I loved this movie! Mistress Hughes is charming and true, Ned is perfect, I could well understand _Mariah_'s affection, and I did love his hands; Charlie is great (but then, Everett is always great), pretty witty Nell is a bundle of energy... The movie was so good, at the end my stomach was tight, my pulse was beating fast, and all I could do was... watch it again! :) <br /><br />As an actress's daughter, I had been curious about when and how did the transition between men-playing-women and women-playing-women. The how is perhaps romanticized, but... I am sure it was very hard on some men who were successful at it, and a personal angst did help drive that point through. The movie was honest, and the two Othelo death scenes which framed it quite took my breath away. The stylistic beauty of the first, where the traces of Comedia del'Arte could be observed, was stage beauty of one kind, and the long and winding path to the realistic stage beauty of the second one... made sense. <br /><br />The film is a strong acting one, where people who have serious connections with theater will get much more than the rest, which does distribute the real pith among a selected few. But there are also points which are more general - like s*x in pre-Victorian London (high) society, which was more relaxed than during and long after, and I thought that was represented very faithfully in the movie. <br /><br />Anyway, again, I loved the movie and I will definitely see it yet again!