysterious "darklady" to whom the bard seems to pine for in several of his sonnets. As the Shakespearean scholar Arthur Aches writes:

I believe, from what I find in the Sonnets, that our poet's connection with [a] woman commenced at almost the same period as his acquaintance with Southampton, in about 1593, . . . I believe, also, that he genuinely loved her, and fired with the passion and intensity of his love, produced in those years the marvelous rhapsodies of love in "Romeo and Juliet," . . and other of his love plays, which have so charmed the world, and still charm it, and shall continue to do so while the language lives. If ever a man lived who sounded the human heart to its depths, and gauged its heights, that man was Shakespeare, and such knowledge as he had, and shows us of life, may not be attained by hearsay, nor at second hand.

The true nature of Shakespeare's love will only ever be known through his enduring works. He is believed to have died in April 1616, on the anniversary of his birthday, after developing a fever whilst spending a night entertaining the playwright Ben Johnson. He is buried in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The Times of Will Shakespeare: An Elizabethan Intro

Shakespeare lived in tumultuous and creative times - rapidly changing times when science, religion and culture were undergoing dramatic shifts. He also lived in a theatrical era without historical par - when the popular theater first became a major source of entertainment for the masses, even if scholars of the time deemed it vulgar and puritan preachers condemned such visceral entertainment as devilishly corrupt.

He lived under the reign of Elizabeth I, the unmarried, Virgin Queen who presided over England's Golden Age. Elizabeth ushered in a time of unprecedented confidence and growth for Great Britain, establishing England as the leading naval and commercial power of the Western world; defeating the Spanish Armada in 1588 and firmly establishing the Church of England as an institution of the state.

Elsewhere during this time, Copernicus was putting his life at risk by asserting his cosmological theory that the earth was not at the center of the Universe, Galileo was setting forth his Golden Rule, and Sir Walter Raleigh was exploring the Americas.

London was also undergoing a massive transformation during this era. From 1500 to 1600 the city's population grew by 400%. The economy was booming but contrasts abounded - on the one hand the city suffered from plagues and poverty and on the other it experienced a cultural and intellectual explosion like no other.

At the center of this artistic explosion was the London theater, rife with the world's leading dramatists who were changing not only the language but the very notion of popular entertainment. In the 1580s a group of playwrights known as the University Wits - including Marlowe, Greene, Kyd and Peele - redefined the modem theater with highly entertaining dramas and comedies using blank verse and often featuring a moral hero. Their productions emphasized realism with special effects and gory, authentic death scenes a specialty.

These Elizabethan dramas drew audiences the likes of which the theater had never seen - people of all walks of life who paid the equivalent of one penny to sit in the front of the theater. The audiences were not only large but expressive, often cheering, hissing and calling out in the middle of the drama. Due to the newly lucrative nature of plays, London's theater district blossomed with theaters springing up all over the Bankside district, and competing for the talents of the leading playwrights. Plays typically ran for three days - it was said that the first day, the expenses were paid; the second day, the actors were paid; and on the third and final day, the playwright was paid.

It seemed that nothing could slow the growth of the theater district - not even those who denounced it as evil - until the Black Death, or bubonic plague, made a resurgence. Some 80 percent of those who caught the plague perished painfully within several days, so panic was well founded. Because the disease was most prevalent in winter, public spaces were often closed, including the theaters, resulting in great loss of money for their owners, actors and writers.

It was into this heady and exciting atmosphere that young Will Shakespeare arrived from Stratford-Upon-Avon. Talented to the point of genius, the writer combined the most effective elements of Elizabethan drama and classical drama with his own highly original imagination, wit and most decidedly, passion. Shakespeare's chief rival of the day was clearly Christopher Marlowe, whose plays were most highly celebrated during his lifetime. In fact, it is said that if Shakespeare had died in 1593, rather than Marlowe, Marlowe would be known as the world's greatest dramatist. Instead, Shakespeare flourished, entering his most prolific period in the late 1590s and early 1600s, becoming the paragon of the Elizabethan artist.

From 1590s to 1990s - About The Production

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE began as a simple question. Writer and producer Marc Norman's son, who was studying Elizabethan Drama in school, was talking with his father about Shakespeare when Norman began to wonder just what inspired the young bard to write "Romeo and Juliet." After all, it seems a story that could only have been penned by someone who had himself felt the dangerous lure of romantic love.

"With 'Romeo and Juliet' Shakespeare really finds his voice," notes Norman. "What is extraordinary about 'Romeo and Juliet' is that it mixes genres - it begins as a love story and comedy, but then shifts gears, becoming a full blown tragedy which was an extremely radical idea in its day. I began wondering what the catalyst might have been that moved his imagination so strongly and that's where the idea for a love story began."

Norman came up with the idea of Shakespeare falling in love with one of his actors, a woman who pretends to be a boy in order to appear on stage. He explains: "Because Shakespeare was already married, then by its very nature the love affair would seem to be doomed, so that led to all the mirroring and parallels with 'Romeo and Juliet."'

After the concept was pitched successfully to Universal by Marc Norman and celebrated director Edward Zwick, the screenplay took shape by the hand of Norman. Later, renowned playwright Tom Stoppard was brought on board to add his own magical touch. In his earlier work "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead," drama unfolds between two minor character in Shakespeare's "Hamlet," so Stoppard was no stranger to mixing Shakespeare's writing with his own playful imagination.

"I wondered whether, after "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern," if it was a bad idea for me to return to this theme," Stoppard admits. "However once I got to work I got carried away with the ideas and the possibilities." Taking Marc Norman's inspired screenplay, Stoppard then "played around with a lot of ideas and added a few characters, including bringing in Christopher Marlowe." "The more I did," he says, "the more involved I got and the more enjoyable it became."

The final script was delivered in a delightfully light-hearted and modem style - and at the same time it was packed with witty references to Shakespeare's work. When director John Madden read it, he felt that it had "one foot in the 16th century and one in the 20th century." Madden was particularly drawn to the film's sometimes bawdy, often deliciously pointed humor. "The first thing I got out of the script was its sense of fun; it is full of surprises, topping one surprise with another," he says. "There is something terribly attractive about taking this great world figure and dealing with him mischievously and playfully, but without debunking him. One of the script's greatest assets is that it has brilliant dialogue which is irresistibly clever yet accessible and believable - quite a unique combo."

Producer David Parfitt summarizes the enthusiasm the script elicited in everyone who came into contact with it during development: "Getting a script as good as this, one which is so beautifully written is very rare. So I didn't hesitate, I said yes straight away."

The filmmakers found similar reaction from potential cast. One of the biggest early challenges was finding two actors with the chemistry and comedic abilities to carry the two leading roles - starstruck lovers with a tendency to get their wires crossed. John Madden was acutely aware of the qualities required to carry this off successfully.

He says: "Without the appropriate chemistry between those two parts, one just wouldn't have a movie. I'd always felt that in an ideal world we would have an English actor for Will and for Viola I'd always felt we should have Gwyneth Paltrow - as simple as that really. She was a natural choice for me and I just imagined her in the part when I read the script. She has a quality of spirituality about her, which makes her believable as a muse. But she also has an earthy quality she's real and sexy -which means she can carry the part off on both levels. It goes without saying that she's also incredibly beautiful."

The process of casting the young Will Shakespeare required slightly more investigation and study. "I looked far and wide for the actor to play Will," says John Madden, "but the part required not just the qualities for a romantic lead, but also the ability to convince the audience that this man actually wrote all that beautiful poetry and all those extraordinary plays. Joseph Fiennes could do that because he has an interior quality, a natural intelligence and privateness and without that the part is stillborn. I'm a great believer that certain parts belong to certain people and there's no question in my mind that this part belongs to Joe."

Ask any of the actors in the film why they wanted to be involved and the answer is remarkably consistent: they were enchanted by the script and it made them laugh. Gwyneth Paltrow describes her initial response saying, appropriately enough for a romance, that she "fell immediately and completely in love with the script on first reading." She continues: "It was so brilliantly written and the part was fascinating. It is so rich in language it was just intoxicating. I thought I have to do this."

Joseph Fiennes concurs, saying: "The script is so unique, dazzlingly brilliant and dynamic and as an actor, I always find that teaming up with something like that is rather a good idea!" This quiet modesty is typical of Fiennes, illustrated further by his first meeting with Tom Stoppard as the writer remembers. "I was just browsing in a bookshop and this guy I didn't know came up and introduced himself to me, saying that he was currently working with John Madden," recalls Stoppard. "He made it sound like he was an assistant, or something. Then he said that he was an actor, but only when I asked what part he was playing did he quietly reply, William Shakespeare."

Once the lovers were in place the rest of the casting began in earnest, drawing an illustrious group including: Dame Judi Dench, who was Queen Victoria in John Madden's "Mrs. Brown" as Queen Elizabeth 1, Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson, Simon Callow and two Oscar winners, Ben Affleck and Geoffrey Rush. Around them John Madden assembled his creative team, bringing back together many of those involved on Mrs. Brown, including the production designer Martin Childs, director of photography Richard Greatrex, hair and make up designer Lisa Westcott who was nominated for an Oscar for "Mrs. Brown" and composer Stephen Warbeck. The film is edited by David Gamble with costumes by Oscar nominated designer Sandy Powell ("Wings of the Dove ... .. Velvet Goldmine").

With the principal cast and crew in place there were only a few minor tasks left to undertake: just the small job of creating and constructing the whole of Elizabethan London on a plot of land at the back of Shepperton Studios, designing an array of elaborate and extravagant period costumes and the casting of hundreds of extras.

THE LOOK OF LOVE - DESIGN AND LOCATIONS

Elizabethan England was a bustling, newly urban age of sumptuous excesses and crowded city streets, of both lavish design and ramshackle neighborhoods. To capture the vibrancy and visual excitement of the day, John Madden brought in a team of highly skilled and creative designers

Production designer Martin Childs was given the task of recreating Elizabethan London, an incredible opportunity to work with his imagination in full flight. "Not only did this film give us the opportunity to build the Rose Theater, but also all the buildings in London that surrounded it," Childs explains. "There is so little left of this period and the only Elizabethan architecture that remains is the odd building surrounded by ones from the

Georgian and Victorian period. I knew we would have to build most of Elizabethan London from scratch, so from a design point of view it offered great scope."

He set to work on creating a naturalistic world that could contain the incredible tale of romance at hand - not a painstakingly accurate recreation of 16th century London, but an imaginative capturing of its essence. He comments "I had this mantra going in my head all the time that this is not a documentary, we are allowed to use our imaginations fully. The look we aimed for is somewhere that you believe people actually lived and worked. We wanted to show things almost incidentally, so there are other trades, other interests going on outside the specific world of the theater and our storyline." Childs and Madden spent weeks and weeks playing around with models built perfectly to scale before they came up with a picture of London that seemed worthy of setting in stone.

The filmmakers' vision of London in 1593 came to life on a plot of land of behind Shepperton studios, which had until recently been a garden nursery. A construction crew of 115 men in only 8 weeks constructed 17 buildings including 2 theaters, a series of meandering alley ways, a brothel, a tavern, a whole market place and, of course, the young William Shakespeare's London pad. The backlot became an alternate world of meandering streets, hidden alleyways, nooks and crannies.

Equally central to the story was the erecting of the two theaters vying for Shakespeare's new - but as yet unwritten - play. First there is the Rose Theater, owned by Philip Henslowe, a once robust place now foundering due to closures forced by the plague. Elsewhere in London is the Curtain Theater where the Chamberlain's Men perform. Most important to Martin Childs was creating a definite contrast between the two. Theater design was an important element of Elizabethan drama, although no two theaters followed exactly the same design. Research on what the original Rose Theater looked like was scant, so Childs once again delved into his imagination. "I'd do as much research as I could then throw that to the side and go with my imagination, following my instincts about what looked right and believable for the film. Retrospectively, I've discovered that a lot of the places where I was playing fast and loose were actually fairly historically accurate!"

Childs explains the look he chose for the Rose: "A lot of the feel comes from the fact that there is no roof and that links it with the earth and sky. I was very keen to make it look as though the weather had got to it as they would not have been constantly repainting it. We also kept the Rose Theater quite undecorated, but with a little bit of grandeur on the stage." Considerable records of the Curtain Theater still exist so Childs was able to follow his research - constructing a heavily decorated, elaborate theater where Queen Elizabeth I was a regular patron.

Although the vast majority of SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE was shot at Shepperton on stages or backlots, some authentic locations were utilized. These include Broughton Castle in the Oxfordshire countryside manor which stands in for Lady Viola's stately home; Hatfield House, a English country estate which was transformed into the Queen's Greenwich Palace; The Great Hall at Middle Temple for the Banqueting Hall at Whitehall Palace where "Two Gentlemen of Verona" is performed before the Queen; and several London riverside locations in the Bankside area.

Two of the most important dramatic scenes in the film were shot on location - the meadow where Viola declares her love for Will and the final scene in which an imagined Viola finds herself washed upon the shore of land. Finding the right location for these scenes was vital and proved one of the biggest challenges for the designer and the location department. They settled on a meadow and beach on the Holkham Estate on the North Norfolk coast which boasts one of the most unspoiled and spectacular beaches in the country. With a foreshore approximately 5 miles long it appears to go on forever. On the day of filming the sun shone brightly, the air was crisp and the wind flung itself along the shores creating a wild and truly magical place - a fitting spot for a brave and beautiful young heroine to end up.

BREECHES AND BRAIDS: COSTUME AND MAKE-UP

The Elizabethan era was also highly fashion conscious age, a time when sumptuous fabrics, new dyes and exuberant dress prevailed. Clothing was a primary indicator of wealth in those days so the more dramatic and opulent the costume, the better. Shakespeare himself was no stranger to fashion, using costume to greater effect than any dramatist before him.

The fashions of the day emphasized gallantry and beauty. For women, the hourglass shape was key. Wide shoulders at the bodice whittled down to a narrow cinched waist, then opened up to a belled skirt; the bosom was tightly lifted at the plunging neckline. For men, the silhouette was square, bolstered by an abundance of padding. Vents and slashes - attractive due to their relationship with sword battle - were common. Boots, breeches, a jerkin vest, a doublet and an adorned hat made for a dashing outfit.

Director John Madden knew that to really bring the Renaissance spirit of Shakespeare's times to life, the costumes and makeup would be vital. Thus, he chose two Academy Award nominees to take on the enormous task: costume designer Sandy Powell and hair and make-up designer Lisa Westcott.

Powell, who had designed in this period for Sally Potter's "Orlando" was thrilled to return to one of her favorite eras. "I was longing to throw myself into this time again," she admits. "It is really such a juicy period with these huge and rather crazy sculptural costumes." Like Martin Childs, she immersed herself in research, but enjoyed the freedom afforded by the lack of information. "My aim was not to create absolutely historically accurate costumes, but to use a bit of artistic license and as the script is so fresh and light I felt there was room for the imagination, whilst always keeping it convincing," she states.

Perhaps the most extraordinary costumes Powell was to create were for Queen Elizabeth, played with an intense presence that actually outdoes even her fashions by Judi Dench. Though her dresses and headwear appear almost surreally ostentatious - plumed with such finery as peacock feathers - Powell explains that this is one of those situations where fact is stranger than fantasy. "Queen Elizabeth apparently had over a thousand dresses - all hugely flamboyant and over-the-top -she basically carried all her wealth on her frocks, so they were literally plied high with jewels," she says. "She is also over 60 in this film, so I'm just presuming she has gone a little bit nuts. She was such an outrageous historical figure, we allowed ourselves to go completely mad."

The Queen's makeup is similarly extraordinary. Lisa Westcott explains that as "the Queen is quite old in the film she would have terrible skin - probably from mercury-poisoning - so it was covered in make-up and her hair was undoubtedly falling out, so she always wore a wig. Apparently she had over 80 wigs, all different colors and her hair line would have receded from the front, giving her that rather severe look." Lisa and her team spent 4 hours daily with Judi Dench to prepare her makeup and finery. But the work paid off - the first day Dench appeared on the stage, the entire production went dead silent in a hush. She was awe-inspiring - as Elizabeth is said to have always been in her time.

The Queen set the fashion of the time, so those around her in court copied her style. "Whatever the Queen did," says Lisa Westcott, "became de rigeur with the other ladies. Even in her old age, she was a real trendsetter. Many of the women in the film are therefore also seen wearing wigs of a similar shape."

For Gwyneth Paltrow's Lady Viola there were two challenges: not only did she have to look stunningly feminine as Viola but she also had to spend much of her time disguised as a boy. Luckily she had a costume designer who is no stranger to the world of gender-bending from her work on "Orlando," "The Crying Game" and the recent "Velvet Goldmine." "I began with Viola as a boy," says Sandy Powell, "because I was worried about getting that to be convincing. This period is actually quite easy to hide a girl's figure because it is so solid and structured and the classic male silhouette of the period is actually quite feminine, as it accentuates the hips. Even though we're not trying to trick the audience into believing this is a boy, we wanted to be convincing enough that the other characters are fooled." The effect of the classically beautiful Gwyneth Paltrow in doublet and hose, complete with a mustache and a wig of cropped hair was startling even to Powell. "I was surprised how once she was in her costume, without her long hair, how really boyish she could look," she admits.

Even though Viola de Lesseps is from a wealthy family, her costumes, in keeping with her temperament, are not in any way gaudy or over-the-top. Sandy Powell comments that "compared to other frocks of the period, Viola's are relatively simple. That is just what suits Gwyneth; she looks beautiful in the softer colors and we've scaled down things like the amount of heavy jewelry on her dress. She still looks grand but never brash."

When Will sees Viola for the first time at the dance he falls instantly in love with this simple elegance and she in turn falls for his. At this moment it matters less that this is the man responsible for the greatest plays and love poetry of all time, and more that he is a man whose feelings have caught him unawares. It was this vulnerable side of his character that the costume designer focused on. "It did not help at all for me to think of this character as William Shakespeare, the great playwright," she says. "In a sense the whole film humanizes this great figure and so I wanted to design a costume that makes Joe look good and makes him entirely convincing as a romantic lead. I'm very pleased with the result." Adds Lisa Westcott: "I obviously didn't want him to look like the classic Shakespeare image with the little forky beard and boy hair. The Will of the film is a young lad who chops his own hair, he's a struggling playwright, living a pretty hard life."

This theme of hardship and the difficulties of living at this time also informs a great deal of the work of the designers. Lisa Westcott puts it into perspective explaining that "even the Queen would have only had about four baths a year. People were basically very dirty and had pretty bad teeth. Life was tough then, there were lots of bugs around, there was no heating and no penicillin - life expectancy was pretty short."

The movie covers the whole range of social class - from the Queen and court right down to the ordinary characters in the street. It was partly this range which appealed to Lisa Westcott. "I loved this mixture of the whores, the low life and royalty all together in Elizabethan London."

THE COMPENDIUM OF CHARACTERS: FACT OR FICTION?

Many of the characters at the center of SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE can be found in the history books, but others exist only in the imagination of the authors.

What follows is a who's-who of Will Shakespeare's England, both fact and fiction - a crib sheet for those who might dare to admit they don't know their Wessex from their Essex. Also included is contemporary commentary on the characters from the actors and director who brought them to life.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (Joseph Fiennes) 1564 - 1616: FACT

William Shakespeare is categorically the most famous writer of all time, the author of 38 plays - 18 comedies, 10 history plays and 10 tragedies - some of the greatest epic poetry and the most famous love sonnets. Although his work has been studied, performed and argued about for over three centuries in all comers of the globe, very little is known about the man's personal life as there is scant documentary evidence, save inaccurate church records. The likelihood, however, is that he was a fairly regular guy who happened to earn his living in the theater where he produced brilliant writing. To many he has become more of a symbol than a human being, but the spirit of his works suggests he experienced the gamut of human hopes, troubles and emotions, including the comic tribulations of desperate love.

John Madden on Shakespeare

"The point about Shakespeare's life is that nobody knows anything. All we know is that he paid 50 pounds to join the Chamberlain's Men and that in his will he left his second best bed to his wife that's about the sum of it. My theory is that he was just a jobbing actor and writer with a knack, a true gift, but no doubt he also had money troubles and suffered from all the rivalries of the theater world he lived in. People assume he was always this great revered man and he probably wasn't."

Joseph Fiennes on Shakespeare

"For an actor the chance to play Shakespeare, this great historical figure is daunting as he is such sacred ground to so many people. But there is very little information about him and so much intrigue that it's compelling. The tragedy is when a figure is turned into an icon, they are dehumanized. This script brings out the human element; all the sentiments and problems that go with being a man of his profession in that time -falling in and out of love, having money problems, suffering from writer's block - all things you probably wouldn't associate with being a genius. But this film also acknowledges the man's brilliance, we see him as a writer of exceptional talent, but also as a man. To a certain extent I had to put aside my own reverence about the writer of such great works of English Literature and just get on with it. I had to adopt the attitude that as soon as I put on these tights I am Will Shakespeare - simple as that."

VIOLA DE LESSEPS (Gwyneth Paltrow) FICTION

Viola de Lesseps never existed, but someone like her may have in Shakespeare's life: the "dark lady" referred to in his most longing sonnets. Here, she is the daughter of wealthy parents of the merchant class and she's had the upbringing befitting such a lady. She attends the Court and has her own nurse. Although the de Lesseps have money they have no aristocratic roots. As was often the practice in those days her parents intend to marry her off to an the impoverished aristocrat. The deal is that he gets money and they get class - the classic marriage of convenience.

In one sense Viola is typical of a girl of her class, but she also is a true romantic, in love with poetry and theater and determined to achieve her greatest desire: to perform on the stage forbidden to women.

Gwyneth Paltrow on Viola

"Viola is very sensory, very passionate, very open and it's not until the second half of the film that she becomes really aware of herself and how life can be solemn and serious. At the beginning everything is enchanted for her, her life is a fairy tale. She is also totally enamored of the theater and because it was forbidden for women she dresses as a boy. This was a new experience for me. I learned how to talk lower and how to walk. The costume department made me this heavy, triangular shaped bean bag which I stuffed in my tights and it's great to have that weight, that shift of gravity. It's the only form of method acting I've ever done, but it really helped!"

John Madden on Viola

"Essentially Viola is a muse which is perfect for Gwyneth because she has something slightly elevated and out of the ordinary about her. Viola is somehow rarefied and poetic, she is in love with theater and with the idea of love. The part demanded someone who is highly romantic which Gwyneth is, very sexy which Gwyneth is and an actress who, not only has a feel for the comedy, but also for the language which she does in abundance."

ELIZABETH I (Judi Dench) 1533 - 1603 FACT

The daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn who was executed when Elizabeth was only two, she reigned as the Queen of England from 1558 until 1603. The young Princess was highly intelligent and spoke many languages. Her life was in peril during the reign of her half-sister Mary and she spent time imprisoned in the Tower of London. As Queen she revealed great political flair and a shrewd understanding of foreign governments. She saw the country through many moments of crisis, including the Spanish Armada. Despite having many suitors she never married and consequently was known as the Virgin Queen. A whole mythology developed around the Queen, both in art and literature and she possessed a personality strong enough to convert the monarchy into a cult in which the Sovereign was literally idolized. A flamboyant figure, she loved music, dancing, singing, masques and plays. She adored extravagant dress and expected lavish entertainment as she crossed the country. Her graciousness was contrasted by hot temper, jealousy and financial toughness, but her weaknesses were transcended by her natural gift of eloquence. She died, aged 70, having declined to the last to name her successor.

Judi Dench on Queen Elizabeth I

"This is my second queen on film, and I did less research on Queen Elizabeth than I did on Victoria, simply because she's been dead rather longer so there aren't many people who are so immediately knowledgeable about her. We see her enjoyment of theater and the strength of her personality and it is terrific fun to play I wear these hugely flamboyant costumes. As the film is set towards the end of Elizabeth's life, she is not in great physical condition, so for example she has the most awful teeth which I'd like to make clear to everyone watching the film, are not my own!

EDWARD (NED) ALLEYN (Ben Affleck) 1566 - 1626 FACT

An actor born in London who from 1592 - 1594 played with the combined Lord Admiral's Company and The Chamberlain's Men at the Rose Theater under Philip Henslowe's management and went out on tour during the plague of 1593. Alleyn was the leading actor of the Admiral's Men and the star of many of Marlowe's great tragedies, including "Tamburlaine," "The Jew of Malta" and "Dr. Faustus." Notable for his tragic style he was famous for his declamatory manner. In his retirement he bought the manor of Dulwich in London where he settled in 1613 to found the college of God's Gift which exists to this day as a boy's private school. He remained a philanthropist and patron of the arts.

Ben Affleck on Ned Alleyn

"Ned Alleyn is sort of the Tom Cruise of the Elizabethan theater. He's the big star who has his own company of actors and just like in Hollywood today you needed to have a Ned in your project to make it a success. At the time of the movie it was Christopher Marlowe, not Shakespeare who was regarded as the great playwright and basically Ned Alleyn was a much bigger star in his day than Shakespeare who at this time was really just a second tier playwright. In the movie Ned Alleyn is a very bombastic, loud, proud, over the top kind of guy who is really impressed by himself. I had a lot of fun doing it."

John Madden on Ned Alleyn

"The word ebullient must have been coined to describe Ben Affleck. He is just a natural comedian, he has this larger than life quality which is admirably suited to the role of the big star Ned Alleyn."

PHILIP HENSLOWE (Geoffrey Rush) ? - 1616 FACT

Henslowe began life as a servant in Sussex, moving to London where he married his former master's widow. With the property this marriage brought him, Henslowe was able to move into real estate, particularly theaters. He bought the site of The Rose theater on Bankside in 1584 and had built a theater there by 1588. From 1594 he managed the Rose for the Admiral's Men. The actors were paid by Henslowe who advanced them money in order to keep a tight rein on them. At this time they were led by Ned Alleyn who later married his stepdaughter and thereafter they became business associates. They built the Fortune Theater and Henslowe also became a master of "The Royal Game of Bears, Bulls and Mastiff Dogs." the profits from which enabled him to build the Hope, a building which could be used for bear and bull baiting as well as for theater. Henslowe kept incredibly detailed diaries which form some of the only documentary evidence of this period. His accounts show that he acted as banker for the theatrical companies, buying plays for them, providing costumes and lending them money.

Geoffrey Rush on Henslowe

"Henslowe is most notable because of his extraordinary diaries which give detailed evidence of life at that times, so he is treasured by historians and academics because he's unlocked a lot of secrets about that era. But he is fictionalized in the film as a great comic character - a theatrical producer who is oblivious to the talent of one William Shakespeare who is of course now regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. Henslowe is a wheeler-dealer, trying to be street-smart but not quite achieving it. He is a hapless character with an appalling dress sense. He looks like some weird kind of Tudor stink-bug. the sort of person that even though he's got his own personal tailor has the most gross sense of fashion - anyone who chooses to enhance their hips with trunk hose must be a strange person. Like a lot of Elizabethans he had the most appalling dental problems, but he also has lank hair and a terrible droopy mustache. Once I have on the extraordinary outfit, put on my facial hair and my rotting teeth then I'm half way there - for the rest I'm just following my own comic instincts."

THE EARL OF WESSEX (Colin Firth) FICTION

Wessex, the man betrothed to the young Viola is another contemporary inventions; there was no such man and indeed the county of Wessex did not exist in Elizabethan times. However this type of character is similar to the many English aristocrats who held titles, behaved with grand arrogance, yet had no wealth. His marriage of convenience to Viola de Lesseps would net him a large dowry and so absolve him of his financial difficulties. The naming of this character might lead one to confuse him with the historical figure, the Earl of Essex, another rather arrogant man who considered himself to be a military and political genius and later was beheaded by the Queen.

Colin Firth on the Earl of Wessex

"Whenever you take on playing a villain, he has to cease to be a villain to you. If you judge this man by his time, he's doing very little wrong. Reading about people of this period is a bit like 'Dallas' with different frocks on. They're all climbing all over each other for their own advancement. All Wessex is doing is trying to marry for advantage, which is all anybody did of that class. There's this sniveling little upstart of a writer who is getting in the way, so it's perfectly understandable that he'd want to split his throat."

FENNYMAN (Tom Wilkinson) FICTION

Fennyman is a fictitious moneylender, a man with few morals who bullies his debtors into paying their dues. At the beginning of the film Henslowe is in Fennyman's debt, but does not have the means to repay him. From Henslowe's diaries we know that a year before the film is set, Henslowe embarked on an expensive building program, including enlarging the Rose Theater at the not inconsiderable cost of 105 pounds. Although business boomed in 1592, the following year disaster hit. The plague returned with a ferocity unparalleled since the days of the Black Death and by February 1593 the Rose Theater was again closed.

Tom Wilkinson on Fennyman

"This is a truly delightful part as Fennyman begins as a hard man and turns into a man who is completely in love with theater, totally stage-struck. This unscrupulous gangster who at the beginning is motivated only by money falls in love with this other world. Something about the theater acts a potent aphrodisiac to this previously heartless creature. The tone of the script varies so much, sometimes Fennyman is a ridiculously comic character, but he also has moments of great poignancy the variety is wonderful."

CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE(Rupert Everett)1564 - 1593 FACT

A poet and dramatist, responsible more than any other for the development of Elizabethan drama, Marlowe's great plays include "Tamburlaine," "Dr. Faustus," "The Jew of Malta" and "Edward H." He wrote tragedies of high drama and emotion with Ned Alleyn often performing in the leading roles. He was the leading light in Elizabethan theater and generally regarded as the greatest writer of his generation. He was murdered in a tavern brawl in 1593 (the year the film is set) at the age of 29. Though the circumstances of his demise remain controversial, it has been widely suggested that his death was due to his connection with the secret service.

Marlowe's premature death left the field open for another writer to assume his mantle.

RICHARD BURBAGE (Martin Climes) 1571 - 1619 FACT

Burbage was the son of theater owner and actor James Burbage who owned the Curtain Theater, From 1595 onwards Richard was the star of The Chamberlain's Men and remained with them for the rest of his life. His brother Cuthbert was responsible for moving the fabric of the Theater across the Thames and rebuilding it as the Globe. The brothers retained a half interest in the Globe's profit and Richard also inherited the Blackfriars Theater. Burbage was a great actor and played many of the great Shakespearean roles - Malvolio, Richard III, Hamlet, Othello and King Lear. Indeed, it is thought that Shakespeare wrote many of these complex roles specifically for him. He was a close friend as well as colleague of Shakespeare and is mentioned in his will.

Martin Clunes on Richard Burbage

"Burbage was born into the theater and inherited it from his father. He loves acting and wants to be top of his profession. He is quite an indulged man who can be vain and petulant, but he is also strong and capable of decency."

SAM GOSSE (Daniel Brocklebank) FICTION

Although a fictional creation, the existence of a "boy-player" was common place in the Elizabethan theater. As women were not allowed by law to perform on stage each company would include a few adolescent boys trained to play the female roles until their voices broke. They were young professional actors, who had to learn singing, dancing, music, diction and feminine gestures and intonation and were thought to be wholly convincing. But, despite their skill, once they had became men they were very often out of a job.

SIR EDMUND TILNEY, MASTER OF THE REVELS
(Simon Callow)? - 1610 FACT

Tilney began his career as an MP and was made the Queen's Master of the Revels in 1579, an office he held until his death in 1610. The Master's duty was to provide all entertainment for the Court and to license plays for public performance - basically to act as censor. All scripts had to be approved by him after an initial reading fee of 5 shillings, rising to 7 shillings by the end of the century, an extraordinary amount at that time, representing approximately 10% of the writer's commission. Tilney gradually extended his rights until by the end of the century he controlled all acting companies and theaters, under the overall jurisdictions of the Lord Chamberlain. In 1583 Tilney was commanded to enroll actors for the Queen's Men and by 1589 he was advising the Mayor of London to ban all plays in the city.

Simon Callow on Tilney

"The Master of the Revels combined the functions of censor and entertainment secretary. The mention of the word censorship quite properly sets our teeth on edge, but all is not quite what it seems here. Tilney was no killjoy moralist, as the yards of sheer undiluted filth which survive in virtually all of the plays of the period amply testify; nor was he merely the tool of a repressive totalitarian mistress, though the Queen was by no means to be toyed with. He was above all concerned with foreign relations in a world where alliances were changing on an hourly basis: today's approved jibe against the Spanish would be tomorrow's diplomatic incident. So Tilney was not such a bad chap, but in the film Stoppard has quite rightly re-made him into a Malvolio character, determined to give the players as much trouble as possible, and a man who exults in his capacity to close the theaters at a moment's notice."

JOHN WEBSTER (Joe Roberts) ? - 1634/8 FACT

Later a renowned dramatist, he was approximately ten years Shakespeare's junior in 1593, just a young teenager with no plays to his name. He began writing plays in 1602, although he could have been an actor before then. Until 1624 he wrote infrequently, mainly in collaboration with Dekker. His fame rests on two plays, "The White Devil" and "The Duchess of Malfi," sensationalized Jacobean tragedies filled with the corruption of Court life and evidence of man's depravity, bringing the horror genre to new heights.

Joe Roberts on John Webster

"He's a comedy character, opportunistic and cunning. He's very resourceful, having learned how to I survive on his own, how to live on his wits. He hangs around the theaters, but mainly likes the gore and violence in the plays. He lives a pretty rough life, he was poor and times were hard."

WILLIAM KEMPE (Patrick Barlow) FACT

Kempe was a comic actor or clown. He was well known for his jigs - sketches with song and dance, which were often obscene. The clown was a specialized role in the theater whose blunders served as a counter balance to the heroic or romantic language of the other characters.

WABASH (Mark Williams) FICTION

A fictitious tailor with acting ambitions, whose most outstanding characteristic is his tendency to stutter uncontrollably - hardly a good start for a performer. But somehow this man is transformed just when it matters. When he walks out on stage in front of hundreds of people then suddenly he can speak Shakespeare's lines totally fluently - the magic of theate.

A Memo for the Class Discussion on [Shakespeare in Love] Mar. 22, 2002

1999년 3월 26일 시민대

셰익스피어 인 러브

제피렐리의 [로미오와 쥬리엣]

[셰익스피어 인 러브] 를 보고

비빔밥 요리의 천재  톰 스토파드

  [Shakespeare in Love] Screenplay by Tom Stoppard & Mark Norman

Thomas Kent = Viola 그 당시에는 여자에게는 금기였던 연극배우를 꿈꾸는 진취적인 여자. Judith Virginia Woolf  A Room of One's Own에서 언급되는 가상의 Shakespeare의 누이를 연상케 하는 인물.

크리스토퍼 말로-- 칼에 찔려 죽는다.  실존인물

셰익스피어 (1564-1661) -- 죠셉 파인  실존인물

비올라                 -- 기네스 펠트로 [Twelfth Night]의 여주인공 가공인물

엘리자베스 1세 (1533-1603) 실존인물

에드워드 알랭 (1566-1626) 실존인물

필립 헨슬로우(? -1616) 실존인물

웨식스백작 가공인물

밀고하는 소년=죤 웹스터 극작가 실존인물

로잘린

네드--머큐쇼

윌리암 버비지 실존인물

토마스 킷 Thomas Kyd 극작가 실존인물

실존인물과 가공인물 만화영화 "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"에서 만화속의 인물들과 실재 배우들을 함께 섞어 놓은 것을 연상시킨다.

여배우 기네스 펠트로가  가공인물 비올라[Twelfth Night]의 여주인공

[로미오와 쥬리엣] 연습 -- 남자 Juliet(소년배우)과 여자 Romeo(Viola)

극중 발코니장면과 영화중 Shakespeare와 Viola의 정사장면이 오버랩된다.   

[로미오와 쥬리엣] 공연 -- 여자 Juliet(Viola)과 남자 Romeo(Shakespeare)

The Curtain   The Rose 두 극장간의 경쟁

[십이야]에서 주인공을 Viola로

진짜 사랑이 연극에서 가능한가? 50파운드를 걸고 내기

* MPAA rating: R, for sexuality. Times guidelines: genteel nude love scenes.

'Shakespeare in Love'

Joseph Fiennes: William Shakespeare
Gwyneth Paltrow: Viola de Lesseps
Judi Dench: Elizabeth I
Ben Affleck: Ned Alleyn
Geoffrey Rush: Philip Henslowe
Colin Firth: The Earl of Wessex
Tom Wilkinson: Fennyman
Rupert Everett: Christopher Marlowe

A Miramax Films/Universal Pictures production, released by Miramax Films. Director John Madden. Producers David Parfitt, Donna Gigliotti, Harvey Weinstein, Edward Zwick, Marc Norman. Executive producers Bob Weinstein, Julie Goldstein. Screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard. Cinematographer Richard Greatrex. Editor David Gamble. Costumes by Sandy Powell. Music by Stephen Warbeck. Production design by Martin Childs. Supervising art director Mark Raggett. Set decorator Jill Quertier. Running time: 2 hours, 2 minutes.

The trick is rather that we see Will's relationship with Viola have a transforming effect on the play he's writing, tentatively titled "Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter." As this duo live through the real-life passions and tragedies of a wide-screen romance, that play in rehearsal gradually but inevitably becomes (of course) "Romeo and Juliet."

 Hollywood Online's Home Page.

[Review] Hollywood on Line

'Shakespeare in Love' is a Glorious, Romantic Romp

KENNETH TURAN TIMES FILM CRITIC

Friday December 11, 1998

"Shakespeare in Love" is a ray of light in a holiday film season that was starting to look as gloomy as the scowl on Ebenezer Scrooge's face. A happy conceit smoothly executed, this is one of those entertaining confections that's so pleasing to the eye and ear you'd have to be a genuine Scrooge to struggle against it.

As the title more than hints, "Shakespeare in Love" is a romance (and one played by the irresistible pairing of Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes), but that is not the limit of its attractions. Part knockabout farce, part witty amusement, "Shakespeare" has the drollness we associate with playwright (and co-writer) Tom Stoppard, but it has the rare ability to wear its cleverness with grace and ease.

The idea is shrewder than merely transporting us back to London in 1593, just in time to see young Will Shakespeare (Fiennes) fall in love with Viola de Lesseps (Paltrow), the woman who is to become his "heroine for all time," though that is certainly pleasant.

The trick is rather that we see Will's relationship with Viola have a transforming effect on the play he's writing, tentatively titled "Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter." As this duo live through the real-life passions and tragedies of a wide-screen romance, that play in rehearsal gradually but inevitably becomes (of course) "Romeo and Juliet." (Those hoping for "Titus Andronicus" might want to stay home.)

Co-written by Marc Norman and Stoppard, "Shakespeare" benefited from the hand of both writers. It was Norman (whose credits include "Waterworld" and the woeful "Cutthroat Island") who came up with the deft original idea of having Shakespeare's play and life influence each other. Stoppard (whose work includes the thematically similar "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead") came on to do a smashing rewrite, adding his touch with language as well as a smart subplot involving Shakespeare's rival Christopher Marlowe (Rupert Everett).

Everett is not the only well-selected supporting player (Michelle Guish is the film's casting director) "Shakespeare" utilizes. Starting at the top with an unflappable Judi Dench as the one-woman armada Elizabeth I and Geoffrey Rush in an unexpected comic role as a snaggle-toothed theater owner, adept co-stars include Ben Affleck as a self-involved actor, Tom Wilkinson as a stage-struck usurer, and Colin Firth (Darcy in the BBC's recent "Pride and Prejudice") as Wessex, the well-born but impecunious suitor for Viola's hand.

Finally, though, as always in romance, it's the stars that carry the film. Fiennes, the younger brother of Ralph, has the burning eyes and brooding demeanor appropriate for a lover, and he and Paltrow, flourishing once again under a British accent and doing her best work since "Emma," have a winning chemistry. It's no small thing to be completely believable as a besotted couple who can't keep their hands off each other, and that is what the pair accomplish here.

The ringmaster who deserves the credit for keeping all these performers in sync is John Madden, who directed Dench as yet another queen (Victoria) in last year's "Mrs. Brown." Not one for directorial flourishes, Madden represents the pick of the solidly professional directors who've come through the BBC, adept at getting the best out of the material at hand.

It's not Shakespeare or his eventual muse who is introduced first, but theater owner Philip Henslowe (Rush). He's having his feet literally held to the fire by Elizabethan loan shark Fennyman (Wilkinson), who settles Henslowe's debts for the rights to the next play by hot young scribe Will Shakespeare.

The problem is that master Will seems to have misplaced his muse. As he explains to his apothecary-alchemist-astrologer Dr. Moth (Anthony Sher), the Elizabethan version of a therapist, "It's as if my quill is broken, as if the organ of my imagination is dried up, as if the proud tower of my genius is collapsed." And so on.

One of the most amusing aspects of "Shakespeare" is how many Elizabethan versions of modern things are to be found in 1590s London. These jests include water taxi drivers who like to kibbitz and have written scripts of their own; restaurants where the waiter says, "The special today is a pig's foot marinated in juniper-berry vinegar served on a buckwheat pancake"; and the kind of theatrical bitchiness that causes Shakespeare to say to Marlowe, "I love your early work."

Speaking of Marlowe, "Shakespeare" is also clever in the offhanded way it makes use of real historical situations, such as the question of whether Marlowe had a hand in writing Shakespeare's plays and the cloud over the former's death. And students of English drama will be amused to see a teenage version of future playwright John Webster (Joe Roberts) being every bit as bloodthirsty as his later "The Duchess of Malfi" would have you expect.

Will and Viola finally meet when, disguised as a boy named Thomas Kent (women were forbidden on the Elizabethan stage) she tries out for a part in his new play. Will, ever the insightful writer, figures this ruse out (it's one of the film's unspoken jests that he uses cross-dressing in later plays), and we're soon enmeshed in the heights and depths of a relationship we see echoed in the romance and agony of "Romeo and Juliet."

In addition to everything else, "Shakespeare in Love" also functions as a tribute to the magic of live theater. Whenever problems arise, impresario Henslowe says not to worry, his explanation of how the difficulty will be solved is a wide-eyed, "It's a mystery." Anyone wanting to figure out how all the elements for this charming film fell so nicely into place could do worse than looking to that same phrase for an answer.

* MPAA rating: R, for sexuality. Times guidelines: genteel nude love scenes.

'Shakespeare in Love'

Joseph Fiennes: William Shakespeare

Gwyneth Paltrow: Viola de Lesseps

Judi Dench: Elizabeth I

Ben Affleck: Ned Alleyn

Geoffrey Rush: Philip Henslowe

Colin Firth: The Earl of Wessex

Tom Wilkinson: Fennyman

Rupert Everett: Christopher Marlowe

A Miramax Films/Universal Pictures production, released by Miramax Films. Director John Madden. Producers David Parfitt, Donna Gigliotti, Harvey Weinstein, Edward Zwick, Marc Norman. Executive producers Bob Weinstein, Julie Goldstein. Screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard. Cinematographer Richard Greatrex. Editor David Gamble. Costumes by Sandy Powell. Music by Stephen Warbeck. Production design by Martin Childs. Supervising art director Mark Raggett. Set decorator Jill Quertier. Running time: 2 hours, 2 minutes.

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Shakespeare in Love

Synopsis: Joseph Fiennes stars in the romantic comedy, set in London 1593, about the struggling playwright Will Shakespeare. Fiennes is suffering from writer's block and can't seem to complete his latest work, "Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter," until Fiennes sets his sights on the beautiful Gwyneth Paltrow. Love overcomes Fiennes and unleashes his creative juices.

Genre: Comedy

Rating: R, for sexuality

Cast: Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Judi Dench, Rupert Everett, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth and Ben Affleck

Credits: Directed by John Madden. Written by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard. Produced by Marshall Herskovitz, Marc Norman, David Parfitt and Edward Zwick. Released by Miramax.

Running Time: 2 hours 4 minutes

Premiere: Hear ye, Hear ye: Attend the premiere of "Shakespeare in Love" with Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck in the Press Room!

Academy Awards: To check out our prediction for this best picture nominee, click to our Oscar Tip Sheet!

Theatrical Release Date: December 11, 1998 - exclusive Los Angeles/New York engagements; December 25, 1998 - expanded release; January 8, 1999 - expanded release

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Shakespeare Authorship Sourcebook Main Page

Shakespeare in Love: the True Story

by Stephanie Hopkins Hughes

The movie Shakespeare in Love has been hauling in the audiences and the ticket sales just as its subject, the play Romeo and Juliet, did so long ago, and still does, whenever it is played. This movie is delightful, but as everyone knows, it is not the truth. It is a good story, but it is not the true story of Shakespeare in love.

You see, if we're to see a movie about Shakespeare in love, it has to be a fantasy, it cannot be the truth, because the man that everyone has thought for four hundred years was Shakespeare the great playwright, was not a playwright. This man had very little to do with the theater but pull down a small pension for the use of his name. He has left no story worth telling, while the man who really did write the plays has a marvelous story, a story which until recently, has remained untold.

Should it surprise us that the true story, like the movie, does involve the writing of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare's most romantic play? What follows is what may well be the true story, about half fact, half best guess, pieced together from contemporary documents, the works of historians, of literary historians and commentators, of Shakespeare experts, some orthodox, some necessarily radical, and the plays themselves. And if we add some spice in the telling, who's to say us nay? Certainly not Shakespeare.

This is the story of a lonely teenager; an ordinary boy in many ways, much like Romeo in fact, a boy with the same goals, desires, hopes and fears of all youth; but this boy was also extraordinary; in fact, he was far more extraordinary than he was ordinary. This boy was born with a gift so powerful that in many ways it would prove to be a curse, a gift of language, of memory, of intellectual and imaginative power, a gift that would place him on the level of few individuals over the course of history, individuals such as Alexander the Great, Jesus Christ, Leonardo da Vinci, Sir Isaac Newton, Mozart, Bach, Benjamin Franklin, and Albert Einstein; individuals who molded history, who created culture with their insights, discoveries and creations.

Not only was he brilliant, he was handsome, with the red gold hair so prized by his race and class, and although he was on the small side, he had as well the strength and physique of an athlete, a tennis player and a fencer. He was also born into the highest levels of the English nobility, the heir to the second oldest Earldom in the nation. Had he been born in Italy he would have been regarded as a Prince, for there, unlike England, the nobility still retained complete control over their medieval demesnes, which we call principalities. His rank, although in some respects a marvelous gift, was also a curse, for although it gave him a great deal more economic freedom than most men of his age, it also tied him to a prescribed and highly restrictive role in the life of his community, a role he could escape only in the theatre or in the pages of a book; ultimately it demanded the sacrifice of his identity as a writer.

Because of his social position the boy was educated by the greatest scholars of his day. For several years between the ages of eight and twelve he remained under the tutelage of one of the most respected Greek scholars in the nation, who held the chair at Cambridge University in Civil Law and wrote the book that most strongly influenced government officials in determining policy. From age twelve to thirteen or fourteen he was tutored by one of the greatest antiquarians of the time, an Anglican prelate whose name can be found penned on the back of the oldest literary document claimed by England, perhaps the most famous document in our literary heritage, that of the Old English epic, Beowulf, together with the date "1562, " a year when it is known that the boy was with him.

As you can see, a tremendous amount of love and hope rested on this boy. Yet despite this loving care, he was a lonely child right from the start. He had no brothers, and although he had a sister close to his own age, it is doubtful they ever actually lived together, even in their infancy and childhood. It is likely that he received a great deal of love from his nursemaid in childhood, and probably from all the retainers on his fathers estate, but if he was like most children of the nobility, as it seems that he was, his parents would have been too busy with affairs of State and their own social lives to see him except at holidays like Michaelmass and Shrovetide, when the Court community gathered at one of the great palaces or houses of the nobility for Christmas or May games, the only time he was able to play with other children like himself. The rest of the time he spent with his tutors or hanging about with servants, from whom he absorbed the rich oral culture of folklore, the tales and superstitions, the holiday rituals and folk remedies, still alive and flourishing among the unlettered servants and rural folk of 16th-century England.

The lonely lad kept himself company with books, at first the adventure stories that were so popular, King Arthur and his knights of the Roundtable, in French or Italian, languages he picked up easily as he had been reading Latin since he was five or six. His first tutor intoduced him to the Greek classics, and his second tutor to the Saxon languages. His brilliant mind swept aside the difficulties of each new language in its eager pursuit of stories, sure that like the bean in the holiday pudding, some important message about the meaning of life could be found in each new plot, each variation on an ending.

His life changed suddenly in his twelfth summer with the death of his father; overnight all previous plans for his future were rendered null and void. As an underage peer of the realm he became a ward of the Crown and was sent to London to live with the man that was probably the most important figure in England, equal to if not surpassing the brilliant Queen herself, her Principle Secretary, William Cecil, not yet forty, and with some way yet to go before he reached the apex of his career as the Lord Treasurer, a post he would hold for the rest of his long life.

The boy was lonely at Cecil House, but then he was used to being lonely, and there at least there was a great library of books to explore, an immense garden filled with every sort of plant, while around the dinner table was heard the conversation of the most influential people of the time, foreign ambassadors and agents, lawyers with important cases to discuss, the good, the bad, the brilliant, the beautiful, speaking French, Italian, Spanish, German, Polish, Russian; all fascinating. The following year his cousin, the young Earl of Rutland, only a year older than himself and also ward of the Crown, joined him at Cecil House. For the first time he knew what it meant to have the close companionship of a boy his own age. They went to all the great Court and holiday functions together.

Other boys joined them at Cecil House from time to time, boys of high rank whose parents saw the value in having their sons spend time in the Lord Treasurer's household where they formed a little academy. We must set aside our class prejudices about such a group, and not regard it as we might today, as nothing more than a sort of junior country club for upper class twits. Class division was part and parcel of the life of the times; these boys were looked to to bear the burden of governing the State in their mature years; for them, privilege was more than balanced by the pressures of grave responsibility.

His mother had married again, to the man who had been Captain of his father's Horse. Although she continued to be referred to as the Dowager Countess, as she had no claim to nobility other than her marriage to his father, she was now as far beneath him in the social scale as she had been above him as a child, lost to him forever across a great divide of class and rank. He saw her occasionally at those Court functions where everyone was welcome. Still only in her early thirties, still beautiful, how was he to treat this woman, at once so central to his being and yet so distant? It was always hard for him to speak when his heart was overcome with feeling. He would assume a cool expression, speaking abruptly to hide the loneliness and confusion that any thought or sight of her provoked and to conquer the tears that never failed to rise at any thoughts of bygone days. When he felt secure enough to look for her again, she was gone.

Only Rutland knew his sensitivity; all others found him either brilliant and witty or sullen and silent; but his heart he hid from all but his friend, and even he never knew it all. Nurtured on the French romances that were the boyhood reading of his day, he dreamed of attaining the love that he had yearned for in secret since he was pryed screaming from his nurse's arms at the age of five, and set to learning Latin with a pious young uncle. He spent his quiet hours dreaming of a romance of the sort he read about in the tales of Sir Lancelot and Prince Orlando, fated, overwhelming. She would be beautiful, graceful, a good dancer. They would make love. His imagination, always powerful, and now coupled with a teenage boy's libido, made it as real as though it had already happened. Well, almost as real.

He and Rutland attended the wedding of the Earl of Warwick as pages. Either there or at another similar Court function he fell in love with one of the Queen's young Maids of Honor, a beauty two or three years older than himelf. Despite his attractive looks he was still only a child in her eyes. She was far too interested in the young men that surrounded her.

Although it was clear she wasn't interested, the poor kid couldn't get her out of his mind. To his surprise this love he had read so much about was no fun at all! Actually it was torture! He tried to ease his heart by writing poems in the popular Petrarchan style. Reams of juvenile poems, the ink all splattered with tears, failed to bring him relief. What use was it to write her poems when she wouldn't even speak to him?! Unable to hide his misery, or his poetry, his heartless friends teased him mercilessly. The following Christmas, her presence at the holiday masques offered them rich opportunities for his humiliation. Loving her, hating her, hating them, he did his best to conquer his heart, to suffer in silence. If this was what love was all about, he wished never to experience it again!

한국 현대 영미드라마 학회 홈페이지

이형식의 영화 비평 http://members.iworld.net/drama21c

영화 [셰익스피어 인 러브]를 보고

상호텍스트적 유희의 즐거움 : [셰익스피어 인 러브]

                                                                                           건국대 이형식

 시대와 문화를 초월한 보편성으로 인해 셰익스피어의 작품은 늘 매력적인 영화의 소재가 되어 왔으며 각 시대는 나름대로의 독특한 셰익스피어 영화를 산출했다. 반전 운동과 반문화 운동의 분위기 속에서 탄생한 제피렐리의 [로미오와 줄리엣]은 노소간의 세대차와 피비린내 나는 폭력이 가져오는 참담한 결과에 초점을 맞추었으며 1990년대의 MTV적 감수성이 낳은 바즈 루어먼의 [로미오와 줄리엣]에서는 현란하고 빠른 카메라 워크와 화면에 뿌려지는 밝은 원색 위주의 컬러가 셰익스피어의 언어와 결합되면서 기묘한 조합을 만들어내었다. 올리비에, 멜 깁슨, 케네스 브라나의 [햄릿], 오슨 웰즈, 올리비에, 파커의 [오델로] 또한 그 영화를 탄생시킨 시대성을 화면에 반영하면서 원작에 대한 감독의 독특한 해석을 엿볼 수 있게 한다.

 그렇다면 이처럼 시대를 두고 반복해서 제작되는 셰익스피어 영화에서 우리는 무엇을 읽게 되는가. 그것은 셰익스피어 연극 전체를 관통하는 "세상은 연극"(theatrum mundi)라는 주제이다. 거의 대부분의 셰익스피어 극에서 우리는 극중극, 즉 연극에 대한 연극을 보게 된다. 배우들은 극중 인물이면서 동시에 배우 자신이며 그의 대사는 극중 상황에 적절한 대사이면서 동시에 현실에 대한 언급이 된다. [햄릿]이나 [한여름밤의 꿈]에서의 극중극이 아니더라도 그의 작품 곳곳에는 연극적 허구와 현실을 넘나드는 상상적 유희가 펼쳐져 있다. 더구나 [햄릿] [로미오와 줄리엣] [오델로]처럼 여러 편의 각색본이 있는 영화의 경우에 우리의 영화를 보는 작업은 다른 각색본과의 상호텍스트적인 유희를 즐기게 된다.  

 골든글로브를 석권하고 아카데미상 13개 부문에 노미네이트되어 명실공히 1998년 최고의 영화라고 평가될 [셰익스피어 인 러브]는 이러한 셰익스피어 영화의 특성을 십분 발휘한 작품이다. 이 영화의 매력은 [로젠크랜츠와 길든스턴은 죽었다]라는 희곡에서 [햄릿]의 두 조역들을 주인공으로 셰익스피어 작품에 대한 패러디를 펼친 톰 스토파드의 각본에 기초하고 있다. 기존의 영화들이 셰익스피어 원작을 각색한데 반하여 이 영화는 셰익스피어가 [로미오와 줄리엣]을 쓰게 되는 과정을 상상적으로 재구성한 작품이다. 영화 곳곳에서 스토파드적인 재치와 기발한 발상을 발견할 수 있다.

 영화가 시작되면 카메라는 셰익스피어 당시의 극장을 위에서부터 훑어 내려와 객석, 무대, 트랩 도어, 그리고 피트(pit)를 비춘다. 셰익스피어 과목 강의를 시작할 때 엘리자베스 당시의 연극 배경을 그림을 그려가면서 설명하던 것을 이 영화만 보여주면 끝날 것 같은 느낌이 든다. 무대와 객석 사이의 긴밀한 호흡, 마당에 서서 음식을 먹으며 구경하는 groundlings, 여자 역할을 하는 남자 배우 등 너무나 생생하게 당시의 상황을 재현한다. 또 크리스토퍼 말로우, 존 웹스터와 같은 배우와 엘리자베스 여왕, 리차드 버비지, 필립 헨슬로우와 같은 당대 인물들이 등장한다. 존 웹스터는 극장 주변을 떠돌며 무대에 서보기를 갈망하는 소년으로 나오고 말로우는 전설처럼 술집에서 싸우다가 살해당한다. 연극은 예나 지금이나 돈이 있어야 되는 법. 연극 한편 올리기 위해 벌어지는 소동들이 400년 전이나 지금이나 별반 변한 것이 없는 것 같다.

 영화는 셰익스피어가 [로미오와 줄리엣]을 쓴 것이 바이올라라는 여성을 만나 영감을 받게 되면서라고 설명하고 있다. 윌 셰익스피어(조셉 파인즈)와 바이올라(기네스 펠트로)가 만나 사랑에 빠지게 되는 경위는 [로미오와 줄리엣]의 장면과 너무나 흡사하다. 윌과 바이올라가 궁정에서 처음 눈빛을 교환하는 장면, 무도회에서 춤을 추는 장면, 그리고 발코니 씬을 보면서 우리는 셰익스피어 원작뿐만 아니라 우리가 가지고 있는 제피렐리의 영화 속의 장면을 기억한다. 셰익스피어가 원작에서 사용한 대사들이 사실은 그가 바이올라를 만나서 주고 받던 사랑의 토로임이 설득력 있게 제시된다. 윌과 바잉올라가 만나서 처음으로 사랑을 나누는 러브씬에서 "내 사랑은 바다처럼 무한하고 주면 줄수록 더 늘어난다"는 말이 성적인 암시를 가지고 교환된다. 윌이 바이올라를 만나면서 하는 "나는 운명의 노리개감이야"라는 대사는 원작에서 티볼트를 죽인 후 로미오가 하는 대사로 변형된다.

  이 영화에는 영화 속에 연극이 있고 그 연극 속에 또 연극이 있다. 이러한 다층적인 허구와 현실의 넘나듬 속에서 대사의 의미는 뒤집히고 또 뒤집힌다. 가령 영화 속 [로미오와 줄리엣] 공연에서 바이올라가 만투아로 로미오를 떠나보내면서 윌에게 하는 대사는 그들이 처한 현실로 인해 너무나 진실되게 들린다. 원래 배우가 되려고 토마스 켄트라는 남자로 변장했던 바이올라는 그녀 자신이면서 줄리엣이고 동시에 토마스 켄트이다. 켄트로 변장하고 윌에게 사랑의 편지를 전달하는 바이올라는 남장을 하고 오시노 공작에게 자신의 사랑을 말하던 [12야]의 바이올라를 떠올린다. 영화의 마지막은 12야를 위해 좀 더 즐거운 코미디를 준비하라는 여왕의 분부를 받고 셰익스피어가 [12야]를 쓰는 것으로 끝난다.

  이 영화의 성공은 스토파드의 탄탄한 각본에 힘입고 있지만 기네스 펠트로와 조셉 파인즈 두 주인공의 영국식 액센트와 열정적인 연기, 조연들의 코믹 터치, 당시의 거리를 완벽하게 재생한 거리와 세트, 의상, 음악들도 영화를 보는 재미를 더해 주었다. [로미오와 줄리엣]을 몇 년 동안 가르쳐왔던 터라 거의 외울 정도로 알고 있는 대사들이 영화속 장면들과 비교되면서 영화를 보는 동안 줄곧 정신적인 유희를 즐겼다. 영문과 교수님들과 학생들이 반드시 보아야 할 영화라고 생각된다.  

   Subject:  "세익스피어의 사랑"을 보고...

   Date: Tue, 06 Apr 1999 21:40:04 +0900

   From: "임학순" <hsyim@hyomin.dongeui.ac.kr>

   Organization: Dongeui University

   To: ykryu@nuri.net

   류영균 선생님,

   저는 부산 동의대에서 영문학을 전공하고 있는 김명식이라는 학생입니다. 제가 지금 수강하고 있는 과목(미국 문학사)은 미국 문학의 전반을 다루기도 하지만 한 달에 한번 꼴로 영화를   보고 그  감상  포인트를 문학에   맞춰 글로  옮기는  작업도 해나가고 있습니다. 이번에 제가 감상한 영화는 "세익스피어의 사랑"이었는데,  자칫 소홀히 하면 놓칠 수도 있는 여러  가지 문학적 메시지가  영화 전반에 깔려있어 이렇게  글을 띄워 봅니다. 눌변인데다 아직  문학 초년생인  까닭에 글  전반에 상당수의  미흡한 부분이 있으리라 봅니다만   남들이 놓칠  수도 있는   시각을 조금이나마  공유할 수   있다면 저로서는 커다란 기쁨일 것입니다.

                       "세익스피어의 사랑"에 대한 평(評)

                          김 명 식 (동의대학교 영문학전공 석사1년)

      며칠 전  20세기 영화의  마지막을 장식한  제71회 아카데미  영화제의 수상식이 대미의    막을    내렸다.    TV의    한    평론가는    "이번    수상식의    주제는 밀레니엄(millennium)으로  새로운   천년을  준비하자는   모토(motto)가 그   핵심을 이루는데, 이 말 뜻을 미국인의 관점에서 해석해보면 20세기를 석권한 것은 할리우드의 영화산업으로, 이는 미국  자본주의의 상징이  되어 왔으므로  미국은 앞으로도 이러한 방정식을   유지하여  21세기의   지속적인  패권을   유지하겠다는  의지를   표명하고 있다."라는 말을 들은  적이 있다. 즉,  이 논평의 요지는  아카데미 영화제가 미국인의 자긍심을 세계 만방에 또 다시 확인시킨 계기가 되었다는 점을 부각시키고 있다.

      한 국가의 영화 산업은  그 사회의 문화  현상 속에서 다양한  뉘앙스를 띄며 그 사회 구성원들의 인식 저변에  까지 스며든다. 사실  요즘의 영상세대로 분류되고 있는 젊은이들은 활자세대로 대표되던 기성세대들보다 더 다양한 정보와  가치를 영상매체를 통해 접하고  있다. 이러한  영상매체의  대표주자는 무엇보다도  영화이며, 이는  소위 과거의 하위 문화로 치부되던  위치에서 포스트 모더니즘으로 인식되는  지금의 문화적 흐름에 와서는 어엿한 문학의 텍스트로 인식되고 있다.

      이러한 맥락에서 볼 때 이번 아카데미 영화제 수상식에서 경이적으로 7개 부문을 석권한 죤 매든 감독의  "세익스피어의 사랑"도 두  겹의 시각으로 감상해  볼 수 있는 좋은 작품임에 틀림없다. 다시 말해서 이  작품은 한 극작가와 배우가 되기를 갈망하는 귀족 출신의  여배우간의 신분을  초월한 극적인  사랑을 희극적으로  그려  낸 로맨틱 코미디물로 파악될  수도 있지만,  평면매체를  입체적인 영상으로  영화화하여 그것이 주는 매세지를 읽어낼 수도 있다는 말이다.

      세익스피어는   과연   어떠한   삶을   살았기에   영국이   "인도와도   바꾸지 않겠다"라고까지 말했을까? 과연 한  문학작가에게 사랑과 같은 개인적  차원의 경험이 그에게서 어떠한 의미를 갖는 것일까? 이러한 질문은 그 작가의 의식 속에 침투해 있는 또 다른 가능성의  세계에 대한  우리의 시선을  그 은밀한  곳으로 모아  주기 때문에 상당히 흥미롭다.

      "세익스피어의 사랑"은  무엇보다도  긴장성을 띤   편집으로 화려하게 작렬하는 위트와 유머로  가득찬  대사가 눈에   뜨인다. 그리고 또   한편으로는 실재와  허구를 교묘하게 오가면서  제작자·배우·관객의  위치 및   성차별에 대한  그 시대의   사회 문화적인 초점도 놓치지 않고  잘 정돈해놓고 있다.  "세익스피어의 사랑"이 담고  있는 가장 두드러진   메시지중의 하나는  '작가적  고뇌'인데, 이는   세익스피어가 "아무런 영감도 떠오르지   않아"라고 절규하는   장면에서도 잘   드러나고 있다.   즉, 작가적 상상력의 고갈은 곧 작가로서의 죽음을 상징하므로 이렇게 메마른 세익스피어의 사색에 불길을 일으키는  바이올라는 곧  그에게는 온  몸을 전율케하는  사랑의 여신과 같은 존재로 그녀와 사랑에  빠진 세익스피어는 마치  코올리지가 환각의  상태에서 "쿠블라 칸"을 써내려  갔던  것처럼 사랑이라는  정지된  시간 속에서  자신의  문학적 영감의 나래를 펼치게 된다.  여기에는 죽음과  부활이라는 서양문학의  공통된 이미지가 깔려 있는데, 이는  극작가로서의 관념의   죽음이 인간의 사랑으로   다시 소생하게 된다는 이미지를 통해서 나타나고 있다.

      이 영화에는   적어도 포스트  모더니즘과 풍자라는   두 개의  시각이 공존하고 있음에 틀림없다. 먼저, 이 작품을 포스트  모더니즘적인 시각에