Anonymous (2011)

Anonymous is an upcoming drama film directed by Roland Emmerich. It stars Rhys Ifans and Vanessa Redgrave. It will be released theatrically on 28 October 2011. It is produced by Centropolis Entertainment and Studio Babelsberg and distributed by Columbia Pictures. It is a cinematic representation of a theory long dismissed by historical scholars as a wild fringe fantasy unsupported by any evidence, according to which Shakespeare's works were written by an Elizabethan aristocrat, who was Queen Elizabeth's son and lover.

The film depicts Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (Rhys Ifans) from his childhood through to old age. The main action takes place towards the end of the Elizabethan era, where political intrigue flourishes between the Tudors and the Cecils for the succession of Queen Elizabeth I (Vanessa Redgrave), as the Essex Rebellion moves against her. De Vere is portrayed in flashbacks as in fact the illegitimate son of Queen Elizabeth, whose incestuous lover he becomes as a young man, and by whom he fathers his own brother and son, Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton. He also turns out to be the true author of the works of William Shakespeare (Rafe Spall). A prodigious genius, de Vere at 8 or 9 years of age (1559) is shown as writing A Midsummer Night's Dream, and then acting the role of Puck before the young queen Elizabeth. He is then forced to live in the austere and gelid house of Robert Cecil where, years later, he kills one of Cecil's servants while the latter lurked behind an arras, much like Hamlet. He must struggle against both a taboo that would forbid him to write, and against the Queen's evil counselors,especially Robert Cecil who, convinced that theatres are sinful, and poetry and plays the works of the devil, stoops to blackmail to stop his son-in-law's writings from being published. Almost four decades after his private première, he visits a public theatre and is deeply impressed by the way spectators can be swayed. Much taken by the propagandistic effects of his work, de Vere considers that "all art is political ... otherwise it is just decoration." In 1598, wishing to favour Essex over the Cecils, he begins to employ his old and new plays to promote the cause of the former, and contacts Ben Jonson (Sebastian Armesto), who has recently been confined, to have his play Henry V to staged under Jonson's name. Jonson is tortured by Cecil to find out if de Vere is the author of the plays Jonson declines the offer but becomes de Vere's only confidente in the truth. When Jonson declines de Vere's offer, an unscrupulous young actor, William Shakespeare, portrayed, according to critics as an 'illiterate drunkard, notorious fool, and bit-player' or 'a nearly illiterate buffoon, . . opportunistic and ruthlessly ambitious', agrees to take on a role as de Vere's front man. Shakespeare extorts £400 annually from de Vere for this service, and when Christopher Marlowe stumbles on the truth that Will's inexplicable talents masquerade the genius of a hidden hand, Shakespeare kills him.