David Farnor | On 15, Jun 2020

Director: Kenneth Branagh
Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen
Certificate: 12
Watch All Is True online in the UK: Netflix UK / Apple TV (iTunes) / Prime Video (Buy/Rent) / TalkTalk TV / Rakuten TV / Google Play / Sky Store / CHILI

Kenneth Branagh is one of your go-to guys for Shakespeare. If you want Henry V or Hamlet, he’s your man. Need an Iago? Look no further. Here, he takes on the Bard himself, with a portrait of the playwright as an old man, with results both foul and fair.

Written by Ben Elton, who’s been delving into old Bill’s back catalogue for his sitcom Upstart Crow, this is a decidedly more serious affair, taking us to the year 1613, after the Globe Theatre was destroyed by a fire due to a rogue cannon in Henry VIII (the alternate title for that play gives this film its name). And so William Shakespeare departs London, returning to his home of Stratford-upon-Avod for the rest of his days. But he finds there a family who have grown apart from him, after his years of theatre life down in the UK capital.

Judi Dench joins Branagh as Anne Hathaway, who has raised their daughters, the married Susanna (Lydia Wilson) and unmarried Judith (Kathryn Wilder), through the grief of losing her brother, Hamnet – a death that Shakespeare didn’t attend the funeral for. William’s penance is to build a garden in Hamnet’s memory.

There’s some real nuance to the family dynamics and exploration of regret and grief, and the cast dig into the subtleties of the material, while Dench sinks her teeth into the part of the undervalued wife, despite being several years older than Anne. But despite the delicate tone and quiet understatement of the performances, the film is let down by prosthetics that distract from what’s going on – led by Branagh’s false nose and wig, the make-up repeatedly reminds you that you’re watching something artificial, no matter how gently weary Branagh’s central turn is.

Elton peppers his thoughtful, melancholic script with some anachronistic outbursts, let alone some fictional invention to go with the scant historical details. There’s undoubted respect and affection at the heart of the production, though, and that spirit goes a long way to exorcising the more dubious ghosts lingering in the wings.

All Is True is available on Netflix UK, as part of an £9.99 monthly subscription.

 

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