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Kenneth Branagh was just 23 when he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company—and, in the years since then, he’s played a number of Shakespearian roles, both on stage and on screen. So it seems perfectly natural that he would also direct and star as the playwright himself in the Shakespearian biopic All Is True.
All Is True follows Branagh’s Shakepeare back home to Stratford-upon-Avon after his production of Henry VIII (then known as All Is True) ended in the destruction of the Globe theatre. After spending years in London, he isn’t exactly welcomed back with open arms. The townspeople are disdainful and rude, his Puritan son-in-law (Hadley Fraser) celebrates his loss, his younger daughter, Judith (Kathryn Wilder), is bitter and angry, and his wife, Anne (Judi Dench), sends him to stay in the guest room. And as Shakespeare works in the yard, creating a garden in honor of the son he lost, he learns more about the family he left behind.
Of course, historians don’t know much about Shakespeare’s life, but this biopic fills in some of the blanks, speculating about the legendary playwright’s last years: how he was received by his family and his neighbors, how he spent his retirement, and what he saw as he reflected back on his own life.
Branagh has spent decades studying, performing, and directing Shakespeare’s plays—so there’s really no one else who could take this mysterious literary figure and turn him into so much more than just a sketch in a literature textbook. He gives a strong performance while exploring Shakespeare’s passions, his regrets, and his greatest fears.
Really, though, the most fascinating characters are those around Shakespeare. The film takes a look at the children who lived with the expectations and demands of their famous but mostly absent father. And it examines the solitary life of his long-suffering wife, who raised his children while quietly coping with the rumors and the scandals and the all-too-obvious unfaithfulness. Judi Dench plays the role as only she can: with obvious disapproval, subtle strength, and the slightest hint of vulnerability.
All Is True isn’t a fast-moving film, but it’s beautifully filmed and thoughtfully written, humanizing the famous playwright and showing him from a completely different point of view: through the eyes of his wife and children. And that alone makes it worth watching.
If you spent hours as a student poring over Shakespeare’s plays and trying to understand what he was trying to say, you’ll enjoy this look at the man behind those late-night study sessions. It’s sure to give you a new perspective on the man and his work.
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