I saw this years ago and thought it was really good, but have recently seen it again and it's interesting to watch it again in a new cinema climate. It is a film with heart, intelligence and genuinely brilliant storytelling. I think I took that for granted as to what a film should be when I saw it ten years ago, but these days when every film is a remake, a sequel, a prequel it is an honor to watch something that reminded me of what film is suppose to be like.Yes it has its flaws, what film doesn't, but it more than makes up for that in grounded, clear, insightful storytelling. The acting is great and the actors are allowed to use their talent to the best of their abilities with a really good, well thought out script. It has made me wonder what other films from that period I over-looked and now should be held up as a beacon of great filmmaking.

Stage Beauty is a romantic period drama about the true story of two performers whose careers were changed forever by a shift in gender roles on the British stage in the 17th century.It stars Billy Crudup,Claire Danes,Rupert Everett,Zoe Tapper and Tom Wilkinson. The screenplay by Jeffrey Hatcher is based on his play Compleat Female Stage Beauty that was inspired by references to 17th century actor Edward Kynaston.The film was directed by Richard Eyre.Ned Kynaston is a noted star of the legitimate theater with an unusual specialty.At a time when it was considered unseemly for women to work as thespians, he specialized in female roles, and was described by one writer as the most beautiful woman on the London stage. With the help of his faithful dresser, Maria Hughes,he can turn himself into a striking actress in front of the footlights, and is starring opposite Thomas Betterton in a production of Shakespeare's Othello when, while still in costume after a performance, he is propositioned by theatrical impresario Sir Charles Sedley. The sexually open-minded Sedley isn't discouraged to learn Kynaston is a man, but he is bitterly angered by the actor's flip rejection of his advances. Sedley takes revenge against Kynaston by hiring a gang of criminals to beat him up. With Betterton's production of Othello closed while the leading "lady" recuperates, Hughes sees an opportunity and stages an underground version of the play, casting herself as Desdemona. While she lacks Kynaston's dramatic skills, the daring of her appearance on-stage creates a sensation, and King Charles II, a noted theater buff, is so taken with Hughes that he declares women should play women from now on. But as Hughes' star rises, Kynaston's quickly falls, and he becomes a bitter, forgotten man. When the novelty of Hughes' gender wears off and her failings as an thespian become obvious,she turns to her former friend Kynaston, hoping he can teach her to be as good an actress as he was.Cudrup is fantastic in this movie as he portrays masculinity and femininity with ease and realism.Also,the movie handles topics of gender and sexuality with intelligence and grace.Aside from that,the movie was entertaining from beginning to end as the viewer is absorbed into the ways of the theater in the past.In summary,Stage Beauty is a good combination of comedy and drama.

"It is not a question of acting a man. I can act a man. There's no artistry in that. There are things that I can be as a woman that I cannot be as a man." Billy Crudup, as Ned Kynaston.Set against the English Reformation period of the 1660, as led by King Charles the II, Stage Beauty is a saucy romp of a film beautifully directed by Richard Eyre and scripted by Jeffrey Hatcher, from his original play, Compleat Female Stage Beauty. This marvel boasts an accomplished cast, led by Billy Crudup and Claire Danes, through this gender-bender of a costume comedy-drama.Director Richard Eyre (Notes On A Scandel) does a fine job counter-pointing couples Claire Danes/Billy Crudup and Rupert Everett/Zoe Tapper. Tapper's Nell Gwynn is priceless as the king's sexy paramour, shrilly romping about the palace with King Charles, her cross-dressing monarch.Billy Crudup plays Ned Kynaston, a classically trained actor of women's roles during the 17th century, when female roles were forbidden to be played by – well, females. A popular star, he lounges seductively with the Duke of Buckingham, George Villiars, his upper-crust lover, between rehearsals and stage performances.Claire Danes plays Mrs. Margaret Hughes, a widow who works as Ned's dresser. During his performances, Maria (as she calls herself), watches in the wings, secretly longing to play the roles denied her – especially the coveted role of Desedmona in Shakespeare's popular tragedy, Othello. She takes a chance, breaking the kings' law, by performing – as a woman – on stage, in a vaudeville review (And hence, not subjected to the law of the land, that is stringently enforced on the legitimate stage).Both drag star and star wannabe both end up as special guests at the King's dinner table. A lively exchange takes place concerning the merits of a woman actually acting the part of – well, a woman.King Charles II (Rupert Everett): "Why shouldn't we have women on stage? After all, the French have been doing it for years." Sir Edward Hyde (Edward Fox): "Whenever we're about to do something truly horrible, we always say that the French have been doing it for years." The tables are turned on Kynaston, who now watches aghast as the King overturns the law, opening the floodgates for women's roles to be played – well, only by women. He becomes an object of scorn and ridicule, as a couple of upper-class groupies enact their own brand of revenge against him for past insults.Meanwhile, Mrs. Hughes is suffering her own humiliation of being a one-hit wonder, only to discover that being a woman, playing a woman, means little without acting ability as – well, a woman.Ned and Maria wind up instructing each other on the ways of love and acting, all to a symphony of applause for acting – well, like a man and a woman. Through it all, they tease and snipe at each other to push the boundaries of their manufactured images, not because they care what others think, but because they care about their own sense of themselves.

I quite enjoyed this, but I'm not wholly sure why.The story was a little muddled in places, at least in terms of consistency, motivation and the like. But the performances were mostly pleasing, not least Billy Crudup who came over as very engaging despite playing a character whose behaviour was at times gratuitously unpleasant.Rupert Everett was a hoot.I have a problem with Claire Danes. I like her, but I'm not convinced she's actually all that good an actress. This feeling seems to be driven by one of her facial expressions which gets massively overused (it shows up here, and also in Stardust and Little Women - I've seen all three films fairly recently), and it's the expression where she looks as if someone has just delivered themselves of the most offensively malodorous flatulence directly under her nose. I'm sure you know the one I mean - if you've seen any of those films, then you're bound to know. And it's an all purpose expression for anything bad, from mild worry to just survived a murder attempt. On the other hand, she does a creditable English accent (as does Crudup in this film).Oh, and I suspect that in Restoration England, it was most unlikely that anyone would say, "Get the f*** off my stage" notwithstanding the provenance of f*** as good old-fashioned Anglo-Saxon of the first order. An unwelcome anachronistic Americanism, as out of place as mammoths in Egypt.Whoops, I'm getting ahead of myself.....