In the opening moments, Loznitsa, working with the Romanian cinematographer Oleg Mutu, plants the camera before the prison gates, which open with a loud creak, allowing a fresh batch of emaciated arrivals to shuffle into a work yard.
While I'm a big fan of "will they, won't they" romances, I didn't expect to exit the first half of "Bridgerton" Season 4 wondering "will I, won't I?" Although, perhaps, I should have expected a tale of two sentiments. The first two seasons of the Netflix historical romance series were lovable in the extreme. Despite major consent issues in Season 1, and the Edwina (Charithra Chandran) situation going on for too long in Season 2-a situation that left us with too little of Kate (Simone Ashley) and Anthony ( Jonathan Bailey) reveling in being Kate and Anthony.
Impoverished Latin tutor William Shakespeare meets free-spirited Agnes, and the pair, captivated by one another, strike up a torrid affair that leads to marriage and three children. Yet as Will pursues a budding theater career in far-away London, Agnes anchors the domestic sphere alone. When tragedy strikes, the couple's once-unshakable bond is tested, but their shared experience sets the stage for the creation of Shakespeare's timeless masterpiece, Hamlet.
If you're familiar with the prolific British writer's fondness for grimy historical dramas embellished with as much street brawling as possible, you may be able to envision the tone. The Netflix drama launches into its tale by cutting between preparations for the funeral of Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, much-beloved patriarch of the famous Irish brewery, and a demonstration outside its gates against the dangers of inebriation.
But I wonder what happens next? History, that's what! But to explain the history that is about to happen we must first go back a bit to, a caption informs us, years earlier. This is a little after bygone times, a bit before days of yore and, as it appears that Edward the Confessor (Eddie Marsan, having the time of his life playing the last monarch of the house of Wessex as a religious fanatic) is about to be crowned, probably around 1043.
