ANONYMOUS

Written by John Orloff

Directed by Roland Emmerich 

Starring Rhys Ifans, David Thewlis and Vanessa Redgrave

Roland Emmerich is famous for directing disaster movies, like 2012 and INDEPENDENCE DAY. His latest, ANONYMOUS, is supposed to be a grand departure but it still felt an awful lot like a disaster to me. And what better way to distance yourself from a genre that practically ignores story completely, than to take on a story that attacks the character of one of the most famed storytellers of all time, William Shakespeare. Rhys Ifans stars as Edward De Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford and, according to Emmerich, the actual writer of Shakespeare’s plays. It’s an interesting theory but one that Emmerich executes with about as much finesse and subtlety as one would expect from the man who rewrote history in 10,000 B.C. If I were Emmerich, I would have left my name off of this one.

426. Anonymous

426. (04 Oct) Anonymous (2011, Roland Emmerich)* 35



Emmerich attempts to break into the prestige picture business, but is still up to old tricks. Anonymous is too briskly edited and overly structured to work as a compelling period piece. It's clear he thinks this is another Hollywood blockbuster, following his tired formula.

The core ideas about Shakespeare himself are convoluted and sometimes insulting reduce historical figures to caricature. King James is briefly shown in the finale as a fashion-obsessed, theater-loving queen. All this reduction eventually makes Anonymous into something that's pushy, joyless, and as far from the Bard as is imaginable.

Vanessa Redgrave's Elizabeth I is a particularly odd duck. Considering she witnessed Glenda Jackson acting the heck out of the role in Mary, Queen of Scots, it's not surprising Redgrave took another direction. Instead of the raging royal we're used to seeing portrayed, her Elizabeth I is neutered and senile. It's an odd choice, to be sure, and one that ultimately doesn't work. There's some interesting physicality in the performance, but it's perhaps the weakest she's ever given.

Her daughter Joely Richardson plays a younger Elizabeth I. All of these flashback scenes are all for naught, really. They're structured hideously and the young actors are weak imitations of their elders.

The costumes and sets are so-so, but it's almost astonishing how instantly forgettable this is. Attempts at romance and mawkish drama fail.