Film Review: "All Is True" (2018).

"In 1613 William Shakespeare Retired. He Still Had One Last Story To Tell - His Own." 

This is All Is True. This British fictional historical drama film directed by Kenneth Branagh, and written by Ben Elton. The year is 1613, and Shakespeare is acknowledged as the greatest writer of the age. But disaster strikes when his renowned Globe Theatre burns to the ground. Devastated, Shakespeare returns to Stratford, where he must face a troubled past and a neglected family. Haunted by the death of his only son, Hamnet, he struggles to mend the broken relationship with his wife and daughters. In so doing, he is ruthlessly forced to examine his own failings as a husband and father.

We all know Shakespeare, English poet, playwright, and actor. Widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's greatest dramatist. He authored thirty-nine plays, one hundred and fifty four sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several epic poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. Around 1613, at age fourty-nine, he appeared to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comediesand histories and are regarded as some of the best work produced in these genres. Until about 1608, he wrote mainly tragedies, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy in his lifetime. However, in 1623, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, John Heminges and Henry Condell, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that included all but two of his plays. The volume was prefaced with a poem by Ben Jonson, in which Jonson presciently hails Shakespeare in a now-famous quote as "not of an age, but for all time". Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, Shakespeare's works have been continually adapted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays remain popular and are studied, performed, and reinterpreted through various cultural and political contexts around the world.

The film stars Branagh, Dench and McKellen. Terrific performances were given thanks to the film's talented and charming cast.

Endlessly witty, visually rapturous, and sweetly romantic, All Is True is a delightful romantic comedy that succeeds on nearly every level.

Simon says All Is True receives:

Also, see my review for Murder on the Orient Express.