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Last night was date night and after a wonderful dinner at Aquitaine in Chestnut Hill, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jdulac and I made our once a decade trip to the movies to see Anonymous, an Elizabethan potboiler about political intrigue and the question of who actually authored the plays attributed to William Shakespeare. Leaving aside the authorship question which is a discussion unto itself, the plot was wilder than anything Luke could have dreamt up in his most intoxicant fueled fantasies. It included a government run by crazed, power hungry Puritans, illegitimate births, incest and overthrow of the monarchy (well at least we know that last bit is actually true), as seen through the eyes of Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford. The film is, shall we say, flexible, about its chronology and bounces back and forth from the present (about 1595-1604) to the past (about 1570ish to about 1580 or so (not that it’s easy to tack things down exactly)). The Cecil’s, pere et fils, are the heavies (and for the love of Mike, it’s not Lord William Cecil, its Lord Burghley), both of them scheming and plotting to run England as a Puritan police state and to control Oxford’s literary output.
That said though, the film is visually stunning. The creation of late Elizabethan London, both in built sets and cgi was amazing and I felt like I was flying over a three dimensional rendering of Hollar or Vischer engravings. Likewise the sets for the theaters and the Bear Garden were terrific and the interiors of the various houses, palaces and taverns were very well observed. There were a number of objects, costumes and sets that I could specifically recognize as being taken from an extant artifact or location (the dress from the sieve portrait, albeit being worn by Elizabeth in about 1602, Oxford wearing the shirt from the museum at Bath on his deathbed, etc., etc.) and even the props I didn’t specifically recognize, such as the super sweet gold hilted rapier Oxford has on towards the end, were very spiffy (they should have ditched the big feathers on the quills however). There were also just some toss away things that only a student of the period would catch, such as James’ white suit (very nice) and the delightfully queenly characterization.
I would definitely recommend this picture. The plot is pure fantasy and should be treated as such but as a visual evocation of the period, it is first rate. You probably don’t want to delay seeing it because I fear it won’t be in the theaters very long.
jdulac and I made our once a decade trip to the movies to see Anonymous, an Elizabethan potboiler about political intrigue and the question of who actually authored the plays attributed to William Shakespeare. Leaving aside the authorship question which is a discussion unto itself, the plot was wilder than anything Luke could have dreamt up in his most intoxicant fueled fantasies. It included a government run by crazed, power hungry Puritans, illegitimate births, incest and overthrow of the monarchy (well at least we know that last bit is actually true), as seen through the eyes of Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford. The film is, shall we say, flexible, about its chronology and bounces back and forth from the present (about 1595-1604) to the past (about 1570ish to about 1580 or so (not that it’s easy to tack things down exactly)). The Cecil’s, pere et fils, are the heavies (and for the love of Mike, it’s not Lord William Cecil, its Lord Burghley), both of them scheming and plotting to run England as a Puritan police state and to control Oxford’s literary output.That said though, the film is visually stunning. The creation of late Elizabethan London, both in built sets and cgi was amazing and I felt like I was flying over a three dimensional rendering of Hollar or Vischer engravings. Likewise the sets for the theaters and the Bear Garden were terrific and the interiors of the various houses, palaces and taverns were very well observed. There were a number of objects, costumes and sets that I could specifically recognize as being taken from an extant artifact or location (the dress from the sieve portrait, albeit being worn by Elizabeth in about 1602, Oxford wearing the shirt from the museum at Bath on his deathbed, etc., etc.) and even the props I didn’t specifically recognize, such as the super sweet gold hilted rapier Oxford has on towards the end, were very spiffy (they should have ditched the big feathers on the quills however). There were also just some toss away things that only a student of the period would catch, such as James’ white suit (very nice) and the delightfully queenly characterization.
I would definitely recommend this picture. The plot is pure fantasy and should be treated as such but as a visual evocation of the period, it is first rate. You probably don’t want to delay seeing it because I fear it won’t be in the theaters very long.
