MovieChat Forums > Shakespeare in Love (1999) Discussion > I hate to say this, but....

I hate to say this, but....

posted 5 years ago by AmeriGirl26 (12280)
5 replies | jump to latest

Much as I liked Gwyneth Paltrow's characters in other films, she doesn't seem well-cast for this one. She looks about as Elizabethan as a Southern California Surfer girl. The clothes (much of it inaccurate for the time period) made her look even more ridiculous. She often looked like a giraffe in Elizabethan costume. Sorry, but that's how I view her in this film. Most Elizabethan women, no matter the class, were short, due to bad nutrition. Very few could reach the heights of Queen Elizabeth or the Scandinavians from that era.

The only thing accurate about her looks was that she was not super-Barbie-Doll pretty, was a blond, and fair-skinned. Blond and red hair was highly prized in England during that time period. Frankly, she would have looked better playing a Scottish or Danish noblewoman instead of an English one.

[–] liscarkat (16515) 5 years ago

Many badly nourished people are tall, and many properly nourished people are short. A woman of the class portrayed by Paltrow would have been well nourished, and might have been tall or short or in between. It doesn't matter anyway, the movie isn't a documentary about nutrition in Elizabethan times.

[–] AmeriGirl26 (12280) 5 years ago

Have you seen how short some people are when badly nourished from childhood? I remember seeing a 16-year-old Indian child who only grew to be 5'2" when he should have been at least 6 ft. Try doing some research for a change.

And have you actually read what Elizabethan nobles ate every day? They mostly ate meat, bread, very few vegetables, a tiny bit of fruit, very little actual milk, cheese, and lots of sweets, not a very nutritious diet if you ask me.

[–] Otter (24464) 5 years ago

Oh for heaven's sake, that may not be a modern person's idea of a healthy diet, but it's hardly stunt-your-growth starvation. Yes, a woman of Gwynneth's class would be adequately nourished, it's the peasants on her family's land who would have their growth stunted by inadequate nutrition.

And possibly the servants in her house, although they'd get the leftovers from the family table.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 5 years ago

Welcome to MovieChat, AG, where heartfelt prejudice, cherished beliefs and raw hoping transcend scholarship and hard work. I hated the whole idea of this movie; it was the kind of film that moves Hollywood to an onanistic reverie. “Hey! It’s about Bill Shakespeare. CLASS! And he’s in love—with our little Gwinnie.” The bad news is that there’s no evidence AT ALL that The Bard ever had a love affair or what his sexual preference was. He DID write his sonnets for a woman. We’re not sure which woman; nor are we sure in what spirit of love they were composed. There were two kinds of love in those days: the relatively-new idea of Romantic love, where two prople fell in love and sex with each other; and the much older tradition of Courtly (and physically-unrequited) love, which often consisted of one lover and one love object, perhaps who served as a Muse to a poet. Yeah, I know, none of that inconvenient stuff was in the movie. The movie had as much to do with Will Shakespeare as it did with a team of 20 mules.

[–] AmeriGirl26 (12280) 5 years ago

I know what you mean. Far too often you see idiots from our time watching historical films through the 21st century lens, and actually assuming things hadn't changed at all in so many centuries. Things have, particularly how humans interact with and relate to each other. You should have heard the nonsense some idiot was telling me about Cal and Rose's relationship in "Titanic" on another thread. They had absolutely NO CLUE how upper-class people interacted in the Edwardian Era, and refused to listen to me when I tried to explain. The ignorant Philistine way is alive and well in the 21st century. *rolls eyes*

I never liked the concept of Courtly Love because it caused far too much temptation of cheating on one's spouse. I mean, one of the rules was for an unwed knight to show affection for a married woman. Need I say more?