For we English teachers the premise was no surprise. Shakespeare didn’t write Shakespeare. For us, Anonymous doesn’t break new ground by offering the Earl of Oxford as true author of the Collected Works. He’s been on the list of wannabes for a long time..
However while others nit pick about the historical liberties perpetrated in Roland Emmerich’s work, let’s take a moment to consider it from a film-goer’s perspective.
With the Cecils as villains, Jonson as Oxford’s hard-pressed go-between, Shakespeare as a buffoon and Elizabeth as Posh Totty A & B, it offered potential for violence, slapstick, sex, clever CGI tricks and witty dialogue delivered by some bona fide establishment actors in superb period costume.
Structured as a film of a play within a film, it takes the audience through multiple flashbacks to tell the tale of how Edward de Vere outed his oeuvre without outing himself. After a rocky start, I got to grips with the plot but remained confused.
What sort of film was this? Was it ‘tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral…’? My emotions were never engaged. I never felt any tension or sense of urgency. I laughed once or twice; I forget where. I was irritated by the repeated shots of the same South Bank street and by the obvious CGI shots which jarred against the documentary ‘reality’ suggested by the close-ups of interiors and characters. And don’t get me started on the Earl’s inky fingers…
A travesty of the facts? A witty post-modern study in authorship? Whatever Anonymous is masquerading as, it’s a mediocre movie.