A Waste of Shame: The Mystery of Shakespeare and His Sonnets (2005)

Director
John McKay

Main cast
Rupert Graves; Tom Sturridge; Indira Varma; Zoë Wanamaker; Anna Chancellor

Genres
Drama

Description
In 1609, William Shakespeare published a collection of 154 sonnets, creating what is arguably the greatest lyric sequence in English literature - and at the center of this masterpiece lies a mystery that has endured for centuries. What are the identities of “the young man” and “the dark lady” to whom all but two of the sonnets allude? This moving performance brings to life the gritty reality of Shakespeare’s England, bits of the Bard’s plays and poems, and the consummate poet and dramatist himself as it exposes these personages unseen but so keenly felt in Shakespeare’s sonnets and in his life. Rupert Graves, Tom Sturridge, Indira Varma, Anna Chancellor, and Zoë Wanamaker star. Contains mature themes and explicit language. Some content may be objectionable. Produced by the Open University.


Similar movies

A curse transforms a handsome and arrogant young man into everything he detests in this contemporary retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Wealthy Kyle Kingson has everything a teenager could want in life, but he still gets off on humiliating the weaker and less attractive. When Kyle invites his misfit classmate Kendra to an environmental rally at their school, she questions his motivations but reluctantly accepts. Later, Kyle blows Kendra off, prompting the spurned goth girl to cast a dark spell on the swaggering egotist.
Two narrators, one seen and one unseen, discuss possible connections between a series of paintings. The on-screen narrator walks through three-dimensional reproductions of each painting, featuring real people, sometimes moving, in an effort to explain the series' significance.
Alan Turing is the genius British mathematician who was instrumental in breaking the German naval Enigma Code during World War II, arguably saving millions of lives. Turing's achievements went unrecognised during his lifetime. Instead he ended up being treated as a common criminal, for being homosexual at a time when homosexual acts were a crime. In 1952, he was convicted of 'gross indecency' with another man and was forced to undergo so-called 'organo-therapy' - chemical castration. Two years later, he killed himself with cyanide, aged just 41. Alan Turing was driven to a terrible despair and early death by the nation he'd done so much to save.
In 1818, high-spirited young Fanny Brawne finds herself increasingly intrigued by the handsome but aloof poet John Keats, who lives next door to her family friends the Dilkes. After reading a book of his poetry, she finds herself even more drawn to the taciturn Keats. Although he agrees to teach her about poetry, Keats cannot act on his reciprocated feelings for Fanny, since as a struggling poet he has no money to support a wife.
During the course of an ordinary week in Hollywood, movie producer Ben (Robert De Niro) must navigate his way through shark-infested waters as he struggles to complete his latest projects. A demanding studio boss (Catherine Keener) demands extensive changes to a movie starring Sean Penn, while another chief won't greenlight a project unless star Bruce Willis shaves his beard. Meanwhile, Ben tries to reconcile with his wife and maintain a relationship with his young daughter.
At an elite, old-fashioned boarding school in New England, a passionate English teacher inspires his students to rebel against convention and seize the potential of every day, courting the disdain of the stern headmaster.
Embarrassed by his large nose, a romantic poet/soldier romances his cousin by proxy.
Problems arise for Antonio Magnano (Marcello Mastroianni) when he is unable to consummate his marriage to the beautiful Barbara Puglisi (Claudia Cardinale) and his virility is called into question. Despite the fact that he loves his beautiful wife and they have otherwise been happily married for a year, his problem becomes a source of contention for all concerned.
Biopic of the famed British Prime Minister focusing on his concern about Russia's growing interest in the Indian subcontinent and his attempts to buy the Suez Canal. He sees the Canal as the key strategic resource in maintaining the Empire in the East but is unpopular in many quarters. With antisemitism rife at the time, Disraeli finds little support for his plan to purchase the canal or his foreign policy in general. There is no doubt that the Russians are plotting against British interests and he is surrounded by spies, even in his office at 10 Downing St. When the Bank of England refuses to finance the purchase of the available shares he turns to private sources to raise the available cash only to find the conspirators one step ahead of him.
King Henry II of England has trouble with the Church. When the Archbishop of Canterbury dies, he has a brilliant idea. Rather than appoint another pious cleric loyal to Rome and the Church, he will appoint his old drinking and wenching buddy, Thomas Becket, technically a deacon of the church, to the post. Unfortunately, Becket takes the job seriously and provides abler opposition to Henry.
Gritty adaption of William Shakespeare's play about the English King's bloody conquest of France.
The story of a relationship between a teacher and his troubled pupil. Justin McLeod is a former teacher who lives as a recluse on the edge of town. His face is disfigured from an automobile accident and fire ten years before in which a boy was incinerated and for which he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. He is also suspected of being a pedophile. He is befriended by Chuck, causing the town's suspicion and hostility to be ignited. McLeod inculcates in his protege a love of justice and freedom from prejudice which sustains him beyond the end of the film.
Two brothers spend the day driving around Los Angeles county looking for the meaning of their lives, or cheap street drugs, depending on who you happen to believe.
A renowned professor is forced to reassess her life when she is diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer.
A chronicle of the life of Lope de Vega, the Spanish playwright who dominated Spain's early Golden Age of theater.
Charlton Heston stars as Renaissance artist Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), who begrudgingly paints the Sistine Chapel for imperious Pope Julius II in this epic adaptation of Irvine Stone's novel directed by Carol Reed. While the novel covers Michelangelo's life from birth to death, the film focuses on the battle of wills between the perfectionist artist and the impatient Pope who commissions (and eventually commands) him to paint the famed chapel.
Quasimodo, the hunchback bellringer of Notre Dame's cathedral meets a beautiful gypsy dancer, Esmeralda, and falls in love with her. So does Quasimodo's guardian, the archdeacon of the cathedral, and a poor street poet. But Esmeralda's in love with a handsome soldier. But when a mob mistakes her for a witch, it's up to Quasimodo to rescue her and claim sanctuary for her in the cathedral.
An up-and-coming poker player tries to prove himself in a high-stakes match against a long-time master of the game.
A common man fights corruption and injustice.
Also known as Moritorium and Georgia's Friends, Four Friends follows the titular quartet from high school to young adulthood. The film is set during the tumultuous 1960s, an era when everyone's values were turned inside out, shaken around, and reassembled. The central character is first-generation American Craig Wasson, who confounds his Yugoslavian father (Miklos Simon) by pursuing his own let-it-all-hang-out lifestyle. Wasson's best friends are athlete Jim Metzler and chubby Michael Huddleston; all pursue the affections of bewitching Jodi Thelan. Though they are obviously deeply in love with one another, Wasson and Thelan continue to foolishly avoid a long-term commitment as the sixties unfold around them. Four Friends calls for a fresher approach than the one offered by director Arthur Penn, whose handling of the material is much too pat and old-fashioned.
A murder in 1944 draws together the great poets of the beat generation: Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs.
A man (Lukas Haas) encounters a childhood friend (Adam Scott) who had an affair with his wife (Molly Parker) five years earlier.
Chaplin's final American film tells the story of a fading music hall comedian's effort to help a despondent ballet dancer learn both to walk and feel confident about life again. The highlight of the film is the classic duet with Chaplin's only real artistic film comedy rival, Buster Keaton.
A married, middle-aged professor meets a mysterious woman in the woods and has an affair with her.
In an afterlife resembling the present-day US, people must prove their worth by showing in court how they have demonstrated courage.
A former valedictorian quits her reporter job in New York and returns to the place she last felt happy: her childhood home in Connecticut. She gets work as a lifeguard and starts a dangerous relationship with a troubled teenager.
Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.
Socially isolated by his parents (Rebecca Jenkins, Robert Joy), an androgynous teen (Aaron Webber) enrolls in high school and develops a crush on his male teacher (Daniel MacIvor).
Two men in 1930s Mississippi become friends after being sentenced to life in prison together for a crime they did not commit.
The impressionistic story of a Texas family in the 1950s. The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father. Jack finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith.
Bianca, a tenth grader, has never gone on a date, but she isn't allowed to go out with boys until her older sister Kat gets a boyfriend. The problem is, Kat rubs nearly everyone the wrong way. But Bianca and the guy she has her eye on, Joey, are eager, so Joey fixes Kat up with Patrick, a new kid in town just bitter enough for Kat.
Waking Life is about a young man in a persistent lucid dream-like state. The film follows its protagonist as he initially observes and later participates in philosophical discussions that weave together issues like reality, free will, our relationships with others, and the meaning of life.
A Streetcar Named Desire is the film adaptation from the play by Tennessee Williams and directed by Elia Kazan. The film tells the drama story of the conflict between run down southern states and the exemplary industrial states in the north. Disturbed Blanche DuBois moves in with her sister in New Orleans and is tormented by her brutish brother-in-law while her reality crumbles around her.
Jake Taylor has everything. He has a beautiful girl, he's the champion in basketball and beer pong, and everyone loves him. Then, an old childhood friend, whom Jake used to be friends with, commits suicide. Jake begins to think. He wonders what he could've done to save his friend's life. A youth minister tells him that Jake needs God. So Jake becomes a Christian. However, things begin to spin out of control. His dad is cheating on his mom, his girlfriend is pregnant, and his former friends ridicule and mock him. During all this, Jake is going to realize just what it means to be a Christian and how, to save a life.
A timid magazine photo manager who lives life vicariously through daydreams embarks on a true-life adventure when a negative goes missing.
George Bailey has spent his entire life giving of himself to the people of Bedford Falls. He has always longed to travel but never had the opportunity in order to prevent rich skinflint Mr. Potter from taking over the entire town. All that prevents him from doing so is George's modest building and loan company, which was founded by his generous father. But on Christmas Eve, George's Uncle Billy loses the business's $8,000 while intending to deposit it in the bank. Potter finds the misplaced money, hides it from Billy, and George's troubles begin.
The crowning achievement of Orson Welles’s later film career, Chimes at Midnight returns to the screen after being unavailable for decades. This brilliantly crafted Shakespeare adaptation was the culmination of Welles’s lifelong obsession with the Bard’s ultimate rapscallion, Sir John Falstaff, the loyal, often soused childhood friend to King Henry IV’s wayward son Prince Hal.
In 1903, Doctor Huntington Bailey (Brent) meets a friendly older lady during a train trip. She tells him that she is going to visit her brother Nick and his lovely young wife Allida. Once in New York, Bailey hears that his train companion suddenly died. Shortly afterward, he meets the strange couple and gets suspicious of Nick's treatment of his wife.
George Clooney plays the dry cynical character of Ryan Bingham, an executive who specializes in "downsizing". Ryan lives out of his suitcase, traveling the country for the sole purpose terminating unwanted employees day after day. Just as Ryan is about to reach his life-long goal of the ten million mile frequent flyer mark some major changes come his way. Changes that threaten to crack the cold heartless exterior that is Ryan Bingham.
Takes a look at gay and straight love among the new millennials. Everything from secret crushes to homophobic attitudes are revealed by the rambunctious students taking Drama and Dance from Loris. None of the teens are what they seem at first glance, with gay hearts lurking behind tough exteriors and straight kids expressing themselves in very queer ways.
Aditya Singh, fondly called Adi Chachu by the children of his brother, lives in a large mansion in Mumbai with his brother, sister-in-law, sister and grandmother. He is the only one working in the family. He falls in love with a local teacher, Priya. They confess their feelings to each other and plan a wedding. However, before the wedding day Adi is run over by a truck to save Parth and dies. In afterlife, he meets The Hindu God of Death, Yamraj, a kind-hearted, emotional deity with designer clothes and an red old car. Yamraj allows Adi to go back to Earth as a ghost to stop his evil uncle who wants to sell Adi's mansion to industrialist Hirachand. Adi enlists the aid of Shakti, a little boy, in order to save his family home.
A man moves his two daughters to Italy after their mother dies in a car accident, in order to revitalize their lives. Genoa changes all three of them as the youngest daughter starts to see the ghost of her mother, while the older one discovers her sexuality.
Will Hunting, a janitor at MIT, has a gift for mathematics but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.
When George and her colleagues get a new boss whose focus is on moving souls quickly and enjoying life without consequences, the team begins to break the strict reaper rules. While her friends fall victim to their desires for money, success, and fame, George breaks another rule by revealing her true identity to her living family.
Heaven Is for Real is the true story of the 4-year old son of a small-town Nebraska pastor who, during emergency surgery, slips from consciousness and enters heaven. When he awakes, he recounts his experiences on the other side.
Everybody knows that your life is a story. But what if a story was your life? Harold Crick is your average IRS agent: monotonous, boring, and repetitive. But one day this all changes when Harold begins to hear an author inside his head narrating his life. But when the narration reveals he is going to die, Harold must find the author and convince them to change the ending.
On the outs in Hollywood due to the blacklist, director Edward Dmytryk briefly operated in England in the late 1940s. Though filmed in its entirety in London, Dmytryk's Give Us This Day is set in New York during the depression. Fellow blacklistee Sam Wanamaker is starred as the head of an Italian immigrant family struggling to survive the economic crisis.
When Miley Stewart (aka pop-star Hannah Montana) gets too caught up in the superstar celebrity lifestyle, her dad decides it's time for a total change of scenery. But sweet nibblets! Miley must trade in all the glitz and glamour of Hollywood for some ol' blue jeans on the family farm in Tennessee, and question if she can be both Miley Stewart and Hannah Montana. With a little help from her friends – and awesome guest stars Taylor Swift, Rascal Flatts and Vanessa Williams – will she figure out whether to choose Hannah or Miley?
A neglected daughter becomes a possessive mother in an emotional journey into the heart and mind of a woman who loved too much.
A young woman caught between life and death... and a funeral director who appears to have the gift of transitioning the dead, but might just be intent on burying her alive.
U.S. Secret Service agent Peter Novak goes undercover with Scotland Yard officer Thompson to halt a murderous gang of counterfeiters known as the Golden Goose. Although Peter is unsure about John's loyalties, the two infiltrate the gang and win the trust of thug Nick "The Owl" Harrison before enduring a series of double-crosses.
Born Free (1966) is an Open Road Films Ltd./Columbia Pictures feature film starring Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers as Joy and George Adamson, a real-life couple who raised an orphaned lion cub to adulthood, and released her into the wilds of Kenya.
Angelina Jolie and Edward Burns sizzle in this romantic comedy about making choices, making friends and making a mess. Lanie (Jolie) is a beautiful, ambitious newscaster who thinks that having the perfect hair, perfect boyfriend and perfect apartment adds up to the perfect life, until an encounter with a street psychic throws her world into chaos.
Truman Burbank is the star of "The Truman Show", a 24-hour-a-day "reality" TV show that broadcasts every aspect of his life -- live and in color -- without his knowledge. His entire life has been an unending soap opera for consumption by the rest of the world. And everyone he knows -- including his wife and his best friend -- is really an actor, paid to be part of his life.
De-Lovely is a 2004 American/British musical biographical film directed by Irwin Winkler. The screenplay by Jay Cocks is based on the life and career of Cole Porter, from his first meeting with Linda Lee Thomas in 1918 until moments before his death in 1964.
After a senator suddenly dies after completing (and sealing) an investigation into the nuclear power industry, the remaining senator and the state governor must decide on a person who will play along with their shady deals and not cause any problems. They decide on Billy Jack, currently sitting in prison after being sent to jail at the end of his previous film, as they don't expect him to be capable of much, and they think he will attract young voters to the party.
A very handsome man finds the love of his life, but he suffers an accident and needs to have his face rebuilt by surgery after it is severely disfigured.
Chris Anderson and his wife Pam live a fairly normal life until Chris loses his job on the police force and secretly turns to robbing banks to make his wife's dreams come true. Upon discovering his secret, she joins his deadly crime wave and together they terrorize an unsuspecting suburban town.
In 1957, a son and mother flee the East and an abusive boyfriend to find a new life, and end up in Seattle, where the mother meets a polite garage mechanic. The boy continually gets into trouble by hanging out with the wrong crowd. The mom marries the mechanic, but they soon find out that he's an abusive and unreasoning alcoholic, and they struggle to maintain hope in an impossible situation as the boy grows up with plans to escape the small town by any means possible. Based on a true story by Tobias Wolff.
When a robbery at a racetrack goes wrong ex-con Johnny Bannion is caught and sent back to prison. He won't tell the rest of the gang where he has stashed the loot leading to violent consequences.

© Valossa 2015–2024