Miguel and William (2007) User Reviews

Spanish-British co-production where Cervantes and Shakespeare fall in love with the same women

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 3 December 2008]

This romantic comedy is set in Britain and mostly Spain during the late 16th century. The picture tracks young Shakespeare's overwrought battle with an old Miguel De Cervantes when they both fall in love with a beautiful girl. Leonor(Elena Anaya) is a gorgeous girl living in England along with her girlfriend William Shakespeare(Will Kemp). She returns Spain with her servant(Geraldine Chaplin) when her father obligate her marry to ugly, cold-hearted Duke(Jose Maria Pou).The nasty Duke has daughters, a scheming(Malena Alterio) and an innocent nun(Giovanelli).At the castle she finds Miguel De Cervantes(Juan Luis Galiardo,also producer), the Lepanto's one-armed, and Leonor wins the playwright's heart. Soon Miguel and Will are caught in a forbidden love which provides rich inspiration for their playwright that they'll represent in presence of the villain Duke. Meanwhile Miguel De Cervantes is pursued by a cruel inquisitor(Juan Fernadez).

This is a jokey comedy , though, soon takes a backseat to ravishing romance when beauty Leonor falling in love with both, the Cervantes's heart and Will's sensibility. It's filled of funny romance with tongue placed firmly in cheek, good feeling, snappy one-lines and some moments fiercely clever and absolutely irresistible; however contains a little flaws and gaps, too. Nice performances by all casting. Wonderful Elena Anaya as Leonor, playing in English and Spanish language. Will is a dashing poetic philander well performed in English language by Will Kemp, his acting is worthy of Shakespeare in more ways than one and similar performance to Joseph Fiennes' Shakespeare in love. Good Juan Luis Galiardo as a lovestruck, mature, heartful Miguel De Cervantes. The colorful and evocative cinematography by Nestor Calvo is breathtakingly beautifully . Imaginative, sensible musical score by Stephen Warbeck, he won 1999 Oscar for best original music score to Shakespeare in love, and he's author : ¨Quills, Captain Corelli's Mandoline, Billy Elliot¨scores. In fact , the highlight movie is the final dance when the protagonists are dancing in spectacular background musical. The director Ines Paris hasn't forgotten to entertain the public in addition to riding an imaginary relationship between Cervantes and Shakespeare, however obtained indifferent reception by the audience.

Shakespeare in love

[jotix100 · 6/10 · 12 July 2013]

William Shakespeare's world is shattered when he meets Leonor, a Spanish lady from Castille. He decides to follow the beautiful woman to Spain. Unknown to William, Leonor, is the intended woman for the widower Duke of Obanto, a powerful man. The shock for Leonor in finding that William has followed her, could not come at the worst time, she is going to marry the Duke.

The arrival of Miguel De Cervantes to the Obanto's castle, creates a tension in the household as he immediately falls under Leonor's spell. Leonor, torn between the attentions of the two suitors is in a quandary, will she marry the Duke, or should she follow her heart?

An intriguing idea by Ines Paris which brings together two giants of literature together in this fictionalized tale of romance and love. Ms. Paris gives the comedy whimsical turns as Shakespeare gets inspired to write tragedies starting to write Othelo and there are nods to Don Quixote, as Cervantes rides with Sancho, the servant, to the windmills. The director, working on a text of Sixto Calero, adapted the material with Miguel Angel Gomez and Eva Cruz. The tone is picaresque, something that adds to the enjoyment of the comedy.

Beautiful Elena Anaya appears as Leonor. The wonderful Will Kemp is seen as Shakespeare, and Jose Luis Galiardo plays Cervantes. Among the supporting players are veteran Geraldine Chaplin, Jose Maria Pou, Malena Alterio, and Jorge Calvo who has a lot of funny moments as Sancho.

Nestor Calvo, the cinematographer gets the most of the castles where the film was shot, as well as the beautiful Castillian countryside. The musical score by Stephen Warbeck plays well in the background.

A decent Spanish comedy? Heavens forbid

[shadebug · 8/10 · 15 February 2007]

Reviews of this film were sparse to say the least, so I went in not knowing what to think. I had been intrigued by the trailer seeming to show an unprecedented interplay of English and Spanish culture and I can't say it disappointed. The English is well written and suitably complex, albeit not quite period. Considering that this is a Spanish film it was a delight to see it at all. The difficulties of the language barrier were handled deftly and I was left with a smile on my face. If you're bilingual, it may be well worth a rental.

Plot: There is a period of William Shakespeare's life which history leaves to the imagination, this is the story of young Shakespeare's adventures as he chases his lover to the castle of the frankly unpleasant Castillian duke to whom she is betrothed. There he poses as her servant and writes a nuptial play for her while she also gets one Miguel de Cervantes, currently moonlighting as a tax collector, to do the same job. How will these two literary greats react to each other? What will the Inquisition do to Cervantes? Will our heroine really marry the duke? Will Shakespeare manage to bed every woman worth bedding in the entire castle? Will he stop at the women?

Conclusion: Decent production values and only so many plot holes as can be expected from such a ridiculous plot. A knowledge of Shakespeare and Cervantes will let you indulge in certain in jokes but overall an easy going comedy which shows there may be hope for Spanish cinema in the mainstream after all. 8/10