Not much is known about that time, after the playwright’s beloved Globe Theatre burned to the ground in 1613 and he returned to his family home in Stratford-upon-Avon. It’s not a peaceful retirement. Reconnecting with his neglected wife (Judi Dench, brilliantly huffy) and two variously troubled daughters (Kathryn Wilder and Lydia Wilson) is challenging, to say the least. But if Ben Elton’s screenplay benefits from dramatic imaginings and factual fudging, I’m content that Branagh — who stars as well as directs and whose devotion to Shakespeare is unarguable — be the one to approve them.
The result is more country soap than biopic, a slow and soothing tale of family secrets and festering resentments. A little soppy and a tad dull — Will putters constantly in the garden, mourning the long-ago death of his young son — the movie is so sedately paced that Branagh’s distracting prosthetic nose can seem to enter scenes well before the rest of him.
Yet while “All Is True” might not brim with excitement, it’s beautifully acted, richly photographed (by Zac Nicholson) and blessedly free of histrionics. Between them, Branagh and Elton have concocted a respectful story of loss, regret and wistful genius. Their Shakespeare is sad and a little weary, but far from beaten down, evidenced by the movie’s most pleasurable scene: An extended fireside chinwag between Will and his longtime crush, the Earl of Southampton (a wicked Ian McKellen). Whether all is true here is irrelevant: just watching these two old hands lovingly quote Sonnet 29 together feels right enough for me.
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‘All Is True’ is rated PG-13 for heterosexual scandal and homoerotic longing. Running time: 1 hour 41 minutes.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.