Anonymous

The film's claim is this: Shakespeare did not write the plays, Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford did. Unable to use his name as a nobleman, he passed the texts first to Ben Jonson and then to the actor Shakespeare. The story moves between present-day New York and Elizabethan England, with the fight over the queen's succession and an alleged relationship between de Vere and Elizabeth in the background. Roland Emmerich directed. Rhys Ifans plays de Vere at different ages and Vanessa Redgrave plays Elizabeth I. Derek Jacobi opens the film as narrator and Sebastian Armesto plays Ben Jonson. Against a 30 million dollar budget it took 15.4 million. The reviews were mixed, praising the performances and the design while criticising the historical inaccuracy and the tangled timeline. The academic response was severe. Shakespeare scholars led by James Shapiro dismantled the Oxfordian theory in detail, and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust ran a counter-campaign with scholars. Emmerich defended himself by pointing out that Shakespeare rewrote history to suit himself as well. The historical errors are documented: Richard III is redated to fit the Essex Rebellion of 1601, Christopher Marlowe is shown alive in 1598 although he died in 1593, and events with no record at all are staged. Who it is for: viewers who like period intrigue and court politics. Who it is not for: anyone who would take it as history. The thesis it rests on is not accepted by scholars, and the details are wrong too.