Stage Beauty (2004)

Touches You

A Masterpiece!

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Ned Kynaston is the most beautiful "woman" of the London stage. This is the kind of role that I've always admired Billy Crudup for. He plays an actor in a time period (1600s) when only men were allowed to act on stage, even if the character portrayed is female. Kynaston is an actor so dedicated to his work that he has taught himself the graces of mime and can alter his masculine voice to sound like the most elegant and refined woman in the world. In his private life, he has a lover in the Duke of Buckingham (Ben Chaplin) who insists Kynaston don his wig when they "make a beast with 2 backs" in bed on the stage. On the sly, Kynaston's dressing assistant, Maria (Claire Danes) has been watching Kynaston's acting career and wishing she herself could not only be legally allowed to perform, but could do it with the same natural grace as Kynaston. She practices his mime, steals his beautiful frocks and wigs, and begins performing the very same role of Desdemona from Othello in a small nightspot in town. Things begin to go awry when it is discovered that Maria is acting illegally, but the King (Rupert Everett) is so moved by Maria's acting that he decides to reverse the ban on females acting on the stage. Kynaston, both jealous and angry that she has been stealing his thunder, screams in rage at Maria in front of the King's mistress, and suddenly is a disgraced man out of work. He gets beaten up by what I believe are 17th century bigots (I might be mistaken though.) After he recovers from his injuries, he tries to audition for a "male" role, but is unable to shake the habit of moving and speaking in feminine mannerisms. He flees in tears, and ends up being looked after in a boarding house by Maria. I really loved the "almost" love scene and the discussion that lead up to it. That's all I'll say for now. The movie never stops being entertaining, nor interesting to look upon, with its lavish costumes and production design. There is a scary moment towards the end that almost made me throw my laptop on the floor because I'd thought the movie was ruined, but luckily, I loved the film from beginning to end. Bravo!

A story of Shakespearean actors that takes place during the Restoration, after the Bard's death, when men who played women's roles on stage were being replaced by genuine women. The young actor being displaced in this instance is Billy Crudup, whose specialty is Desdemona, she being the wife that Othello strangles out of mistaken jealousy. The female dresser who more or less forces her way onto the stage, with the blessings of King Charles, is Claire Danes.Crudup is upset. He's spent his life struggling to master operatic feminine gestures and imitating female voices. He's gotten so confused about his own gender that he plays the female when in bed with another man. (Gasp.) Danes' character is no actress and at first merely mimics Crudup's theatrical gestures when she plays the role of Desdemona. But guess what.She teaches him how to be a man, and he teaches her how to act naturally, or at least naturalistically. When hey finally do "Othello" together, he doesn't lower her sweetly to the bed with his hands gently on her neck. He bangs her around and she shrieks as their antics destroy some furniture. Marlon and Montgomery were no more shocking to post-war audiences sixty years ago. Together Crudup and Danes transform the art of acting.I'd expected a kind of replay of "Shakespeare in Love" but this is better because it doesn't meander so much. It hangs together. It has more élan, more vulgarity (some of it pointless). There is a straightforward narrative with a beginning, a convincing conflict-ridden transition, and a satisfying end. Also it has a tantalizing glimpse of Claire Danes' left breast, in case of any doubt about her genotype. That may mean nothing to most viewers but in the interest of full disclosure I have to admit that I'm deeply in love with Claire Danes. She's not Hollywood gorgeous or sexy. Her features are a bit bulky and her blue eyes are always open, as if she'd just been pinched. But she's my kind of woman -- and rich too. Not that her portfolio is of any consequence as long as it's well endowed. I can't understand why my many proposals of marriage have gone unanswered. Probably intercepted by low-life flunkies. It's a shame too, because I'm supernally handsome myself, for a man over eighty. My five marriages simply go to prove how attractive I am. And though I'm not exactly lettered, I'm very gay and witty, especially when drunk.Anyway, it's an interesting flick and informative as well. Tim Hatley, the coutumier, deserves a medal. You have never seen such outrageous get ups. Richard Griffiths, as Sir Charles Sedley, is a wonder -- a rotund figure buried under a mound of gilt, all shaped like a football, except for two skinny calves propping him up like stilts and a wild and voluminous mop of a long wig of curly hair from which his plump, painted face peeps. That reminds me: Samuel Pepys shows up briefly. Pepys was a man of sublime good taste. He and I both frequented the same pub, The Prospect of Whitby, though not at the same time. The photography is lush and soft. The screen turns into a colorful pageant.Some nice, bitchy exchanges too. Nicely done.

I watched this movie recently because I like historical dramas, especially those with an English setting. What a surprise to find it so first-rate in every aspect. Why did this film disappear? Why wasn't it nominated for more awards? The plot is fascinating and based on fact (the transition in English theatrical history from men playing women to women playing women); the art direction and costumes wonderful; the cinematography outstanding; and, best of all, the acting superb. The screenplay is also outstanding and takes the film to a deeper level of the examination of identity, gender roles, and relationships between men/women and men/men. Do we act as we are? Are we as we act? Fascinating.Billy Crudup and Claire Danes are a great team, and the scenes between the two of them are compelling and totally engrossing. Richard Griffiths, Tom Wilkinson (what a fine actor he is), Ben Chaplin are all superb, and Rupert Everett cuts quite the over-the-top figure as King Charles. The King Charles spaniels aren't bad, either.Don't miss this superb film.

I felt in love with this movie. I've even watched it twice in a day. Claire Danes was already one of my favorite actresses, and I thought Billy Crudup was a really good actor, but after watching Stage Beauty I just love him! His acting as someone fighting to discover his identity as a person and an actor and to keep his job is astonishing. The chemistry between him and Danes jumps out of the screen and I wasn't surprised (even though a little jealous of Danes) when I knew, here, that they become a real couple while making this movie. The story is dynamics, interesting, entertaining, engaging and surprising. A remarkable movie, really well done. And it's not, believe me, a clone of Shakespeare in Love. It's so much better than that movie and Dane's and Crudup's acting are really superior than Paltrow's and Fiennes's. I recommend it with enthusiasm.