List Price: $14.98You Pay Only: $13.49 You Save: $1.49 (10%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: STAGE BEAUTY (DVD MOVIE)
EAN: 0012236173106
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Label: Lions Gate
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Lions Gate
Region Code: 1
Release Date: March 08, 2005
Running Time: 106 minutes
Sales Rank: 17696
Studio: Lions Gate
Theatrical Release Date: 2004
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
'A woman playing a woman. Where's the trick in that?'-Welcome to 17th Century stage where Ned Kynaston's (Billy Crudup) performance of Desdemona in Shakespeare's Othello brings the house down nightly. Ned is the 'most beautiful woman on the London stage.' That is until the King renounces the oyal edict that only men can play women on stage. Enter Maria (Claire Danes) Ned's seemingly loyal dresser who becomes an instant star leaving Ned to suppress his ardent feminine traits and make a man of himself.Special FeaturesInterview with method manTrailers5.1 and 2.0 Dolby Digital audio InterviewsSystem Requirements: Running Time 109 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 012236173106 Manufacturer No: 17310
Amazon.com:
Edward 'Ned' Knyaston (Billy Crudup) is a beautiful man, and as an actor in 17th-century London that means he's quite popular portraying women, since females are forbidden to tread the boards. His mischievous air of entitlement, unfortunately, soon sets in motion a chain of events that will see King Charles II (Rupert Everett) lifting the ban on actresses, allowing Ned's devoted dresser, Maria (Claire Danes), to become the city's reigning theatrical diva. Director Richard Eyre (Iris) is still best known for his stage work, and it shows: Stage Beauty is rich in character and attention to detail, yet it doesn't have a popcorn-and-soda pop ease. Jeffrey Hatcher's well-observed script, based on his own play, romps a little self-consciously in Eyre's hands--you can tell it would like to be Shakespeare in Love if it could only relax. The gorgeous Crudup and dewy Danes don't quite click here, but the supporting cast is having a good time going way over-the-top, so if you're hungry for an elaborate historical confection there's enough here to satisfy your taste buds. --Steve Wiecking
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - I thought she really died during the play.
Great movie, very funny and at the same time it's a bit Disturbing(the Ned "guy" got some serious issues).
Rating:  - RICHARD EYRE, OPUS 5
***1/2 2004. Directed by Richard Eyre. Subtle and smart variation about the paradox of the actors who must express feelings they don't sense. Two years before shooting Notes on a Scandal, Richard Eyre already delivered a little jewel. Recommended.
Rating: - I rented it--now it's going on my Wish List
Some people may not realize that those lovely female roles the Bard immortalized were at first brought to life by male actors. Ned Kynason (Billy Crudup) was one such actor and the top of his form til King Charles declared that women should play women's roles.
I thought when I came into this that I'd be cheering the women on, but I couldn't quite do that. "Stage Beauty" presents both sides of the story with such compassion it's hard not to see how wrenching the whole situation is.
As Ned says---playing women's roles gave pretty men something to hope for. He spent years under a relentless master, deleting every male gesture from his person. He truly believed that the true challenge of acting was for a man to play a woman.
Yet, there is Maria (Danes), the dresser to the great man who longs to play Desdemona herself. What hope is she to have save as a dresser and mender of Ned's fine gowns? When she 'borrows' Ned's pillow and gown and plays Desdemona illegally, she sets off a chain of events that reverses the trend of English theatre.
And why shouldn't it be so? After all, "Paris had women actors for years."
"Stage Beauty" has so many great lines, you could spend an afternoon just going back to the good scenes. Costuming, acting, everything was spot on.
I had only intended to rent this film, but I'm adding it to my Wish List and will eventually own it for my collection. It's that good and that well worth watching ... Read More
Rating: - Crudup Superb, Danes Merely Adequate
Everything about Billy Crudup's performance as Ned Kynaston shows that he is one of the most versatile, flexible and believable actors on the screen today. As his character grows in knowledge of himself, he seamlessly progresses from an over-the-top actor of women's roles and the persona he has adopted to go with that ... to a man desperate after losing his profession because men are now banned from taking women's roles ... to the coach of the character played by Claire Danes ... then as actor of men's roles ... from a pretty boy to a man of emerging sensibilities and awareness of his masculinity. Perhaps also to a partial acceptance of his sexual ambiguity.
Crudup's co-star, Claire Danes, breathily and breathlessly goes about seeking a way to portray Mrs. Hughes, initially Mr. Kynaston's dresser. She is only adequate, but fortunately does not have to carry the show herself. She is surrounded and overshadowed by a supporting ensemble of talented and skilled actors. Rupert Everett, Tom Wilkinson and Hugh Bonneville are among those who stand out. Zoe Tapper shines in a brief role as Nell Gwynn, one of King Charles' mistresses, though her presence as a character is a historical anachronism. The direction was superb as well.
This movie is well mounted, takes full advantage of some historic sites in England and creates what is otherwise necessary to complete a picture of its time and place in history. The playwright Jeffrey Hatcher adapts his own play for the screen ... clearly ... Read More
Rating: - A sleeper that is surprisingly good!
A period piece set in England around 1660- during King Charles II's reign, somewhere I read (perhaps here) that Stage Beauty is like Shakespeare In Love- only more intelligent. I would agree. This one is for the thinking woman. It's not so full of itself that it bores you, but it has a depth to it that others do not. Certainly more depth then SIL. (And racier too!)
There are many layers to this movie, especially involving dying- not literally of course, though I'm sure at different points in the story the hero wished he could. No, I'm talking about dying to who we think we are so we can become who we are supposed to be.
Slight Spoilers to Follow:
Kynaston (Crudup), is an actor specializing in portraying women's parts during the 1600's. At that time in English History, by order of puritanical law, women were not allowed to act on stage- for painting the ladies was sure to turn said women into whores. Kynaston, bisexual by design rather than nature, does female well enough to make him a star on stage. However, his assistant Maria (Danes) has a secret desire to act as well. One night, in a hole in the wall theater, she gets her chance under the assumed stage name of Margaret Hughes. Of course, she does an impressive job. The King (Everette)- the obvious comic relief of the movie- gets wind of her performance and invites her to the palace. Because of the King's bawdy mistress, who also wants to act, Maria finds herself in the inner circle of the King. She eventually ... Read More
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