Miguel and William (2007)

Director:

Inés París

Writer:

Inés París (writer)

Release Date:

2 February 2007 (Spain)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Plot:

A romantic comedy inventing a friendship between Cervantes ( Juan Luis Galiardo) and Shakespeare (Will Kemp) who both fall in love with a beautiful Spanish woman (Elena Anaya). |

Plot Keywords:

William Shakespeare | Character Name In Title

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Elena Anaya	...	Leonor
Juan Luis Galiardo	...	Miguel de Cervantes
Will Kemp	...	William Shakespeare
Geraldine Chaplin	...	La dueña
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Malena Alterio	...	Magdalena
Roberto Cairo	...	Comediante
Jorge Calvo	...	Sancho
Juan Fernández	...	Inquisidor
Miriam Giovanelli	...	Consuelo
Óscar Hernández	...	Médico
Carolina Lapausa	...	Juana
Joaquin Molla
Javier Perdomo	...	Inquisidor
José María Pou	...	Duque de Obando
Adam Quintero
Marta Rubio	...	Woman in Market
José Luis Torrijo	...	Cura

Also Known As:

Miguel y William (Spain) (informal title)

Runtime:

Germany:102 min (European Film Market)

Country:

Spain

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Company:

Future Films

A decent Spanish comedy? Heavens forbid

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

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