Shakespeare in Love (1998), directed by John Madden.
My heart belongs to older films and I don't find many recent ones that reward repeat viewings. This is one of those from recent decades that I love as much as the classics. It's both literary and light, which is an accomplishment in itself.
One wonders what the first performance of each of the plays was like. I wanted them to bring everyone back for a series, doing a new play each time. Really.
We know that music and dance can have sexual meaning, but here are examples where verse, recited with the proper rhythm and cadence, can accomplish the same thing. We also have a link between artistic creation and sexual potency, which is something to think about.
Favorite line: (Boatman) "I've seen you in something. That one about a king."
The players:
Joseph Fiennes sometimes looks much like the singer Prince. Those close-set beady eyes.
Gwyneth Paltrow shines as a theater super-fan: as a woman, a woman playing a man, and a woman playing a man playing a woman. Some light, creamy white nudity from her. In her other movies I always check for that slight catch in her breath she uses here.
Colin Firth had made a big splash as a romantic lead in the Pride and Prejudice (1995) miniseries. Here he gets to be a comic villain. A note on his title: "Wessex" became extinct in 1066 when the last Saxon king got a arrow in the eye. It was revived for a current royal who saw the movie and thought the name sounded cool.
Judy Dench is suitably imposing as the Queen, although as usual I find her interpretation too "heavy" for her roles.
Geoffrey Rush has expert comic timing.
I have a hard time taking Ben Affleck seriously, but maybe he fits as a dominating ham-actor.
Exhilarating score by Stephen Warbeck, but the Queen's fireworks music is about 100 years too early.
"Rated R for sexuality", partly from two scenes with Mistress Rosaline.
Available on Blu-ray. The movie looks better to me with every viewing.