There have been a few decent British biopics of late (I wrote this in 2019). Well-crafted, character-driven and largely sympathetic toward the subject – The Chaperone (2018) and Red Joan (2018) come to mind.

I was expecting the same from All is True as it’s about the final years of Shakespeare’s life and stars Judy Dench and director/producer Kenneth Branagh. I was expecting a solid, genteel hagiography.

The wide angle opening shot was the first sign that this was going to be a bit different. Not mannered like The Favourite (2018) but the contemporary gaze was immediately noticeable, nonetheless. We meet William (Branagh) at his village home where he has returned, after quitting writing after the burning of the Globe Theatre. He is somewhat of a stranger to his family, wife Anne (Dench), married, daughter, Susannah (Lydia Wilson), and angry daughter, Judith (Kathryn Wilder). The heart of the film is William’s sudden grief, after what must be 10 years, of the death of his son, Hamnet (Sam Ellis) at age 11.

What we are experiencing is a man at the end of his life. He has had mostly what he wished for – a wonderfully intense scene with the Earl of Southampton (Ian McKellen) shows, perhaps, what he was denied – but as with all of us, it is not the accolades that ultimately comfort us in our mortality.

Woven through is a thread about the lower status of women in 16th and 17th century England, their lack of education and independence in marriage. For awhile, it seems to be a story of women – Suzannah’s oppression by her Puritan husband (Hadley Fraser), Anne’s long-suffering neglect as William pursues fame and love elsewhere and beautifully mouthy Judith, who just wants her father to love her. That it fails the Bechtel test in all meaningful ways is a clue though to its real purpose.

The production values are gorgeous – rooms that seem truly lit by candlelight, sunlight through grasses, mullioned windows and black Puritan clothes create a rich monochromatic tableau. Shakespeare is so well known to us that portrayals sometimes seem like caricatures. Branagh does a good job of bringing out the ordinary man behind the high forehead and winged collar. He is the person you imagine from his writings – funny, romantic, self oriented. Dench is quietly convincing as Anne, although the age difference is a little noticeable – she is 26 years older than Branagh.

The daughters nearly steal the show and I wanted more of them. Other than some quotes from his plays and sonnets that pull you into the language and cadence of his writing, the dialogue feels light and contemporary and I was not surprised to see Ben Elton listed as writer.

What I appreciated most was the small but persistent subtext about patriarchy. It doesn’t rattle the windows or feel anachronistic, it is a thread that feels connected through the centuries to where we are today.

And it reminded me too of how beautiful Shakespeare’s writings are. There’s a beautiful scene near the end where he recites a from A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Dench ad libs when Branagh makes a mistake. Gorgeous.