February 12, 2005

Shakespeare in Love

My enthusiasm for the movie arrives seven years late. I watched it at State Theater when I was an undergraduate here in Michigan. I watched the Oscars the year it won Best Picture and Gwyneth Paltrow won for her role as Viola, much to my chagrin, as I was rooting for Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth.

I may have mentioned before that I don't care much at all for Ms. Paltrow, though her acting in The Royal Tenenbaums didn't grate as much as I'd expected. And I'm thoroughly willing to endure her screen presence in Shakespeare in Love if only because the screenplay is just terrific and so is the score. And the costumes aren't bad either. And I have fond memories of reading the Bard's plays.

Watching it again on TV tonight was better than that time at the theater. I'm not sure why. Perhaps I'm older now and more tolerant of Gwyneth Paltrow. I do remember liking the final scene that has Shakespeare imagining his muse, Viola, walking out from the sea towards a thicket of trees. A very resonant closing scene. It was perhaps the one moment in the movie that I looked forward to watching again.

Posted by Monoceros at February 12, 2005 11:20 PM
Comments

i really enjoyed the movie and dialogues... but then again i am partial to Gwyn... so it's easier for me to get excited about it i suppose! =C)

Posted by: tiggie at February 14, 2005 4:09 PM

Ah, so we agree to disagree about Gwyneth. =) It's a lovely movie actually. The lines are beautiful!

Posted by: monoceros at February 14, 2005 4:19 PM

yeah, the movie was lovely but i didn't think Gwyneth Paltrow deserved the Oscar. I was rooting for Cate Blanchett too! She deserved it so much more than Paltrow did!

Posted by: dsd at February 14, 2005 7:42 PM

hear, hear! yes, Cate was great in "Elizabeth."

Posted by: monoceros at February 14, 2005 10:30 PM

Ha ha, dun rem much about the movie except that Joseph Fiennes was in it! Ha ha. But I was rooting for Cate too! I remember her (GP) sobbing away in her pink Ralph Lauren dress at her win though. That was when I stopped being her fan. So LK!

Posted by: fatgirl at February 15, 2005 11:51 AM