All Is True (2019)

I remember watching Branagh's Henry V in highschool and being transported. I was already nerdy enough to love Shakespeare's language but it was my first experience with it being performed so... right. I've seen a lot of great productions of Shakespeare's plays in the meantime but no one captures the language like Branagh. So it seems just and fitting that this little portrait of the man behind the pen is played and directed by him.

All Is True is about Shakespeare certainly but it is about so much more. He is a man, like Jesus, whom we debate the veracity of his life and work. All Is True is about not seeking the truth about who the man William Shakespeare was, but about what truth is. How do we understand what is true, what truth means? Is there something more true than facts? Do we truly want to know?

All Is True is about a successful man at the end of his life and he faces the regrets and the graces he has as a man with a life well lived. Branagh plays his bard thoughtfully and quietly. He doesn't make him into a "character" but plays him as a man with all the flaws and admirable traits that all men have. He is bisexual. He is protective. He is indulgent. He is grateful. He is in mourning. He is celebrating. He is all of the complicated pieces of work of man.

Opposite him Judy Dench is, as always, a revelation playing his older wife in all her power and glory. And Ian McKellen, also true to form, has a scene stealing cameo which is a delight. All of it is tinged with a lovely melancholy and bittersweet love. Branagh is a fan for many reasons and he brings that passion to this work.

After being essentially a director for hire for the past few years, this Branagh feels back in his element. He is an operatic filmmaker who understands how to find beauty in each shot and All Is True is gorgeously filmed. His tale is a rather quiet, anti-climactic story yet he finds a way to fill each moment with energy and passion. All Is True is seriously beautiful.

Once again I am a fan and fascinated with what he has put on the screen.

All Is True
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Judy Dench, Lydia Wilson, Kathryn Wilder, Ian McKellen
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Writer: Ben Elton