All is True tries very hard to be something interesting and fresh

Sony Pictures Classics

Some people adore Shakespeare to a level that might be considered unhealthy. Some of these people may go on to make movies that aren’t great adaptations, others might ascribe to foolish conspiracy theories and make terrible movies about how Shakespeare was a drunken oaf and the real author of the plays was someone with more dash or perhaps a different set of genitalia. But let’s ignore that aspect.

Enter Kenneth Branagh, our Professor Lockhart come to life. He is responsible for six movies based on Shakespeare’s plays, and was involved even more in theatre productions. It is well known he has a yen for the Bard. All is True is his latest directorial movie, naturally starring him which is typical for his movies (even the silly Jack Ryan he did). The name comes from the alternate title Shakespeare had for Henry VIII.

Here Branagh plays Will Shakespeare himself, in the last years and months of his life, shortly after the destruction by fire of his beloved Globe Theatre in 1613. It is known already that Shakespeare died only three years later. In the movie, we follow Shakespeare, unable to write any longer, as he heads back to his wife and family, who he has oft neglected for the sake of his work. Judi Dench plays his wife Anne Hathaway (no relation), nearly thirty years older than Branagh, who has decent middle age makeup. But he mainly looks in his fifties or sixties, which was about when Shakespeare died.

So it’s a bit odd, because Judi Dench, despite being a wonderful actor, feels too old to play Anne when she should’ve been a few years younger. Still, it cannot be denied her gravitas and subtle skill here, despite the fairly pedestrian material. The movie shines in a few moments of monologue and wit, and a few emotional outbursts. But mostly the movie is slow burn and inelegant, which is hardly what you want for this sort of ‘based on a true story’ movie.

Will also gets into arguments with his widowed daughter Susanna (Lydia Wilson), his eldest and who hides a dark secret. Susanna feels slighted because she has no children and is an old maid, unmarried at age 28 (a rational concern for the era). Younger sister Judith (Kathryn Wilder) has her own issues despite her marriage, as her husband is passionless and uninterested in her. The real life libel case about her comes up and then goes away, a bit of drama to spice up up the movie.

The movie spins back to life once more when Sir Ian McKellen as the Earl of Southampton arrives. It is known that some of Shakespeare’s sonnets were dedicated to the Earl, although the exact nature of their relationship is up to some scholarly debate. This movie decides on how it is though, and that may distress some viewers. For me though, I don’t really care about his romantic life, not being a crazed Shakespeare fan myself.

Eventually the movie comes to a breaking point, as Shakespeare tries to deal with the grief of losing his son Hamnet many years earlier. At this point the acting is stellar and the writing decent, but often clichéd and out of place. There is literally a moment when Susanna yells that her father thinks that the ‘wrong child died’, which is basically a near direct quote from the satire Dewey Cox. Maybe somebody should’ve caught that, because it jarred.

Overall, I appreciate what Branagh, a Shakespeare stan if ever there was one, is trying to do here, getting inside the head and the tragedy of the Bard. There are even quite a few lovely scenes shot well, but it’s the writing that isn’t up to par, which sad to say, is a serious problem for a Shakespeare movie. It’s fine, but I expected better from the Bard’s Best Friend.

All is True has a run time of 1 hour 41 minute and is rated PG-13 for thematic elements, suggestive material and language.