History Film / ShakespeareInLove

* CoitusUninterruptus: Probably more realistic than most modern examples, as back in the day notions of privacy (especially among the lower classes, which certainly included actors) were... different. (Read: Almost non-existent.) Regardless, it doesn't last.

* DidNotGetTheGirl: DoomedByCanon -- Shakespeare of course ended up with Anne Hathaway ([[Creator/AnneHathaway not that one), so viewers shouldn't get their hopes up.

* AnachronismStew: The film does not hesitate to throw historical accuracy out the window if they can sneak in a joke about the modern studio system. Standouts are Shakespeare's visit to Dr Monk (poking fun at modern psychiatrists), and the audition scene (Elizabethan companies of players didn't do this).
* AristocratsAreEvil: Viola's husband is a total scumbag. Queen Elizabeth, on the other hand, is hard but fair.

* DidNotGetTheGirl: DoomedByCanon, as Shakespeare's biography is fairly known, viewers shouln't get thier hopes high anyway.

* ARoundOfDrinksForTheHouse: The producer orders one before exclaiming "Oh, [[AnachronismStew happy hour!]]" Although that might be AnachronismStew mixed with HistoricalInJoke, since "Happy (Day/hour/whatever)!" was a popular exclamation back in the day.

* BittersweetEnding:[[spoiler: While Shakespeare and Viola don't end up together, both seem very optimistic about their respective fates. Viola survives her trip to the colonies while her unloved husband drowns with his money. The film ends with Shakespeare writing ''Theatre/TwelfthNight'' as Viola strolls onto the shore of America echoing the scene that Shakespeare writes. Or Viola-survives-a-shipwreck montage was Shakespeare's imagination as he put together ''Twelfth Night'', as implied by the voiceover. Viola's father had said to Wessex that if she doesn't "breed", i.e. have children, "send her back", so if she doesn't bear him a son, she might someday go back to England to see Shakespeare again.]]

** Tthe scene where Shakespeare learns the truth behind [[spoiler:Marlowe's death. He holds Wessex at knifepoint and loudly proclaims him to be Marlowe's murderer... only to be informed that Marlowe actually died in a bar fight over his tab, after getting [[EyeScream a knife through the eye]].]]

* BittersweetEnding:[[spoiler: While Shakespeare and Viola don't end up together, both seem very optimistic about their respective fates. Viola survives her trip to the colonies while her unloved husband drowns with his money. The film ends with Shakespeare writing ''Theatre/TwelfthNight'' as Viola strolls onto the shore of America echoing the scene that Shakespeare writes.]]
** Although this troper's interpretation was rather different: [[spoiler:That the Viola-survives-a-shipwreck montage was Shakespeare's imagination as he put together ''Theatre/TwelfthNight''. (As implied by the voiceover.) As for Viola, her father had said to Wessex that if she doesn't "breed," i.e. have children, "send her back." In other words, if she doesn't bear him a son, she might someday go back to England to see Shakespeare again.]]

* DidNotGetTheGirl: [[DoomedByCanon You should know this already.]]

* HeyItsThatGuy: Quite a few, including [[Film/HarryPotter Arthur Weasley]].
** [[PrideAndPrejudice Mr. Darcy]] is an evil husband!?
** [[Film/BatmanBegins Carmine Falcone]] tortures [[PiratesOfTheCaribbean Captain Barbossa]] in order to get him to pay his debts.
** Before [[DowntonAbbey Carson]] became a butler, he was an actor and dressed up as old women.
** DocMartin is Shakespeare's rival.
** [[Film/HarryPotter Dolores Umbridge]] is Viola's nurse.

*** Don't forget [[spoiler:the scene where Shakespeare learns the truth behind Marlowe's death. He holds Wessex at knifepoint and loudly proclaims him to be Marlowe's murderer... only to be informed that Marlowe actually died in a bar fight over his tab, after getting [[EyeScream a knife through the eye]].]]
** After Shakespeare explains how RomeoAndJuliet takes a turn for the worse:
-->'''HENSLOWE:''' *deadpan* Well, that'll have 'em rolling in the aisles.

* PimpedOutDress: It's Elizabethan days. What do you expect? It's actually in the script that Viola's dress be literally stunning.

* RealLifeRelative: Husband and wife team of Jim Carter (Ralph Bashford) and Imelda Staunton (Nurse).

--> "That woman... is a '''''woman'''''!

* ARoundOfDrinksForTheHouse: The producer orders one before exclaiming "Oh, [[AnachronismStew happy hour!]]"
** Although that might be AnachronismStew mixed with HistoricalInJoke, since "Happy (Day/hour/whatever)!" was a popular exclamation back in the day.

* HeyItsThatGuy: Quite a few, including [[HarryPotter Arthur Weasley]].

** [[HarryPotter Dolores Umbridge]] is Viola's nurse.

* SlowClap

* RecursiveCrossdressing

* TheMuse

* NobilityMarriesMoney: Viola, a daughter of a wealthy merchant, marries Lord Wessex, who needs money.

* CoitusUninterruptus: Probably more realistic than most modern examples, as back in the day notions of privacy (especially among the lower classes, which certainly included actors) were... different.

* CoitusUninterruptus

The ShakespeareInFiction RomanticComedy that won Best Picture of 1998 at the AcademyAwards, surprising all those who were backing ''SavingPrivateRyan''. Often cited nowadays as one of the greatest {{award snub}}s in the history of the Oscars. Nonetheless, the film is a very intelligent and fun romp through a not-quite-accurate Elizabethan England. Tom Stoppard's script is witty and wise, and all of the cast, especially Gwyneth Paltrow as Viola, is at the top of their game.

Meet Creator/WilliamShakespeare (Joseph Fiennes), aspiring playwright who can't find the inspiration to write another ScrewballComedy, and works for a theater that needs money, badly. In the bed of his mistress, Rosaline, he tries to find inspiration for a comedy titled ''[[RomeoAndJuliet Romeo and Ethel the Pirate's Daughter]]''. Meanwhile, Viola De Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow), a noblewoman engaged to marry an entrepreneur in the Americas, dreams of the stage but is frustrated, because women are banned from the boards. However, she goes out to audition anyway, dressed up as a boy, and is astounded when she gets the part... of [[WholesomeCrossdresser Romeo]]. Tension soon erupts between her and the suddenly single Will, and [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity, Angst, Secrecy, and a Little Sex Ensue.]] Much like a Shakespeare comedy, you might say.

The ShakespeareInFiction RomanticComedy that somehow won Best Picture of 1998 at the AcademyAwards, surprising all those who were backing ''SavingPrivateRyan''. Often cited nowadays as one of the greatest {{award snub}}s in the history of the Oscars.

* WritersBlockMontage: Played with. Our first shot of Will sees him busily and confidently scribbling away, and we cut to his paper to see that he's just [[HistoricalInJoke trying out different signatures over and over.]] However, he ''does'' crumple up a sheet of parchment and toss it away moodily - only for it to land next to a very {{Hamlet}}-esque skull. Also a HistoricalInJoke: Writers of the period (and for some time after) often kept a MementoMori, a reminder that they were only mortal.
** The first in-joke, by the way, is that there are six existent copies of Shakespeare's signature, which vary wildly in spelling and handwriting.

* WritersBlockMontage: Played with. Our first shot of Will sees him busily and confidently scribbling away, and we cut to his paper to see that he's just [[HistoricalInJoke trying out different signatures over and over.]] However, he ''does'' crumple up a sheet of parchment and toss it away moodily - only for it to land next to a very {{Hamlet}}-esque skull.
** That in-joke, by the way, is that there are six existent copies of Shakespeare's signature, which vary wildly in spelling and handwriting.

* DeusExMachina: Queen Elizabeth I. Of course, there wasn't as much of a stigma attached to the trope back in Shakespeare's day so it's ''almost'' justified.
** Many of Shakespeare's comedies/romances had a duke or prince showing up in the last act to pass judgment and ensure a happy ending for the heroes.

* BittersweetEnding:[[spoiler: While Shakespeare and Viola don't end up together, both seem very optimistic about their respective fates. The film ends with Shakespeare writing ''Theatre/TwelfthNight''.]]

* BittersweetEnding:[[spoiler: While Shakespeare and Viola didn't end together, both seem very optimistic about their respective fates. The film ends with Shakespeare writing ''Theatre/TwelfthNight''.]]

* BitterSweetEnding:[[spoiler: While Shakespeare and Viola didn't end together, both seem very optimistic about their respective fates. The film ends with Shakespeare writing ''Theatre/TwelfthNight''.]]

* DidNotDoTheResearch: Theater drama did not work the way the movie portrayed. There weren't auditions and casting calls and such. Plays were performed by theater troupes that always acted together, and in fact had to be registered with the government.
** With a few possible exceptions, Shakespeare didn't write original stories, but instead adapted his plays from older stories or historical sources. ''RomeoAndJuliet'' was not an original story, and it certainly wasn't reworked from a comedy.

* TheJimmyHartVersion

Meet WilliamShakespeare (Joseph Fiennes), aspiring playwright who can't find the inspiration to write another ScrewballComedy, and works for a theater that needs money, badly. In the bed of his mistress, Rosaline, he tries to find inspiration for a comedy titled ''[[RomeoAndJuliet Romeo and Ethel the Pirate's Daughter]]''. Meanwhile, Viola De Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow), a noblewoman engaged to marry an entrepreneur in the Americas, dreams of the stage but is frustrated, because women are banned from the boards. However, she goes out to audition anyway, dressed up as a boy, and is astounded when she gets the part... of [[WholesomeCrossdresser Romeo]]. Tension soon erupts between her and the suddenly single Will, and [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity, Angst, Secrecy, and a Little Sex Ensue.]] Much like a Shakespeare comedy, you might say.

** [[BatmanBegins Carmine Falcone]] tortures [[PiratesOfTheCaribbean Captain Barbossa]] in order to get him to pay his debts.