Anonymous Review

Director: Roland Emmerich

Cast: Rhys Ifans, Sam Cain, Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson, David Thewlis, Edward Hogg, Rafe Spall, Tony Way, Sebastian Armesto, Xavier Samuel, Helen Baxendale.

Running Time: 130 Minutes

Certificate: 12A

Synopsis: A political thriller advancing the theory that it was in fact Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford who penned Shakespeare’s plays; set against the backdrop of the succession of Queen Elizabeth I, and the Essex Rebellion against her.

More famed for destroying national monuments via natural disasters or alien invasions, Roland Emmerich has made a career directing some of cinema’s biggest box-office blockbusters. INDEPENDENCE DAY, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW and 2012 have all been mega-hits for the German-born film maker. Emmerich has now turned his attention to destroying the reputation of literature’s most famous icon, William Shakespeare. Working with the controversial notion that ‘The Bard’ was not the individual responsible for great plays as ‘Hamlet’, ‘Macbeth’ or ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Instead the 17th Earl of Oxford, Edward De Vere is really the one Emmerich wants the audience to believe wrote the legendary works, and does the director pull it off?

Opening the film in modern day New York seemed a strange move considering the film I was expecting to see was set in the 16th Century, I even checked my ticket stub to see if I was in the correct screening room. Watching the great Derek Jacobi rush to take the stage in front of a packed audience to address the concept that many believe Shakespeare may just have been a fraud. The film blends from an expected stage play setting to travel back to the age of Queen Elizabeth I. It’s an effective opening and is different from anything the period genre has given us before.

The production design and special effects as always from Emmerich are impeccable. He may not always create a story that is coherent or characters that are interesting at times, but he certainly makes sure every cent is on screen. Rhys Ifans takes the lead as Edward De Vere, and does a great job making us want to piece together exactly  William Shakespeare’s name ended up on his work.

It is Sebastian Armesto’s role of Ben Jonson who we really want to know more about. It is his character to whom De Vere first passes his works in order to see the audience’s reactions whilst the plays are acted out. Jonson’s friend Will Shakespeare is known amongst the theatre circles as a bad actor and illiterate, and soon hatches a plot to blackmail De Vere by outing him as the true author to the powers that be. Writing is frowned upon and considered a sin by the movie’s villains Henry Cecil and his son Robert (David Thewlis and Edward Hogg). They are the Queen’s advisors who have their own devious plot to make sure her successor favours them in the future – not one of her ‘bastard’ children.

The plot is very complex at times, not helped by fact that the timeline of events jump back and forth with characters under heavy make-up and huge costumes. Thus making it difficult to know which Earl is which and what period we are in.

The major let down is in the character of Shakespeare himself. Not enough depth or even screen time is given to what should essentially have been one of the main roles. Rafe Spall depicts him as a bumbling buffoon who drinks too much, and whose only interests are financial.

All in all it’s Ifans performance that steals the show in what – in the hands of another director – could have been a fascinating epic. A missed opportunity with a very interesting plot but certainly not a disaster many might have expected from Roland Emmerich. Something we are so used to!

ANONYMOUS is released 28th October 2011