From the truly ridiculous with little-to-no redeeming features, to the sublime, a choice we had last night in what we would view in a feature film. My husband had gone to the library and brought back with him a few video film selections. For some unknowable (to me) reason, my husband favours Michael Caine, a fourth-rate film personage, so he put on Kingsman, The Secret Service, and we watched briefly as the film plummeted to the extreme of absurdity, its humour pitiful as an ostensible send-up of spectacular failure.

Next up was the incomparable Anonymous. A film without peer. In fact, an incomparably distinguished and imaginative view of British peerage and their conspiracies in the Elizabethan age. We settled in to watch a spellbinding interpretation of the legacy of William Shakespeare steeped in the mystery that continues to surround the Immortal Bard whose superb understanding of human nature hold us spellbound even now, and whose dramas and comedies have fascinated the world for the past four hundred years.

Who this man actually was, other than the Bard of Avon he is presumed to be on the scant record has never quite reached agreement, with historical experts maintaining that his true identity was deliberately kept hidden from all who acclaimed him, past and present, as the brilliant playwright whose sublime mastery of language remains unsurpassed.

The film is riddled with mystery, drawing upon itself to bring its penetrating intrigue to its audience. Ben Johnson, a celebrated wordsmith on his own account who was a contemporary of William Shakespeare, is often cited as the authentic voice of Shakespeare. But though he is shown to be deeply involved in the Shakespeare conspiracy posited by the film, his role is as a frontman to the true author of those literary classics that have withstood the ravages of theatrical time, in service to the secrecy required by the aristocratic personage of the Earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere.

The drama that unfolds is enrapturing. The acting is superb. The sets and costumes are sumptuous. And the storyline seems plausible enough. The political temper of the times is portrayed with dramatic flourish, as are the urban myths surrounding Elizabeth I whose political alliances and bedroom adventures are often alluded to but unproven in the historical account of her lengthy tenure as Monarch of the British Isles and its vast global holdings. How the film portrays her sexuality adds a sinister air of intrigue to this convoluted and gripping film.

Our attention was certainly riveted to the ongoing drama.