"Anonymous" Review (Warning spoilers ahead!)

 

Well, it's here.  I've been waiting for months to see this picture and now I have.  I wasn't disappointed.  I thoroughly enjoyed it - it certainly works as a story and as a film and remains intriguing and watchable throughout.  The story posits Edward De Vere, the 17th Earl Oxford as the true author of Shakespeare's plays and relates how they came about within the turbulent closing years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

 

I loved the bookending of the film with Derek Jacobi as the Narrator, echoing the work he did as the Chorus in Kenneth Branagh's "Henry V" (1989).  As you expect, it plays merry hell with historical fact and there is some over-reliance on exposition to reveal key plot points but the script is solid as and the characters believable.

 

Rhys Ifans makes a terrific Earl of Oxford (as does Jamie Campbell-Bowers as his younger self).  He makes a good fist of the script, although a speech about him 'hearing voices' does fall flat.  Rafe Spall plays William Shakespeare as a semi-literate but streetwise actor who fully exploits his status as the frontman of the plays.  He is entertaining to watch but some of his material jars slightly with his broad comical playing of the role.  It was interesting to see Christopher Marlowe (Trystan Gravelle) played as a snarling snob, and Sebastian Armesto is very good in a complex turn as the playwright Ben Jonson.  David Thewlis is the scheming Lord Burleigh and Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson and Edward Hogg provide quality support,

 

There are lovely production values on show here, with the wet and muddy streets of London brought to grimy life.  I liked how they used CGI, especially with the frozen river funeral procession.

 

Whether you agree with it's central thesis or not, this is an enjoyable slice of alternative history.